So you like those things?

Back to the beginning though...

For the vacation portion of our trip we stayed in LA's Koreatown at The Line.
Arriving on a sunny warm Sunday I was instantly in heaven, checking out the plants around the hotel. Grevillea 'Moonlight' I think...
Russelia equisetiformis
The hotel had a restaurant on the second floor, "Michelin-starred chef Josiah Citrin’s Openaire"
However the two times I went to explore it wasn't open. 
Oh well, it's easier to take photos when there aren't people whose privacy your worried about invading...
Camera pressed to the glass, looking into the restaurant.
And the seating area between the restaurant and the pool.
A balcony stretched around the east side of the second floor, with lots of seating and plants everywhere—this is definitely a hotel for plant lovers! 
Looking up at the second floor plants from the hotel entrance...
We did eat (and drink) in the lobby bar one night, where I enjoyed the plant shapes on the ceiling.
Between the hotel and Starbucks (what can I say, I came of coffee drinking age in Seattle and Starbucks is my go-to morning coffee) I stopped to admire the plants in front of Oasis Church.
As I snapped photos the people waiting at the nearby bus stop looked at me as though I'd lost my mind.
In the interest of full disclosure I should share that someone was sleeping under a palm just to the right, out of frame. He was there two mornings in a row—but on the third he was gone.
Inside our room this narrow shelf, and the interesting print above, called out for a still-life. 
The orange vase, wooden blocks and rock were there when we checked in. I picked up a small broken branch from a Lyonothamnus floribundus ssp. asplenifolius (Catalina ironwood) at the Natural History Museum and tucked it into the vase, later adding a Rhipsalis paradoxa I'd purchased.
Here's my entire (small) haul...
The rhipsalis came from Mickey Hargitay Plants, a great little shop I'll cover in another post.
I believe this fabulous split, double pod, is from a Brachychiton discolor.
The only plant I bought at Seaside Gardens in Carpinteria is this tiny, unlabeled, guy. Anyone know what it is?
Yes, I haul home all sorts of interesting (to me) things I pick up off the ground, like these eucalyptus buttons.
As well as an assortment of banksia pods...
Because one is not enough!


This small piece of wood also made the trip back to Portland.
Andrew added a trio of cap-less acorns to the mix.
Oh, and there's one more plant! I wandered into a place called botanik in Summerland (best town name ever!)...
And fell in love with this guy, who was wearing a fetching corsage of fallen bougainvillea. 
What? I carried a common old Senecio radicans back from California? 

Well yes and no. Because common as Senecio radicans is, this one seemed special because of its ultra green stems and small blue succulent leaves.
Plus it's a 'String of Blimps"... ha! Who comes up with these names?
I managed to get it home in my carry-on without much damage. Where there is a will, I will find a way...