If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.
This week’s Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge theme is earth. At first, I thought I’d skip this photo challenge theme because I couldn’t think of any photos to use. Then I read Cee’s description of earth and I figured, hey I could do that! Earth: Clay, Rock, Dust, Sand, Mud, Crystal, Powder, Shadow, Space, Darkness, Gravity, Bone, Silicon.
Below is my personal take of this theme. Remember you can click on any photo to view a larger image.
Southern California is covered with dirt and rocks, not much green overall. Cactus, succulents and short bushes like California Sage Brush are what grow best here.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – succulents growing in dirt and rocks
I enjoy painted rocks and these rocks from the San Diego Botanic Garden are a cute and subtle way to ask people to stay away.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – painted rocks
Of course San Diego is not all dirt and rocks. It also features beautiful beaches, my favorite being Coronado Beach. It is always listed as one of the Top 10 beaches in the U.S. and it deserves it.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – San Diego sandy beach
My last photo is from Idyllwild, California. I call it the face in the rock, and it’s pretty obvious why. This is as if Earth was watching us as we walk by.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Earth – the face in the rock
If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.
I was going to hold off showing you the amazing topiary I discovered at the San Diego Botanic Garden, but when I saw that the WordPress weekly photo challenge is “unique”, I figured these photos would be perfect. I had never seen anything like it anywhere else, so to me, these are very unique indeed.
First let me say I’ve seen lots of topiary and I always admire the art of being able to create shapes out of trees. In a way, what the San Diego Botanic Garden has done is a little different, as you’ll see below. The most amazing thing about these plant “sculptures” is that you could literally walk right past them and not notice them – they blend in with their surroundings very well. In fact, I walked past the first one, saw the second, then walked back to the first one to take pictures from the beginning. Most people didn’t notice most of them either until they saw me taking pictures of them.
I took these first few photos in the Mexican Garden area of the San Diego Botanic Garden. The light was very bright and most of the garden was in the shade, so it was tricky to take photos, with such contrast on most pictures. And I didn’t use a flash either. I need to plan half a day to go up there by myself and spend the time to take the right pictures, the right way, at the right time.
I invite you to click on some of these photos to see all the details of each topiary in a larger format.
This is the first topiary you see as you enter the Mexican Garden, that is if you don’t walk right by it as I did.
Unique topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden
The second topiary is just as pretty. You can see each plant is exactly where it’s supposed to be.
Mexican lady topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden
The next two topiary items are opposite of each other. It’s a couple dancing to the music of a mariachi band.
Dancing couple topiary at the San Diego Botanic Garden
Check out the musicians’ mustaches!
Mariachi band topiary – San Diego Botanic Garden
I’m not sure what this topiary is supposed to be. A gardener? You tell me what you think it is.
Gardener topiary – San Diego Botanic Garden
The next topiary is a man sitting down and looking at something in his hand.
Man admiring nature topiary
This is what he’s looking at: a butterfly (made with a plant, of course). Nice!
Topiary of a man looking at a butterfly
These last few photos are from topiary art I found in the children’s garden of the San Diego Botanic Garden.
This one is technically not a topiary but rather a sculpture made out of planting pots… Pretty neat, huh?
Sculpture out of planting pots
The next one is a poor rhinoceros topiary that has a shedding problem. It looks quite naked in some areas.
Rhinoceros topiary
The last one is a reading rabbit, perfect addition to a children’s garden.
Reading rabbit topiary – San Diego Botanic Garden
I hope you enjoyed these photos of unique topiary. Thanks for stopping by!
If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.
Yesterday was a beautiful winter day in San Diego. Not a cloud in the sky, slight breeze, unusually warm (75 degrees by the coast). Perfect for a visit at the San Diego Botanic Garden with my kids. You’d think January would offer few opportunities for taking photos of nature but I got to snap a few. I’ll share them in several posts and I thought I’d take the opportunity of displaying a few here, with this simplicity theme.
Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view of it.
A pond with some running water exemplifies simplicity to me. And simple is beautiful, like this sculpture at the lily pond by the entrance of the San Diego Botanic Garden.
Sunday Post: Simplicity – lily pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden
There’s also a Bamboo pond in the Bamboo Garden, which is about three times as big as this one, but still very small and simple.
Sunday Post: Simplicity – Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden
It has a basic waterfall set up, again, very simple. A trickle of water over rocks.
Sunday Post: Simplicity – Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden
There may have been some animals underwater but we didn’t spot any. Instead we spotted a couple of mallards, or technically a mallard couple having a snack in the pond. I love the simple ripples in the water.
Sunday Post: Simplicity – Ducks at the Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden
Finally we were lucky enough to see a green heron, checking out the water and looking for some potential lunch. Again, I love the simple reflection of the green heron in the water. Simplicity, what a beautiful theme!
Sunday Post: Simplicity – Green heron at the San Diego Botanic Garden
If you enjoy my photos and would like to purchase some, I want to thank you! Simply visit my Zazzle online shop and browse the product offerings. If there’s a photo you would like to purchase but don’t see it in my shop, please contact me by using the Contact form at the bottom of my home page and let me know which photos you are interested in purchasing, and in what format / medium.
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