Return to the Botanical Garden

See the year on the architectural detail?

The year 1915 will mark the centennial of the Pan Am exposition, which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. San Diego was the host city for the Panama-California Exposition, which was the impetus for Balboa Park's famous, Spanish colonial revival influenced buildings such as the California Tower (as seen in the opening credits of "Citizen Kane" as Xanadu), the Museum of Art, the Museum of Man, and various other buildings near main walkways...



The San Diego Botanical Building and garden within remains one of our favorite places to visit in the city. It's literally a cool refuge amongst the hustle and bustle of the park. On a hot day, the interior of the botanical building is at least ten degrees cooler. When we were in college, Astroboi, N and myself would often hang out at the park and visit the gardens.

Hundreds of exotic flowers, plants and ferns are housed within the one of the largest wooden lathe structures in the world.

Cymbidium orchids:

Vanda orchids:


Various plants for the "Scent Garden"where you are encouraged to rub the leafs and sniff the scents...


Anthuriums:

Palm trees and ferns:

A group of student artist sketching the orchids:

Staghead Fern and various potted orchids:

Ferns and bromeliads:

This is one of my favorite orchids in the building (not sure of the type of orchid this is though):

The colors are just amazing.

Monstera deliciosa leaves:

Not sure what these bell shaped flowers were called, but we loved the shape and two-toned colors The Chinese Lantern Plant (thanks Wandering Chopsticks!):


The weekend we visited, there was a poster advert for an upcoming (and now past) orchid show.

One last look at "Xanadu", or the California Tower...


Previous posts on the Botanical Garden:
2007 and 2012

Up next would be lunch in Point Loma at a restaurant that was a curious mix of cuisines...