October 4, 2017
Descanso Gardens
In my post about Mt. Hollywood, commenter MaryG asked if I’d been to Descanso Gardens; the answer is yes and I thought today would be a perfect opportunity to share my visit there last year. While my visit last year was not my first time on the garden property(madame and I had some of our wedding pictures taken there and a colleague got married there), it was my first visit where I could see most of the garden. This was a bit surprising since I lived about 2 miles from the gardens for about 20 years, but never visited. The primary reason that prompted this particular visit was that I’d just received my full spectrum camera from the conversion service(they take out a filter in the camera and replace it with glass), and I though a garden with waterfalls and lakes would be a good place to try out the IR camera.
Desconso Gardens is in the Crescenta Valley in the city of La Canada Flintridge, about 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and about a mile east of the Montrose neighborhood of Glendale. The gardens are on the former estate of E. Manchester Boddy, who ran the Los Angeles Daily News and had a commercial camellia garden on a portion of the estate. He was able to expand his camellia business when he bought out 2 Japanese/American nurseries at the beginning of World War II. In 1953, Boddy ceded the gardens to the County of Los Angeles and they still operate the gardens today.
Read MoreIn my post about Mt. Hollywood, commenter MaryG asked if I’d been to Descanso Gardens; the answer is yes and I thought today would be a perfect opportunity to share my visit there last year. While my visit last year was not my first time on the garden property(madame and I had some of our wedding pictures taken there and a colleague got married there), it was my first visit where I could see most of the garden. This was a bit surprising since I lived about 2 miles from the gardens for about 20 years, but never visited. The primary reason that prompted this particular visit was that I’d just received my full spectrum camera from the conversion service(they take out a filter in the camera and replace it with glass), and I though a garden with waterfalls and lakes would be a good place to try out the IR camera.
Desconso Gardens is in the Crescenta Valley in the city of La Canada Flintridge, about 15 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and about a mile east of the Montrose neighborhood of Glendale. The gardens are on the former estate of E. Manchester Boddy, who ran the Los Angeles Daily News and had a commercial camellia garden on a portion of the estate. He was able to expand his camellia business when he bought out 2 Japanese/American nurseries at the beginning of World War II. In 1953, Boddy ceded the gardens to the County of Los Angeles and they still operate the gardens today.
The upper reaches of the garden(in Infrared).
Most of the main garden is in the lower portion of the property with the upper portion more rustic and natural. This infrared shot shows the coast live oak with the San Gabriels in the background.
