Desert garden
As I continue to pore over and process photos from my vacation, I get to relive the wonderful places and people I met along the way. One such treat was getting to meet fellow garden blogger Kris Peterson, whose Late to the Garden Party blog I’ve followed for nearly five years.
Kris & living wall
Kris is a docent at the South Coast Botanic Garden, where we met for a tour. It had rained hard the day before, so everything was sparkling with raindrops, though we had to dodge a few puddles en route. It was beautiful!
We enjoyed the garden, then chatted over a delicious lunch nearby before heading to view Kris’ home garden.
It was a thrill to see her garden in person after seeing tantalizing shots of it only on a computer screen for so many years. I even got to meet sweet Pipig, her tabby cat! I didn’t take any photos of her garden as I wanted to be totally present, but do click the link above to her site to see her latest photo tour. My friend MK took a shot of us heading down the steps to what Kris calls the ‘dreaded back slope’ (because of its gardening challenges).
Kris and me
What a lovely day it was – thank you, Kris!
Eliza Waters 
We need more living walls 🙂 So glad you posted this.
Thanks, Kim. I agree, esp. useful in urban areas where there isn’t enough green. Offices and schools, too. What a difference in mood, an auto-uplift!
This must have been a lovely visit – so enriching and rewarding!
Indeed it was, thank you, Anne!
What a treat to meet Kris and Pipig and to see those gardens.
You know how I love meeting blogging buddies and visiting great gardens! 😉
It really is a treat!
That living wall in incredible. I love it!
The textures and colors of the different plants, plus the circular pattern, made it an outstanding feature in the garden. Quite eyecatching!
Definitely.
What fun and I love the succulents.How wonderful to meet Kris in person.
It really was wonderful to meet her (she’s delightful) and see her amazing garden. SCBG is impressive, too.
So many beautiful flowers from a place I could have visited ten years ago but did not know about. I am glad you got to see it.
Thank you, Hien. Were you visiting or did you live there? There is so much to do and see in L.A.
Terrific vacation and how delightful to be among the gardens in bloom at this time of year, as we wait patiently for the snow to melt and those first ephemerals to poke through!
It was great to get a double spring. 🙂 Made March seem a lot less tedious.
Love your gallery!
Thank you!
I was glad we were able to meet up on this visit, Eliza – it was wonderful to meet you in person and fun to share both the SCBG and my own. You’re welcome to pay another visit any time!
Thank you very much, Kris. I definitely will next time I’m out that way. Have to see the new kitchen! 😉
Eliza…you sure had an absolutely amazing time ‘out west.’ Wonderful to share…thank you!
I’m beginning to think that a ‘minimum’ vacation should be at least two weeks. 😉 A week is too short!
Beautiful pictures and lovely gardens. I did check out Late To The Garden Party. Her yard/garden is AMAZING! Glad you got to meet up with a fellow blogger.
Thank you! Her garden truly is amazing – I was so excited to get to see it and meet her in person.
How lovely to meet Kris whose blog I follow too, and to visit her garden, which Is one I truly admire. She has written about being a docent at the gardens, and I’m sure it was a thrill to visit them with her.
I was thrilled that we could meet up and see the gardens together, it a real treat!
I am awe of gardeners! I love the beautiful flora. I have no eye for making it happen. Beautiful shots!
Thank you, Catherine. Not everyone is attracted to gardening, but everyone is to beauty! 😉
So true and I’m committed to earning my lovely garden even if it doesn’t come naturally!
The most important thing is that you love it and the process of being outside. Gardens are always works in progress, never finished!
True- i am starting to feel the Zen of it. 💓
What a beautiful garden…and that living wall is spectacular!
Thank you, Cindy. The wall is definitely a work of art!
What a wonderful array of flowers and plants in your slideshow.
I love that ‘living wall’. We definitely should be planting more of these vertical structures, especially in the inner cities where space might be a premium.
Thanks for the link to Kris’s blog….I’ll pop over and have a browse.
Thank you, Vicki. Enjoy!
very beautiful walking tour
of your special garden, Eliza!
plants have a way
of making me feel
more rooted 🙂
Thank you, David. It’s true, plants do help us feel more rooted!
How wonderful to meet a like-minded blogger, Eliza. I love that hedge!
I agree, and likewise, if I ever get to Australia, you can expect a visit from me! ;D
Oh! absolutely! That would be so awesome!
How wonderful in so many ways. Thank you for taking us along. The blogging ‘family’ has such a warmth about it.
It’s true, I do enjoy my blogging buddies!
Meeting fellow bloggers is a wonderful experience, you feel you know them already even if you’ve never met.
It’s true. Another commented that it is a modern version of pen pals. We tend to follow people with common interests, so bonds can easily form.
We’re having kind of a gray gloomy day so far this morning so your beautiful shots are welcome. What a treat to not only visit but have a special tour guide as well. 🙂
Yes, indeed, it was a lovely treat. Thank you, Judy!
Love it ✨💚
Thanks, Karen!
I liken blogging relationships to having pen pals. You have never met but you develop a connection and a kinship anyway. It really is the neatest thing. Keep those garden pictures coming!
Same here, modern-day, tech-enabled pen pals! I love it. 🙂 Thanks, Wendy!
How fun Eliza! You’re really getting around to your blogging friends. Such beautiful gardens!!!
IKR? I love meeting fellow bloggers, as we tend to have much in common. 🙂
Delightful! And how nice to get to meet your friend and see her garden in person! 🙂
Thank you, Joanna! It was special for sure. 🙂
Wonderful! So glad you and Kris could meet up, AND you could visit her garden! The botanical garden looks lovely too. 🙂
Thank you, Cathy. It was great fun!
That sounds like a wonderful holiday and beautiful reminders, lovely your video of the garden plants and flowers. Much enjoyed all this beauty, thank you.
Thank you, Agnes, glad you enjoyed the tour. 🙂
What a wonderful visit. I particularly like the first photo!
Thank you, Belinda!
Wow, that is some garden! Both the South Coast and your friend’s. I like the shot of the two of you .
Thank you, Lisa. It was a dream come true. 🙂
What a lovely garden tour that must’ve been!
It was delightful all around. Thanks, Betty!
How delightful to get to meet Kris after chatting online for years. What a treat!
It was indeed! Thanks, Cindy.
Looks like a lovely garden. Great captures. 😊
Thank you, Irene!
Gorgeous photos, Eliza, and how fun to get the chance to meet a fellow blogger! 😊
Thank you, Julie. It is enjoyable to meet a cyber buddy in person. Modern day pen pals!
Oh lucky you spending time with Kris and seeing her beautiful garden. I wish I could have joined you both.
Blogging brings us many friends and opportunities. You would have been most welcome!
What a gorgeous place.
Truly… thanks, Fi!
Wonderful! Glad you two gardeners got together! 😊
Thank you, Bela!
That is a pretty spectacular wall! I wrote about the tapestries designed by Brent Green a while ago, but they were relatively compact, in a confined space.
Thanks, Tony, I agree. Living walls seem best in frost-free locations like you have in CA. Some of the designs are really eye-catching.
There are nearly vertical sandstone cliffs where roads were cut into step hillsides, where I have considered constructing informal foliar tapestries, but I to not think that they would look as good outside of a refined landscape. I would be more inclined to simply plug succulents into the fractured stone and let them figure it out.
I’m so jealous! While I first met Kris on a trip to SoCal back in 2017 I have not had the chance to visit her garden (yet).
Such a beautiful slide show of gorgeous plants, trees and flowers, Eliza. And how nice that you spent time with a fellow blogger and garden expert. 🙂
Thank you very much, Jane. She is an amazing gardener, always a treat to spend time with a fellow plant fanatic. 🙂
PS That living wall is amazing! There is a fabulous one at SFMoMa that I love to visit.
If I ever get to SF, I will be sure to check it out.
What a happy post, to meet a fellow blogger, how awesome! And your photos are superb, how beautiful raindrops add to an already gorgeous flower! The Calla Lily ❤!
Thank you, Donna!
Absolutely enjoying these beautiful garden tours and photos, especially the lovely flowers with raindrops!🙂
Thank you, glad to know that!
Your photos are lovely, and how fun it must have been to meet your blogging friend! I’ve met a few bloggers I’ve followed for years in person, and every meeting have been a very good experience.
Thank you, Maria. Same here, I love meeting my blogging buddies! I even thought about you as I flew in and out of LV, and if my layover was more than 40 minutes, I would have contacted you, too! 🙂
Next time! I would of loved to! I live ten minutes from the airport 🙂
I’ll remember that. As you may recall, my son lives in Truckee, so I fly into Reno, often connecting in LV.
Yes! That’s wonderful. I’d love to meet you 😊
Amazing beauty, thanks for sharing.
Thank you!
How delightful! The gardens look v. interesting and meeting Kris adds an extra dimension to your visit and reading her blog.
Thank you, Allison. It was a great visit.
How nice that you were able to meet a blogging friend and enjoy in person the garden you have only seen on screen!
Thank you, Jen. Yes, it was quite the treat!
What an amazing garden and how good to meet in such a place too!
Yes, thanks, it was a treat all around!
Recently I visited the Naples Botanical Garden in Florida. I really liked that one, but also heard of Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach.
I hope you do a post about it!