Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden

Gorgeous Azaleas, Plus: Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens… The Pacific Coast Series #9

/ Curt Mekemson / 29 Comments
It was Mother’s Day. We are on the West Coast in the middle of our Pacific Coast exploration and our kids are on the East Coast. It was up to me to spoil Peggy. I started out by cooking her sourdough French toast topped off with butter and maple syrup, accompanied by sausage. Then it was time for the flowers.
So I took Peggy to the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens where there were lots of them. It is south of Fort Bragg about 10 minutes away from where we were camped on the Noyo River. The azaleas were in full bloom. Plus there were lots of other flowers, such as the beauty below. Note: This is the most photos I have ever posted on one blog. I kept the words to a minimum. It goes fast! I promise— unless you want to linger. Grin.
The garden covers 40 acres with numerous paths leading through woodlands, wetlands and along the coast. There was even a desert section.
Blue, blue, and blue!
As I noted, the azaleas were in full bloom. And beautiful. Peggy and I were kept busy with our cameras.
The azaleas came in numerous sizes, colors and even shapes.
White was a popular color.
As was red.
Pink was the most common…
Pinkish?
Not pink.
And now for other plants. This was in the desert collection. Strangely beautiful.
And big. Peggy provides perspective.
Its companion. Note the yellow flower on the right…
It was strange.
This plant? Possibly stranger.
A close up.
But what is stranger than a Venus flytrap?
Inner light…
Lime green.
Not sure what this is, but it felt a bit Jurassic. (Peggy and I were at Fern Canyon in the Redwoods on Tuesday where a portion of the original Jurassic Park movie was filmed.)
Cascading.
Also cascading: foxglove. We grew them in Oregon because the deer weren’t supposed to eat them. Every day they would come by, sample a bloom, and spit it out. Stubborn!
This would go well on a Christmas tree.
A poppy refused to come out because it was overcast and cold.
There were herons in the park.
Plus an owl.
And at least two pieces of impressive drift wood.
This gate led to a vegetable garden. Other than being artistic, its purpose was to keep the deer out!
Just inside was a burbling brook with this sign posted on it— a polite way to ask visitors not to throw coins in the water. A not so polite sign in the vegetable garden directed visitors to keep their dogs from peeing on the vegetables.
Fun greenhouse (or tool shed) at the vegetable garden.
The Botanical Garden also includes a section of the dramatic Mendocino Coast. We included it in our hike. There were more flowers, of course.
The trail led us right along the edge of the ocean.
Ice plant.
Some of the ground was carpeted by tiny yellow flowers so tiny they were indistinct…
But not to our cameras.
We normally take photos of poppies to emphasize the flowers. This time, it was the leaves.
I’ll conclude today with colorful rock that was towering over the others in the small bay. I was pondering what it reminded me of. “It’s Buddha,” Peggy declared. It was the Buddha of the Bay. On Monday, we will explore more of the Mendocino Coast including the headlands outside of the town of Mendocino and Fort Bragg’s famous Glass Beach.
Many years ago, before such activities became unthinkable, not to mention illegal, this section of the beach in Fort Bragg served as a dump. Time has ground the glass to the point where it fits right in with the pebbles and seashells. In a quick perusal, I counted over 30 pieces in this small section.