The Cherry Blossoms are blooming at Descanso Gardens!
Calling all flower lovers! It’s April and that means the Cherry Blossom Trees are in full bloom right now. You don’t have to travel all the way to Japan or even Washington DC to see them up close and personal. Right now, in SoCal, you can see them in their full beauty at Descanso Gardens in Glendale, California! This past weekend, I went to see them at their fullest and it was a beautiful sight to say the least. Cherry Blossoms symbolize beauty, grace, destiny, and the realization of mortality in Japanese culture and it’s amazing that we get to bear witness to such beauty in our own backyard of LA. Descanso Gardens is a great place for a day trip for local Angelenos and not only are the cherry trees blooming but many other flowers as well including both the tulips and lilacs. The sweet smell of lavender fills the air as you walk through the different gardens and it’s a breath of fresh air to get out of the city. It just so happened that this past weekend was Coachella so there weren’t too many people hovering around trying to catch a sight of the blooms.
Taking a closer look at the beautiful Cherry Blossoms!
Frolicking around in the cutest dress from Bloomingdale’s!
These trees are amazing!
Flower Child
Cherry Trees aren’t the only flowers getting all the attention during the spring at Descanso. Many flowers are either at the beginning or the end of their cycles and all our gorgeous to view. Flowers including, Clivia, Crabapples, Dogwood, Magnolias, Wisteria, and lilacs are all on site to see. Magnolias and Tulips are at the end of their cycles whereas Clivia and Wisteria are at the beginning of theirs. I love the flower sightings during spring because it reminds me of a childlike sensibility and happiness that no humans or city sounds can provide. I often find comfort and solace in nature and when flowers bloom in vast abundance like this, it reminds me that the world is full of beauty and you don’t need to travel far to experience this utopian feeling.
Smelling the beautiful lilacs!
Basking in the sunlight is too good to pass up.
How gorgeous is this dress from Karen Millen?
CLIVIA FLOWERS
These bell shaped beauties grow in low light are also known as “natal lily or bush lily”. They are native to South Africa and they usually bloom in the shades of orange, yellow, and red. At Descanso, they are blooming in Orange and clearly I had to walk through and play around in them. They reminded me of an orange sherbet ice cream, so bright and effervescent. The bloom cycle for these flowers usually occurs February to March depending on the weather and temperature. I was lucky enough to see that they were blooming big time even in April.
These clivia flowers are blooming all over the gardens!
Love how brightly colored orange they are!
TULIPS
Tulip is the world's third most popular flower after rose and chrysanthemum. It is a cup-shaped, brightly colored and elegant flower, with a brightly colored green stem. Tulips were introduced in Holland when Carolus Clusius was appointed as the professor of botany at Leiden University. Since then, Holland has dominated the world tulip market. Tulips are classified into 15 classes on the basis of season of bloom, parentage, and various floral characteristics. They are available generally between November and May and have a life span of 3-7 days. They have such a short life span! Descanso displays a beautiful section of tulips that you can’t miss! The ones they carry have a pinkish hue that you can stare at for days. Check them out for yourself in the photos below :)
These particular tulips bloom into a pink hue and they radiate in the sun.
A view of the tulips in bloom at Descanso Gardens.
The Ancient Forest
If you really want to see the interior of Descanso Gardens, go frolic and get lost in their beautiful Ancient Forest. With a collection of over 180 plants of 60 different varieties, you can get an glimpse of what the early flora used to look like during the prehistoric days. Some of the species include Redwood trees, tree ferns, and cycads (which often live hundreds of years). Because of this slow-growth habit, cycad populations are disappearing in the wild as plant hunters remove these beautiful, palm-like specimens for collectors.
Tree Hugger in the ancient forest.
This dress from Zara is the perfect spring dress.
Dress: Zara:
Reach for the sun!