Catalina Island Botanical Garden photos

15 years ago

My wife and I took a little holiday this last weekend to Catalina Island, California. It was a lot of fun, and a very unique experience. One of the highlights of the island is the small but nicely appointed botanical garden, which is now owned and managed by the Catalina Island Conservancy. Here are some of my favorite plants from the garden.

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Dudleya hassei is the only succulent among the six endemic plant species of Catalina Island. Naturally, that makes it my official favorite Catlina endemic.

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Another island endemic, Santa Catalina Island ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. floribundus), is marginally pachycaul though, making it a close second.

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They have two really nice, old Dracaena draco.

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Both D. draco were heavily laden with fruit.

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Gorgeous stems of the D. draco.

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All of their Aloes were very nicely kept. This A. plicatilis is no exception.

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I was particularly impressed by their A. arborescens. Growing them very hard and keeping them tidy creates a plant almost unrecognizable by the well-watered, green mounds seen in landscaping.

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More A. arborescens.

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A. marlothii

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There were two of these super squat Nolina.

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A mind boggling patch of Euphorbia caput-medusae. It was at least 4' by 3' wide. Just huge!

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An equally impressive patch of E. mammillaris.

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At the end of the long road that forms the garden, is the Wrigley Memorial. It was built in the 1934 as a memorial to William Wrigley Jr, of gum and Chicago Cubs fame. At one point, the Wrigleys owned 99% of the island. They gave away 98% of it to the Catlina Island Conservancy, and own the rest, which is essentially all of Avalon, the small resort town we visited.

{{gwi:631998}}From Catalina Island Botanical Garden and Wrigley Memorial
The view down into the garden from the memorial. The succulents are all at the very bottom, at what appears to be the end of the road.

Featured Answer

Lars

7 years ago

I was sorting through my photos last night and came across these, taken on Catalina, August 31, 2013, when I took my sister there for her birthday. I've been to Catalina quite a few times, but I do not always go to the botanical garden. When I lived in Venice, we could ride our mountain bikes to the ferry in Marina Del Rey, take our bikes on the ferry, and then have some transportation of our own on the island, although many of the roads are so steep that we walked our bikes part of the way, even though mine has 32 gears.

I might find some more photos later of some earlier trips, but I think the most recent ones are better, as I had a better camera.

Comments (9)

caudex1
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the photos! I've always wanted to go to the islands, just got to talk my wife into it/
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Not many posts on the net are really unique..this is. Rather than the huge Huntington plants these as you said are hard lived..and it shows in a way that I wont see in NorCal..with never a freeze and bone dry,it seems. Even the A.plictilis looks on the verge of dropping its leaves. The marlothii's trunk is a standout. Caudex,anybody ever bonsai A.marlothii?
The mammillarias are another Euphorbia Josh-the corncob Euphorbia. Argh,now i want to back to Lowes and get the white and yellow corncobs....
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birdsnblooms
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Oh Jo, you are SO lucky..what beautiful plants. That Draco is amazing, and its flowers!!! It has to be up in age, since Draco's are slow-growing. Let's see..I'll be about 150 before my Draco is half the size..gonna be kinda hard lugging it outside in summer..lol. Very nice, Toni
reiver
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the treat! Mind blowing plants!

Mike
rigo74
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow!Thanks for sharing the pics with us, they were really great.

Rigo
joscience
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Caudex: We weren't exactly the target demographic of the island, but we still had a great time. I can't say that it was the cheapest weekend I've ever had, but there was more than enough for us to thoroughly enjoy ourselves without spending an arm and a leg. I know your wife enjoys ceramics, and Catalina actually has a rich history of production. We had no idea, but were elated to discover it since my wife is a ceramics junky herself. As it turns out, it was actually the annual Catalina ceramics "convention" the Saturday we were there. It was only five large tables, but that is apparently a significant fraction of *all* that is left. Honestly, the only thing about the entire trip I can complain about was our boat ride over.

Stan: I consider "unique" to be one of the highest compliments that can be paid to a photographer. Even though the subjects deserve most of the credit in this particular case, I'll still warmly say, "Thanks!"

Toni and Mike: Its really fun to share these plants with everybody, thanks for looking!

Here are some more pictures I took, and a couple my wife took too.

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One of maybe five D. draco this size.

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An extremely bottle-shaped Pachypodium lamerei.

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An awesome Opuntia streptacantha. It is really cool how the leaves slowly convert into "stems" like a tree.

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A golden barrel cactus that was damaged and pupped like mad a long time ago.

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My favorite Fouquieria, the Boojum. (taken by my wife)

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A gigantic mound of Euphorbia avasmontana. It had to have been 8 feet in diamter, and 4 feet at its tallest! The wide angle of this picture kind of distorts everything and makes me look tiny. (taken by my wife)

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A little taste of Catalina ceramics. Of course, to stay on topic, I chose the picture of the cactus salt and pepper shakers! (taken by my wife)
birdsnblooms
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jo, does the entire island have C&S's growing or is the area you took pics dedicated to nature? In other words, a few miles east, west, north and south, are there huge city buildings..lol..?
The plants are breath-taking. Like the ceramics too.
I've always had a fondness for draco..it took over well, a long time to find one..and then there's two..lol
The island must have been a real treat.
What is the climate like on the island? Day and night?
Being an island, it would be humid, no? Toni
joscience
Original Author
15 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Toni: The island of Catalina has a rather mild, typically southern California/Mediterranean climate. The ocean strongly regulates the temperature, so that the highs are rarely above 80F, and the lows are rarely below 60F. In fact, the lowest ever recorded temperature in Avalon was 27F. The interior of the island can get warmer, up to around 90F, but that is only in the deep valleys that are shielded from the ocean breeze. Thankfully, the low temperatures keep the humidity down to a comfortable 70% or so, but that can obviously vary.

The island is mostly dominated by scrub, not succulents. Lots of grasses, wiry brush, and small trees. The only natural succulents that are apparent without careful looking are prickly pears.

All of those photos are taken at the island's botanical gardens, which is just outside the resort town of Avalon. For the most part, if you traveled any direction but north east, you would be heading out into totally undeveloped land. The town of Avalon itself is rather small anyway, only one square mile total.

Here are some other photos (not C&S related) from my trip if you want to see a little more of Catalina and Avalon.