L.A. Adventure: The Huntington

My friend Ashley and I went over to The Huntington (Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens) yesterday and covered the WHOLE place! It's a massive complex with some very impressive collections of, well, everything. It was founded by Henry E. Huntington in 1919. He and his wife Arabella were quite the art and rare book collectors. The gardens are pretty fantastic as well. With Japanese, Chinese, desert, rose, subtropical, herb, jungle, and palm gardens, there is definitely something for everyone. There is also a tea room and huge greenhouse. If you have a full day to spend in one place in the Los Angeles area, I certainly recommend it! Ok, enough background info, here are a few pictures I took in the gardens and the Chinese garden complex yesterday.

Succulents as far as the eye can see!


Romantic (?) for the couple but not so much for the tree.


I'm not entirely sure about the name of this plant but I thought it was lovely.


This was as close as I could get before it ditched me. Such interesting wing patterns!


Bonsai! These trees are always a favorite. I really want one! They have an entire area called The Bonsai Court with loads of them next to the Zen Garden.


Onto the Chinese Garden area (complete with restaurant where I had some great iced jasmine tea)... I kept thinking about how amazing this place would be as a party venue. This is the flooring in the courtyard. I love the shapes and texture.


Everything is very open, including the window designs.


The water is a bit green but, other than that, it's still a lovely place to sit and have some tea in the shade (which we did as it was seriously hot yesterday).


Scroll down a bit for a shot of "The Valley of the Cactus Balls"!