Every year my Catholic high school has two faculty retreats, days meant for those of us who teach to basically have our spiritual engines recharged. Last year our new principal decided that our spring retreat would be best served if we, instead of gathering indoors for reflections and mass, spent a day communing with nature, and he chose to have us visit the LA Zoo - it really was a nice change, so this year he decided we should visit the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino. This was more than fine by me, since we live a few miles away, and as members, can go there every now and then for a recharge, so to speak.
The full name of the Huntington is the The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, which reflects its three distinct facets. From its brochure you learn that it is a private, non-profit collections-based research and educational institution, founded in 1919 by Henry E. Huntington, who was an exceptional businessman who built a financial empire that included railroad companies, utilities and real estate holdings in Southern California. During his lifetime he amassed the core of one of the finest research libraries in the world, established a significant art collection, and created an array of botanical gardens with plants from a geographic range spanning the globe. His property, purchased in the early 1900's, once known as the San Marino Ranch, is home to all of this today.
Yesterday was a simply lovely spring day, the sun was shining and it was cool and just a bit breezy. After a morning prayer gathering, and lunch, at a home in the San Gabriel mountains, we drove down to San Marino and met at the entrance of the Huntington for our afternoon's stroll. While we were free to explore on our own, three of us decided to spend most of our time outdoors in the gardens.
These are the flowers that graced the entrance:
We did pass through the Library on our way to the Gardens - the librarian and English teacher in our group can never pass up a visit to the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales or the Guttenberg Bible on vellum, not to mention the early editions of Shakespeare on permanent display. But then onto to the gardens.
In mid-March in California, we are changing seasons from our winter azaleas and camellias, to the budding spring trees; the roses are almost ready to bloom. We passed a docent with a table of various camellias on display, and took a walk through that area. I thought of Jan and her camellia pictures on her February blog, and took a few shots myself.
A flowering azalea bush:
And some camellias:
We passed through the Shakespeare garden, with its busts of prominent characters from the plays, and headed towards the Chinese gardens, the newest of the Huntington's botanical delights. It opened fully just last spring, and I was curious to see how the new plantings had taken to their surroundings.
The cherry trees were in blossom:
The garden has a tea room that overlooks a small lake:
We took another path back to the main entrance that led us through the not quite in bloom rose gardens (another visit in May, I think), but the surprise there was the wisteria vines in full lavender glory on the trellises there:
We had been in the gardens for several hours, and it was time for Janis and I to leave; Barbara decided to stay and explore a few of the art galleries since she also lives close by, and did not have the freeway commute that Janis had ahead. I left thinking that I am very lucky to live so close to this amazing place, so that we can continue our visits in manageable increments, never getting too overwhelmed by an exhausting long day. When our children were young, we would take them over to the Huntington to run through the gardens; when they were in school full time I became a Library docent for a number of years. When I returned to work full-time, I reluctantly retired from that gig, but I do have dreams of docenting again. If you come to California, and the Los Angeles area, I hope you will come out here and visit this magic place.
Comments (5)
Marcia, looks lovely. And how great you guys get a retreat and recharge.
Posted by candi | March 14, 2009 2:54 PM
Posted on March 14, 2009 14:54
I wish we went on retreats to recharge instead of having to sit through so many boring all day meetings. Your principal has the right idea! Looks like you had a lovely day.
Posted by girasoli | March 14, 2009 7:25 PM
Posted on March 14, 2009 19:25
Beautiful. This is one of our favorite gardens. I didn't realize that Wisteria bloomed this early in SoCa. Camillas I could believe but I didn't expect the Wisteria.
Thanks for the picture walk of Spring.
Posted by marta | March 14, 2009 9:32 PM
Posted on March 14, 2009 21:32
Beautiful pictures. What a nice way to spend a day recharging!
Posted by sheri | March 15, 2009 3:50 PM
Posted on March 15, 2009 15:50
I love The Huntington!
For several years we were members and visited there a number of times.
I want to go back again! Maybe a GTG and dinner after?
Posted by nancyhol | March 16, 2009 6:58 PM
Posted on March 16, 2009 18:58