Los Angeles PRA with the PRA team(TM).

[paulgila]

MattyB & I venture to the wilds of the Los Angeles basin where we encountered a strange & magical race of

beings called "Angelinos." join us now for adventure,action & other other fun stuff that starts with the letter "a."

we left at dawn & were soon among the strange temples of the angelinos.

who grow wonderous crops.

and have a strange manner of dress.

they build their huts on tall cliffs.

and live atop great mountain ranges like this one in the To-pan-ga region.

[paulgila]

we met one of their chiefs,the one they call "Leland Lei."

they grow amazing palms,like this ravenea xerophylla

and this dypsis decipiens.

some regions of their lands are arid,with cactus growing in abundance.

some are bare stone.

while still others are home to palms of gleaming silver.

[bgl]

Wow, you guys found your way to Leland's compound! I'm impressed! Are those all the pictures he let you take, or there's more coming?

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Nice Dypsis decipiens

[james1234]

Paul,

more pictures please.

James

[BS Man about Palms]

I am always amazed that I found Lelands on "accident" because I went to a New Years day "car gathering" across the street for several years. (During that magical time when I was doing both cars and palms in minor batches)

[Dr. George]

MattyB & I venture to the wilds of the Los Angeles basin where we encountered a strange & magical race of

beings called "Angelinos." join us now for adventure,action & other other fun stuff that starts with the letter "a."

Were you driven from the bounds of the Country of San Diego by the recent invasion of Comi-conians, and flee through the Orange Country, past the Pogo tribe who also are fleeing into the highlands, and past the sharp tips of the Dana Pointians into the Country of the Angelinos (or did you just drive up to LA for the day)?

gmp

[Stevetoad]

MattyB & I venture to the wilds of the Los Angeles basin where we encountered a strange & magical race of

beings called "Angelinos." join us now for adventure,action & other other fun stuff that starts with the letter "a."

Were you driven from the bounds of the Country of San Diego by the recent invasion of Comi-conians, and flee through the Orange Country, past the Pogo tribe who also are fleeing into the highlands, and past the sharp tips of the Dana Pointians into the Country of the Angelinos (or did you just drive up to LA for the day)?

gmp

[DoomsDave]

Oh, and the trip gets more magical . . .

[MattyB]

Here's some of my pics from Leland's.

I loved the hardscaping, terazzo style with all the small chunks of marble and granite salvaged from a counter top manufacturer. Great use of scrap material!

The xeric garden was very well done!

[MattyB]

This was a clever technique: For cycads, cactus, or succulents that need superior drainage, Leland would take a large pot and mound dirt around it, then let it sit for a year to compact and let the soil become hard. Then whenever he was ready to plant a plant there, he removes the pot, leaving a pre-dug hole in the mound for him to insert the plant.

[MattyB]

Syagrus 'abre ojos', Date palm, and beautiful view off to the hills. Although this garden is only 3 miles from the ocean, it sits well over 1000' in elevation up in the coastal mountain range, mitigating the ocean influence and creating more daytime growing heat than is usually seen that close to the coast. In order to see terrain like this in San Diego county you'd have to go 20 miles inland.

[BS Man about Palms]

Thems big words for a guy that has an Avatar like that...

[MattyB]

Moving on to the pool area with many beautiful specimines including Dypsis baronii and a trunking Cyphophoenix elegans.

The dogs thought that the pool water was scrumptious!

[MattyB]

Here's some video of the pool area.

[BS Man about Palms]

VERY nice! Like so many great gardens... a veritable paradise lurks just over the fence...

[paulgila]

my shots from the pool area begin thusly.

interesting flower.

mattyb "in the zone."

the palm that blew me awat was the HUGE polyandrococcus.

c.oreophila flower.

nice compact pritchardia.

[paulgila]

near the carriage house i spotted an awesome sabal mauritiiformis.

observe its unmistakable leaf base pattern.

another large silver sentry.

leland is a gracious host.

huzzah!!!

after an incredible repast at a nearby indonesian resto we continue on to

the land of the hoagies. we were at once whisked to their sacred lair:

the conservatory at the huntington botanical garden,where they claim to be

important chiefs.

mattyb was suitably impressed.

[MattyB]

Let's finish up Leland's before we move on, o brave explorer.

Brahea decumbens, green form?????

[MattyB]

Winding around the pool still with that huge Allagoptera caudescens, an old clump of Serenoa repens, and the cutest little Chamaedorea oreophila flower (tastes like spaghetti).

[MattyB]

We leave the pool area, make our way through an entertainment room, where we saw Clark's wife sitting on a table, and around into the back garden where we spot the west coast version of Satakentia: Rhopalostylis, of which Leland's garden had plenty of mature specimines.

[MattyB]

He had some great shade back here and then we broke out into sun as we came full circle to where the tour started. I was so blown away by the place that I forgot to take a pic of the Dypsis decipiens the first time around.

[MattyB]

...and so we circle on around, past the carridge house, around by the old, round leaved Sabal and I got this beautiful last shot of his lone Trachycarpus martianus standing tall amongst a quad planting of Trachycarpus wagnerianus.

[DALION]

That looks like you guys had tons of fun.

[MattyB]

We jump into the PRA Action Van ™ and make a b-line for our lunch detination in Culver City, Simpang Asia! For your viewing enjoyment I submit to you "Traffic, Washintonias, and Skyscrapers" an L.A. staple (coincidentaly we passed the Staples Center while taking these pics...coincidence, I think so!)

Paul, did the mandatory "sippy face" over his drink box and then went into a trace because the Indonesian food was soooooo gooooood!

[MattyB]

Next stop: The Huntington

[Stevetoad]

looks like a great PRA! i love that pool.

[Rafael]

Very cool, but we want more videos...

[Daryl]

Great thread so far...keep 'em coming...

Daryl

[DoomsDave]

more more more

[MMerville]

Very nice pictures and nice video.

I would love to see more,please.

Michel

[Jeff Searle]

Love to see these kinds of trips made by fellow palm junkies. Look forward to more pictures.

[palmislandRandy]

Yeah, and..............................

[elHoagie]

We had a great time with MattyB and Paul! I only have photos of the Huntington, so I'll post those...

First is an avenue of unidentified Livistona..

[palmcurry]

Dooooooood that Dicipiens is HUUUUUUUGe

[elHoagie]

Lindsey and MattyB were trying to figure out why the statue had "man hands"

Why is palmtalk downsizing the sh!t out of my photos? I haven't been here in a while, but I guess you can't post anything other than "lowres" anymore???

[elHoagie]

Coccothrinax in the conservatory

[elHoagie]

Balaka. Also in the conservatory.

[elHoagie]

Licuala. Also in the conservatory...

[elHoagie]

Matt. Assuming the position. In the conservatory. Paul's foot hit his ass immediately after this photo.