Destination: Descanso Gardens

4o minutes from Diamond Bar  by way of the 210 Fwy is one of the great public gardens of Southern California: Descanso Gardens.

Children learning to love nature just by sharing time in it

Every garden has a design personality- Country Formal is apt labeling as the local geography led the development of the undulating hillside property . This is a garden where Nature subjugates man's influence. The result is a garden of  intimate charm.  

Glenda Thomspon Bona

The occasion Friday was former Diamond Bar Community Activist Glenda Thompson Bona's 59th birthday. Arguably the most competent individual in my accomplished circle of friends, it is her artistic free spirit that sets her apart. She is a prolific gardener, stained glass artist and fabulous cook.

She is frequently my editor to my undying appreciation for her honesty and explanation. 
Having an outside editor is something every writer needs. Someone to criticise their work whom they are not married to.

Glenda's family moved to Santa Clarita well over a decade ago- but we've kept the friendship close by meeting at gardens or restaurants in the general vicinity of Pasadena- which is midway between our homess.

crab apple overhangs the stream rocks I crossed over.

If you have never been to Descanso Gardens, charge up the camera battery first and wear comfortable shoes. This garden is spacious and unveils its charms slowly. 

I will try to post tomorrow images with lessons in planting and landscape design. For today, I leave you with the thought that just as a touch of humor enlivens an interior space- it does the same for the landscape. As with this solitary skeleton of a weeping tree




Cousin Itt?

Does this out- of-season charmer remind you a bit of the Cousin Itt  character from the 60's TV show- The Addams Family?