Quail Gardens was a wonderful little excursion in my own backyard. It was fun visiting there, since I hadn’t been there in quite sometime. We decided that Wednesday would be the perfect day, since I didn’t have to work that day and the weather was perfect. We had originally planned on just going for breakfast at the local Coco’s, but I grabbed my camera and decided that we head to Quail Gardens afterwards.
After a tasty breakfast of omlettes and waffles (they do have good waffles), we hopped in my RAV4 and away we went…which was less than a mile and we arrived at Quail Gardens where we hiked all around, looking at the many different plants. We took more time with the California native plants, since that was mainly what we went there for. Of course, there were other plants to look at, which we took time for afterwards, but the native plants took priority.
Jojoba is native plant that the Native Americans used for medicines. Also found in many lotions today for its nutritive properties.
The collection of plants that Quail Gardens had was immense. There were so many plants that I don’t think we had encountered on other field trips (maybe that’s not entirely true, but there were some that I don’t remember seeing). Anyway, we headed over to the California native garden and noticed a local resident “sampling” some of the lawn. I guess he was just doing his part to keep the lawn trimmed. If you haven’t guessed already, that little local was none other than a cute, little, bunny rabbit, out for a midday snack.
A "local" having a snack, or possibly doing his part to keep the lawn trimmed. With the economy being what it is, the park should be glad he works for free!
It was definitely a good time of year to go, since many of the plants were just starting to bloom or were already in bloom. The lemonade berry was in bloom and we thought it was pretty plant. I explained to my mom that the berries have a sour taste and taste just like lemon candy. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any berries on the plant, so I couldn’t show her (she wouldn’t have eaten them anyway). Oh well, maybe next time.
The flowers of the Lemonade Berry. Unfortunately, I didn't see any berries on it, so much for tasting them.
As we continued our hike, we trekked on over to the Native People, Native Plants area of the gardens to see what else was over there. There were other plants that we didn’t see over at the other native plant garden. I didn’t see many signs or indicators for a lot of the plants, saying they were native (I guess there was a lot of overgrowth covering them up. Either that, or the lizards ate them). However, there was sign that did mention what the natives used some of the plants for. Some such uses of some native plants were medicines, food, poultices, and seasonings.
An informative sign, describing some the uses of native plants.
Another informative sign about native plants that we discovered while we wander the gardens.
After we explored the native plant gardens, we explored the rest of Quail Botanical Gardens and found some very interesting topiaries. They were very clever, being shaped like people and all. It was a cool way to shape ivy, and give it a little personality as well.
This topiary was one of the most interesting ones I've seen. A lady of ivy, whom I appropriately nicknamed, "Ivy."
Quail Botanical Gardens was a lot of fun and I will definitely go back there, since it’s so close. There were numerous little gardens all blended together. They were truly inspirational and truly enjoyable. I always enjoyed flowers and gardens and this garden was no exception.
