We went to the South Coast Botanic Gardens yesterday to see the Dahlia Society’s annual show. We try to attend every year, but missed it last year for some reason. Today, we were glad we didn’t miss this one. They outdid themselves from the last time we were here.

There were dahlias of nearly every size, color and variety. The colors were stunning. Hundreds on hundreds of beautiful flowers and arrangements. I took over 150 photos yesterday and I wish I could show them all. The slideshow below is but a small sampling of the wonderful flowers we saw.

Move your mouse cursor over the images to stop the slideshow; move out to resume.

We went to the dahlia show at the Botanic Gardens today (more about dahlias in a subsequent post). After we came out of the exhibit hall, we took our usual route through the gardens.

The first stop along the route is usually the Japanese Garden where a pond and waterfall set a tranquil mood. Several beautiful Garabaldi and Koi populate the serene waters of the pond.

This Koi was one of the most beautiful and exotic fish in the crystal clear pond today. Click on the image to enlarge.

This interesting South African succulent, crassula falcata, a.k.a. ‘Morgan’s Beauty,’ has never failed to produce these tiny, fragrant flowers. This photo shows the initial stage of the buds, before they develop into bright red (peppered with yellow stamens) and delicately fragrant blossoms. At this stage, they’re neither fragrant nor brilliant, but they’re going to be. Click on the image to enlarge.

UPDATE: After visiting the Botanic Gardens yesterday and seeing the crassula blooms, we are reminded that this is also called “Scarlet Paintbrush.”

I went into the archives and dug up some pictures we took at the range a couple of years ago. This one is a still frame from a video I was taking while Verna was firing her little .45 caliber compact Para Warthog pistol; the picture nicely shows the fiery gas plume that is generated as the pistol discharges the projectile toward the target downrange.

This gun is so small that I have trouble getting a hold on the short grip. It helps if I use the extended magazine where my pinky can get a grip. For a petite gun, it sure exhibits a full-blown plume and report. “Baby Boomer” seemed to be an appropriate designation for this little gun.

It’s hard to imagine these beautiful flowers bloom among all of these hostile-looking spikes and hooks on the Devil’s Tongue cactus. Click on the image to enlarge.

This plumeria flower started opening several days ago and today it was all the way open. I took this picture (click to enlarge) on the patio today.

According to WikiPedia, plumeria is related to the oleander and both possess poisonous, milky sap. Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.

Plumeria species are easily propagated by taking a cutting of leafless stem tips in Spring and allowing them to dry at the base before inserting them into soil. They are also propagated via tissue culture both from cuttings of freshly elongated stems and aseptically germinated seed.

we acquired a pink plumeria recently. I can’t wait for it to start producing flowers.

I spotted this nice ride up on the central coast of California during the recent road trip. It was parked near Morro Rock, overlooking the bay just in the background.

The sidecar is an aftermarket accessory manufactured by Liberty Sidecars of Seattle. It sure makes for an attractive addition to an already nice motorcycle.

You can click on the image for a larger 3D view. If you don’t have your 3D glasses yet, you can see the 2D version here.