Tilden Park: Joining the Natives
2 June 2002

Location	The vast majority of the pictures on this page were taken in the Botanical Garden in Tilden Park in the Berkeley Hills. It is devoted to native California plants and is widely believed to be the best place to see native California plants in something approaching their original habitat.
Weather	SPF-30 weather — hot and sunny.
Click on the images to see larger versions.

	Before I could visit the beautiful flowers in the Botanical Garden, I had to get there. This is taken in bumper-to-bumper traffic on my way from San Francisco International Airport to the other side of the Bay. As you can see, I'm in the Bay Bridge lane. In the background you can see the pointy top of the Transamerica Pyramid and the little, round Coit Tower. The shiny building in the middle is the San Francisco Mariott. I took a photo of both the Transamerica Pyramid and the Coit Tower last time I was in the Bay Area.
Here we've arrived in the Botanical Garden and what better way to start than with a California poppy, Eschscholzia californica?
	A closer look at the petals. No dressmaker could create anything even close to this luscious combination of yellow satin and orange velvet.
This photo isn't technically perfect but with the bright splashes of poppies, it speaks volumes about early summer in northern California.
	In the shade I found a pristine anemone, Carpenteria california. A nearby sign told me that the bush anemone is both rare and endangered.
More white petals in dappled shade.
	In full sun on the other hand, I found azalea-flowered monkeyflower, Mimulus grandiflorus. I think it's gorgeous and very garden-worthy.
There were Mariposa tulips too. The sign said Superb Mariposa, Calochortus superbus, and I found it hard to argue.
	In this photo, the markings stand out even more clearly.
In an adjacent border, a white version of the azalea-flowered monkeyflower lit up the scenery.
	This, however, is a European weed. It's bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis. I took a photo of it when I visited Sweden.
The garden is set in a ravine with a bridge across it.
	At the bottom, near the stream, was a clump of Douglas irises, Iris douglasiana.
A side view shows a more graceful side of the flower.
	Some large, unidentified plants were popular with butterflies.
This is not a monarch. Unfortunately that's as far as my butterfly taxonomy goes.
	One final close-up of the pretty wings.
This looks like another poppy but I'm not sure of its name.
	Another Iris, sadly without a name. Still, the ink markings on the falls are worth closer study.
The bridge in this photo is the same as in a previous photo.
	The leaves of an oak.
In the hotter part of the garden, I found this yucca flower. I thought it was curious how it is echoed by the electricity pole in the background.
	This lizard enjoyed the heat on a rock behind a prickly pear cactus.
Another prickly pear plant was flowering. It's a salmon-flowered prickly pear, Opuntia littoralis var. vaseyi.
	In this photo you can see the prickly pear flowers in context.
A yellow-flowered prickly pear cactus caught my eye.
	Sure, it's beautiful but do you realise the risk I took in taking this shot? What if I had stumbled?
A much more peaceful plant is this dudleya, Dudleya pulverenta. I like the abstract patterns created by the leaves.
	When I left the garden, I was heading back to my base in the Oakland Hills. This is the view from Inspiration Point. If you're familiar with the layout of Tilden, you'll realise that I was lost. But there are a lot worse places to be lost!
When I found the right way, I found a lookout that allowed me to take this picture of the San Francisco Bay. The bridge that you can just about make out is the Bay Bridge. That's the same bridge that I was approaching from the other side in the first photo on this page.
	The actual road is called Grizzly Peak Boulevard. To call it scenic is an understatement.
At my feet were the ever-present California poppies.

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Copyright Mjausson 2002