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The San Diego Zoo is more than just a zoo….
Most people go to the San Diego Zoo to see giant pandas, polar bears, elephants, giraffes, and anything else big, moving, and strange.
The San Diego Zoo, however, is more than just a zoo. It’s also an internationally recognized arboretum. Along with the Zoo’s Safari Park, there are over a million plants on 1,900 acres representing 6,500 species, including 280 threatened and endangered ones. There is always something blooming, growing, or simply looking strange:
Picture 1 — Flowers at the entrance to the San Diego Zoo
Picture 2 — Iris
Picture 3 — Iris
Picture 4 — Fern in Fern Canyon
Picture 5 — Aloe
Picture 6 — Palm tree
Picture 7 — Carnivorous plants
Picture 8 — Tree owl on a baobab tree
I’ve been watching the baobab tree in the last picture for about a decade. The scars are from the removal of branches, but it looks like an owl to me. Over the years, the owl continues to grow.
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Friday Flower Fiesta — #9 (March 23, 2012)
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
I got into trouble at Walmart today. I stopped to get some Shedd’s Spread after my home inspection. As usual, I always enter and leave through the gardening center. They were particularly well stocked today with some beautiful flowers. I decided to take the Shedd’s Spread to the car, get my Canon 550D, and take a couple of pictures of the columbines and pansies. Turns out that you are not supposed to take pictures inside Walmart. I asked how they monitored all of the smart phones with cameras. No answer. Of course, I had a big, bad, professional DSLR….
Picture 1 — Columbine
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 2 — Columbine
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 3 — Columbine
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 4 — Pansy
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 5 — Pansy 
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Picture 6 — Pansy 
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
Columbines and pansies are two of my favorite flowers, definitely in my
Top 10. I was surprised to see so many pansies in the garden center since they really are a winter plant here in San Diego.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
All pictures taken by Russel Ray with a Canon 550D camera and a Canon
55-250mm lens. Post-processing was done in Adobe Photoshop CS6 Beta, and picture framing was done in Corel Draw X6.
All pictures copyright 2012 Russel Ray Photos
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