I had a little bit of time while I was in Santa Cruz to walk along West Cliff Drive between Lighthouse Field State Beach and Natural Bridges State Beach. The lighthouse building at left is home to a surfer museum and there were many surfers surfing in between the rocks. How they manage not to get killed is a mystery. The rock in the picture below that is separated from the coast is home to sea lions. None swam close enough for me to get a good picture.
The other end of the walk is Natural Bridges State Beach. There were at one time 3 of these natural bridges and they were connected to the coast. This is the only one remaining, as the others have all eroded away. The pelicans love to rest here.
Natural Bridges State Beach is also home to one of the largest monarch butterfly overwintering sites in the Western U.S. The weekend I was there was the official welcome back to the monarchs. The naturalists organized a welcome back festival with many educational events on Sunday afternoon. There are thousands of monarch butterflies clustered in the groves of eucalyptus trees near the beach each winter. You can see a few in the picture above, but I had difficulty getting close enough for good shot of the clouds of butterflies. This was a total sensory experience. There was a gentle breeze, the sound of the ocean waves from nearby , the delicious smell of the eucalyptus trees and the enchanting clouds of orange monarchs. One of those experiences that I always want to continue on for a while.
Below is one of the signs near the garden filled with different varieties of milkweed which is the host plant for the monarch caterpillars. There were many groups of school children going through with naturalist guides who discussed the life cycle of the monarchs.
Boardwalk going into the eucalyptus grove .
(right) I was surprised by the cliff side gardens on my walk. They were full of all kinds of amazing succulents, both large and small. It is something I would have expected in Southern California, but wasn't expecting this far north. The next few pictures are just a sampling of the gardens I enjoyed on my walk. All of these gardens were right along the sidewalk.
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This is another succulent that the locals call ice plant. It spreads everywhere once it takes hold, and it looks like it is used for erosion control , as it was prevalent along the cliffs. The flowers come in a variety of colors. I looked up ice plant in my garden encyclopedia, but this is not the plant it described. I will have to do some research and look through photos until I can find the Latin name.
The following are a few more cliff side gardens.
I was amused by the rock sculptures in this little garden. (left)
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| There was a long park/greenway on the other side of the street from the ocean. It ran along a little creek in the residential area. The fence is a plain wooden fence but decorated with nailed on driftwood. A great recycling idea! |
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Happy planting everyone! Next up for the blog will be Castle House and Gardens just outside of Santa Cruz. It was the wedding venue for my niece, Haddie's wedding.
Gma Susie
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