LA Zoo is also a Botanical Garden!!!

My family and I recently took a trip to my hometown, San Pedro, California, to see my grandparents. My mother insisted on taking our kiddies to the LA Zoo, a place I had not been to since I was roughly 5-6 years old. As we were looking up directions on the internet I heard my mom say the LA Zoo was also a botanical garden. Needless to say, my engine revved up a little louder.

Here I am at the entrance, near some giant elephant ears. Reminds me of my childhood, where giant ones like these grew along the back of one of our rental houses.

Bergenia. I brought a small clump of this back from my grandmother's garden. At the zoo it was blooming.

Rare yellow clivia, a beautiful sight.

Heavenly scented Wisteria bloomed all over the park.

Trumpet vines glowed atop buildings and arbors.

My mom and I loved this tree! It was sited at California Flannel Bush, fremontodendron 'Ken Taylor.' What a beauty!

I could not get enough of the sculptural succulent and cacti that abounded at every walkway.

The azaleas and rhoededondron were all in full bloom, too.

My very favorite garden smell, jasmine. I tucked a flower behind my ear for the remainder of the day.

You could smell this wall of blooms from far away.

Various iris also bloomed.

Abultion.

I don't know for sure the name of a few of these, but they were very photogenic, nevertheless.

I love redwoods, so beautiful.

A type of fuchsia or penstemon, so pretty...

I love ceonthus, or California lilac. So blue and wonderful.

And, of course, palms.

Hope you enjoyed my trip to the LA Zoo. I took tons of pictures of animals here, and my kiddos, too.

Happy Gardening!