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Architecture, designs, and landscaping by Mother and Father Nature
A selection of pictures from the San Diego Botanic Garden.
Architecture, designs, and landscaping by Mother and Father Nature.
Cork Oak (Quercus suber)
The primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and cork flooring
Aloe
Plantus unknownii
Bamboo
The Garden has the largest selection
of bamboo groves in the United States
Berryus unknownius
Nest-building Bird
Flowerus unknownii
Dinner Plate Fig (Ficus dammaropsis)
Banana (top)
Banana (bottom)
Unknown flowers
Ficus tree and staghorn ferns
Aeonium
Probable Sedum or Jade
Peas In Pods
Bird’s Nest Fern (Asplenium sp.)
Cactus Flowers
Leafus unknownius
Seed Pods
Epiphyte
Fire Sticks
Bottlebrush
Spent Protea Blossom
Unknown Protea or Grevillea Flowers
Dragon Tree (Dracaena cinnabari)
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
My relatives, the succulent people
Back in 1966, shortly after my wise old grandmother had adopted me, I asked her if I could have a small plot of land for a garden. She had the most beautiful gardens in all of Kingsville, Texas. Something was always growing and blooming — morning glories, Christmas cactus, poinsettias, oleanders, nandinas, ligustrums, roses….. and that’s just the stuff planted in the ground. Her hanging gardens were second only to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
She said, “Yes,” and gave me the hottest spot in her yard, right around the air conditioning compressor. Air conditioning compressors put out a lot of hot wind, and she never got anything nice to grow there.
Enter Russel Ray Kirk Jones Kirk, the 11-year-old juvenile delinquent from Utah.
A friend, Richard Schmidt (whom I would love to find some day!), had a garden in his yard, and he introduced me to cactus and succulents. He and his parents took me down to McAllen, Texas, one Saturday to a cactus nursery. I came home with a box full of cactus and succulents. Those plants loved it in the hot sun by the hot, windy air conditioner, and soon I had cactus flowers and succulents blooming right along side my wise old grandmother’s beautiful flowers.
By the time I graduated from high school, my friends were calling me the Cactus Man. When I dropped my “Kirk Jones Kirk” last names and simply became Russel Ray, I also switched from cactus to succulents. Many of my friends now know me as the Succulent Man. Succulents are my speciality.
Yesterday I went for my annual summer visit of the San Diego Botanic Garden:
I found my long-lost relatives, the succulent people:
Look at that last picture, at the lady’s chest, and you can see a necklace, a broach, and two boobs created by the succulents. Don’t believe me? Proof:
Vision, people, vision! Use your creativity, just like the succulent people creators did! 
I also loved her dress:
The San Diego Botanic Garden is where the Sapphire Tower is, and there were several blooming yesterday.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray (that’s me!)
No need to wait for Fall — We have Spring colors!
When the trees turn colors in the Fall, people like to say that we don’t have Fall colors here in San Diego. Why wait ’til Fall? We have Spring colors.
Those are pictures from three diffrent years of a Flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius) at the San Diego Botanical Garden. It normally blooms from mid-May to late July, so now might be a good time to go see it!
If you missed the purple Jacaranda trees, click on Update on the 2012 Jacaranda blooming season.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County? I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor with Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re just looking for a home inspector,
I can highly recommend Russel Ray; that’s me!
Sit Stay Heal
I see benches everywhere but no one sitting on them. Even at the bus stops, people won’t sit on the benches, for some reason preferring to stand.
1 – Wagon bench
2 – Old Town San Diego bench
3 – Back yard bench
4 – Park bench at SeaWorld San Diego
5 – Tijuana River Estuary bench
6 – Park bench on Catalina Island
7 – Park bench at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park
8 – Bench at San Diego Botanic Garden
9 – Bench at San Diego Botanic Garden
10 – Park bench on Catalina Island
11 – Bench at Cuyamaca Water Conservation Garden
12 – Bus stop bench at 70th Street Station
13 – Hotel bench near the San Diego Convention Center
Maybe my next set of bench pictures will require a tripod and camera remote control, to be titled “Self portraits on benches.” Or something like that.
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