Usually the start of the fall semester signals the end of big botanical field trips for me, but this year was an exception. A few weeks ago I went to Anaheim, CA to recruit graduate students for my department at a conference. There was another botany grad with me and we had a few hours free to explore one afternoon. The best attraction we could think of was the Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens in San Marino (take that, Disneyland!), where many of our friends and colleagues have visited and/or worked. Since our time was limited, we did a whirlwind tour of the garden, spending the most time in the Japanese and Desert sections. Alas, there were no ferns in these parts, but some beautiful other plants nonetheless. The bonsai collection was particularly impressive (shown above), as were the extensive cacti in the desert, below.
