Gardens at Lake Merritt Part II - On With The Show! 3/6/16

Let's get right back to the amazing gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland.   For refresher, see here for the gorgeous birds in the area and see here for the beautiful flora and fauna in the gardens themselves.  And to visit the websites for the Gardens, click here and here for Facebook.

We now find ourselves in the Mediterranean Garden which is connected with the Palmetum, or Palm Garden.  In the center is the historic Easterbrook Fountain Wellhead which was gifted to the City of Oakland in 1914.  Behind the fountain clearing, the palms provide a softly swaying background of green.  

I was being chattered at relentlessly, and looked up to find another fat squirrel.  This one was at the top of the chain link fence surrounding the Gardens.  He posed for a striking picture with the 1929 Bellevue-Staten Building in the background.  

I don't know what he was saying, but he chattered away looking right at me for a good five minutes. 

These Angel Trumpets were simply amazing.  There is a large tree growing beside the various palm trees where they joined together to form a beautiful tapestry in the sky.

  

Seemingly out of place was a little bed of Wood Sorrel, better known as Shamrocks. But it was almost St. Patrick's Day, so I had to take a picture!

There is a beautiful bonzai garden and I did take some photos of bonzai.  But I didn't like the way they turned out.  I didn't have the right lens on the camera. :-(  However, the trees were in marvelous bloom in purple, pink, and white.  I love these photos. 

This is the water feature that is outside of the Japanese garden.  It was under construction. 

Next I walked through one of two Rhododendron gardens and the little enclosed garden next to the garden center.  How many more times can I say the word garden?  Garden. 

St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and nature.  

This isn't an Rhododendron.  It's the magnolia tree above the Rhododendrons. 

The second Rhododendron garden is called the Vireya Garden.  It's in a type of shed as these stunning flowers are a more tropical variety.  

My last spot for the day was a small succulent/cactus area.  There were some folks sitting by the cacti so I don't have any shots of them.  But succulents are so cool looking that they make up for it. 

These cool, tiny, purple trumpets are not succulents, but they were in the same bed as them so here ya go. :-)

And then it was time to go!  I actually went to visit the lake and birds as previously posted and then headed inland to home.  There are so many things to do and see around Lake Merritt that I know I will be back.  You should check it out too!

xoxo

Nikon D3000

Gardens at Lake Merritt - Oakland, CA 3/6/16

Continuing my PREVIOUS POST from beautiful Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, this is the first of probably two dediciated to the amazing Gardens at Lake Merritt.  

When I spontaneously decided to drive to Oakland on this gorgeous day in between storms, my original intention and destination was the Gardens of Lake Merritt.  As we know, I love taking nature photos and can't resist a good flower pic.  A much more difficult task is getting good photos of butterflies and bees, which I also try to do with a not-so-satisfactory success rate.  

The Gardens at Lake Merritt boast a pollinator garden.  With our current climate issues and the fact that bees are dying at an alarming rate and the monarch butterfly population is on the decline as well, pollinator gardens are very important.  

I had been reading up on bees and monarchs...that's how I came across Lake Merritt.  In all my trips to Oakland, I had never done more than drive by.  I really wanted to learn more and experience this type of garden.  

So off I went. 

The gardens are free but parking isn't; it is $5 on weekends and $2 after 1:00 p.m. on weekdays.  Here is some travel information to the Gardens.  Outside the entrance is a crazy cool flower sculpture. 

And inside...it was amazing.  I could not get over how spectacular these orange and purple daisies are!

I mean...I'm in love.  Really. True. Love. 

Right away, I saw some butterflies.  They, like me, loved the lavender flowers.  #PurplePower

Here a Monarch takes flight.  They are so fast!  And I had my manual focus lens. *sad face*  I do still love this picture though.  I meant to focus on the flowers!

I also saw quite a few of these spectral-looking butterflies called Small White and/or Cabbage White. This male apparently thought he was quite camouflaged on the spotty road. I don't blame him!

Not surprisingly, where there are butterflies, you'll also find the birds who eat them.  In this case, gorgeous, blue scrub jays.  

 "What?!  Who you calling a scrub?"

"I ain't no scrub. Hmmph."

And I cannot even count how many fat, rolypoly squirrels I saw! 

  I wanted to pick this one up and squeeze the stuffing out of him!

But, back to the butterflies.  lol

And bees.  We cannot forget about the bees!

I love these unique-looking purple flowers and so did this fuzzy, grey digger bee (Anthophora). 

Another of my favorite finds of the day was this strange, but beautiful swirly green plant with blue flowers. 

One thing that amazes me (and makes me mad at myself quite frankly) is that I don't have a picture of the awesome bee hotel in the garden.  I know I took at least one photo of it, but it either didn't turn out or I accidentally deleted it.  

Well, now I have to go back!

Anyhoo...  On with the show. I loved this barren wood trellis.  This was in the "edible" garden... 

 ...where the star of the show for me besides the trellis, was the gorgeous and colorful Swiss Chard.  Which was literally beside the trellis. :-)

This little birdie lurking nearby may have thought so too.  

Actually, he and this little squirrel were hanging out in the sensory garden  

Here there are raised beds full of plants that stimulate the senses whether it's through their strong scent, fuzzy leaves, or brilliant blooms. 

Hey, squirrels need stimulation too!  Especially this guy with the nut in his mouth. 

He quickly shimmied up a wall and into a flower bed to bury his precious nugget for a future meal. He gave me the side eye as he carefully patted the dirt into place. 

Here are some of the colorful blooms in the sensory garden. 

As I continued walking through the seven acres of gardens, I saw many smart crows around.  I love crows. 

And an elegantly-handsome black feline who knew how to bring out the color of his eyes to the best advantage!

We'll end on that mesmerizing note.  

Next post we will visit the Mediterranean and Japanese gardens as well as the ones dedicated to Rododendrons.  

See ya then!   

xoxo

Nikon D3000