Stopping to smell the roses

Having covered the fauna of LA to some extent, how about the flora? We’re probably due for a return trip to the Huntington, but Rob and I thought we’d check out some of the lesser-known options in the area first—these places are pretty mercurial, and I’d like to see them in summer.

One specific reason to get going now: It’s matilija season! Matilija poppies are distinctive not only for their blossoms—which resemble fried eggs and are the largest of any California native flower—but for their seeds, which are hard to cultivate because they have to be exposed to the heat of a wildfire to germinate. No wonder they do so well in SoCal, then!

So we begin at the Los Angeles Arboretum in, fittingly, Arcadia. Befitting LA’s diversity, the Arboretum has a particularly global mindset, with entire areas dedicated to individual continents. The African Garden is rich in succulents of all shapes and sizes, some so unlike anything else in the world that you could probably create a whole alien landscape out of them...

...whereas the Asian Garden might be more familiar-looking, but the viewing deck is as attractive as the view itself. Dibs on the yang side!

The Arboretum is also distinguished by its greenhouses, filled with carnivorous plants and tropical species that thrive on greater humidity than the local climate usually delivers. I thought we could save ourselves a grocery run by snagging some vanilla orchids, but Rob just isn’t any fun.

And they even have installation art here! Patrick Doughtery’s Catawampus is described on the placard as “a whimsical journey through natural structures that evoke the primitive and modern.”

Oh. I just thought it looked cool.

But most unique of all: You know how TV is, like, kind of fake? Behind me is the Queen Anne cottage that served as Mr. Roarke’s house on Fantasy Island; those clips were then grafted onto actual Hawaii footage to make it all seem like one piece, but in reality, here’s the house, nowhere near the tropics. There’s Tattoo’s bell tower and everything. So I can’t resist...

Smiles, everyone, smiles!

Sorry.

And one more Arboretum quirk: The joint is all but run by the peacocks. They mostly hang around the administrative buildings, but you can hear that distinctive call from quite a distance.

Hey there, birdie. Is there a peahen over my shoulder, or are you just glad to see me?

In contrast, when we head down to the South Coast Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes, we find a humbler kind of bird life dominates. What’s up, duck? I got nuttin’ for ya.

But believe me, South Coast has definite charms of its own. One of them is a dial-in audio tour, available at different spots throughout—here, near the entrance, is a sign for the Japanese garden’s call-in number. It’s a unique feature among all the places we visited, and I’d offer my thoughts on it if our carrier hadn’t dropped us every time I phoned in. Get a better plan, Rob!

Built over a onetime sanitary landfill, South Coast actually struck me as the most kid-friendly of all our stops. For starters, there’s the Mother Goose Garden, filled with dioramas depicting various nursery rhymes, such as Mary tending her little lamb at school—they’ve planted a bed of lamb’s-ear out front as a tie-in—and then right next door is the Old Woman’s shoe, with the Pumpkin-Eaters, the three kittens (sans mittens), and others just around the corner.

It makes for a nice little neighborhood, actually—white picket fences, miniature brook, the whole nine. I have to admit, it even had me wondering what’d it be like to get a place of my own in the suburbs and commute to the city. But then I remember how much I enjoy living with all my brothers, plus it’s just so much easier to make Rob pay for everything.

Still, though—tempting. You can’t find perfect Poohsticks bridges just anywhere!

Not far from Mother Goose’s is the Garden for the Senses, full of plants to touch and smell, with many in elevated beds for your sniffing convenience. Lots of herbs, of course, but also lavender, chocolate daisies, and all kinds of scented geraniums—lime, coconut, strawberry, orange, ginger, even one that smells like chocolate mint! Good thing I know a couple of local bakeries we can hit on the way out.

And beyond those two areas, so much was in bloom at the time of our visit that the air was practically swimming with butterflies and bees. The eyes got as much of a workout as the nose; these dahlias didn’t have much of a scent, but that shade of cranberry is to die for.

As for the roses, well, those were simply sublime. Any rose garden that makes you feel like you’re trespassing on a wedding is a successful one, right?

Hoo boy. Not a word to the Heavenly Bamboo about me, okay?

So that’s two down, but our third and last stop is perhaps a bit less obvious: the Donald Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in Van Nuys. We heard they have a classical Japanese garden attached to it, and if you’re like me, you think: Really? At a sewage treatment facility? Random. And I’m not gonna lie—you can tell from the look on my face that up here on the viewing catwalk, one errant breeze just hit me with a whiff of ammonia or chlorine or whatever it is.

So that does lower my expectations of what the garden will be like, because what could the backyard of some industrial plant possi...no way.

Ground level. So at one end of the lake, you’ve got this highly modern building edged by the rock garden...

...and at the other, it’s cypresses, irises, water birds, stone lanterns—it’s like something out of a storybook.

Compared to the other gardens, this one is tiny—only six-and-a-half acres, versus eighty-plus for the others—but you can’t say they didn't nail it in the space allotted. The brochure says the main structure of the garden is a shoin, modeled after the kind of residence an aristocrat or samurai would have had. Shall we go inside?

Breathtaking. This would enchant even my brothers into silence. And then they’d start playing ninjas, but nonetheless.

Wow. I see this as proof that I should go chasing waterfalls. Why stick to the rivers and the lakes that I’m used to? And I guess it just goes to show: Nature is awesome, but what humans sometimes do with it shouldn’t be undervalued either.

And just as it’s nearly impossible to go to the pound without bringing home a stray, after visiting all these plantyards, Rob decided to try his luck with some miniature succulents, all small enough for us to help with them. Kids at home likely can identify these by their unscientific names: “pink butterflies,” “pearly moonstones,” “baby toes,” “living stones,” and “Buddha’s temple.” What, no “bunny ears,” Rob?

Cute! But my brothers have already started a pool as to how long Rob will be able to keep them alive—Bedlam has the low bet, with a guess of four weeks.

That’s so cynical. I said five.