travel: the huntington

My second full day in Southern California was devoted to the Huntington. I did briefly watch a video in a visitors center to learn about Henry and his second wife who was the widow of his uncle, Arabella Huntington and their history of philanthropy. And then the botanical gardens, starting with this fountain. I do love a fountain.                     

 

I think I was surprised that this fountain is decidedly minimalist and not baroque. I liked it, and it was adjacent to the rose garden, where I spent most of my morning. I took pics only of my favorite colored roses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I walked a ways and then further down stairs to tour the Japanese Garden.     

  

I do love a Japanese garden for their stones, streams, waterfalls, the emphasis on evergreens over flowers, and after its main water features, I took pictures in the bonsai garden. I marveled at this fig, which has such huge leaves on such a small trunk.

And who knew a pomegranate tree could be trimmed into bonsai?

 

I especially loved the trunk of this juniper.                        

 

And then back to European style gardens of lily ponds.

 

So strange in some ways to see gardens from other climes transposed to the dryer climate of Southern California. I also happened upon a grove of citrus and picked a few of these calamansi to put into my bubbly water later.

 

I knew I was edging closer to the more manicured gardens near the library. This arbor stretched a very long way and provided a nice respite from the brutal heat.

 

And of course, I saw another color (or two)of roses I liked.        

 

Then it was too hot to spend any more time in the gardens, and so I headed into the cool confines of the library and galleries and then the museum gift shop. I did not get to view Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy, nor Kewinde Wiley's Portrait of a Young Gentleman, which were being installed after its lending to the National Gallery in London from where the Huntingtons purchased the painting a hundred years ago. I was likewise disappointed there weren't at least postcards of the two paintings I could send to my friends, Kat and Meral. And so I instead took pics of the two blank note cards of these paintings in the gift shop.                        

I unfortunately had a sleepless night, but was glad to have revisited and checked off the Huntington off my 2022 summer list and be on my way to Anaheim and a good long rest in another hotel room.