Visiting LA's Natural History Museum; inside the wall

On Wednesday we started a tour of the garden at LA's Natural History Museum, arbitrarily drawing a line at what was on view publicly—that is without paying admission—vs. what you see once you've bought a ticket and walked in the gate.

These Opuntia ficus-indica were growing in the edible garden, part of the gardens inside the gate. There was filming going on nearby during my visit, so I tried to stay out of camera range while still admiring those big pads and...

...the papaya growing above.

Also of interest in the edible garden, the large rusty-metal forms on which various plants were (or could be) growing.

Our visit was on November 15th, this structure may have been covered with annual vines in season?

These were my favorite, they were vaguely reminiscent of the Robert Irwin arbors seen at the Getty Museum.

But this style offered all sorts of opportunities for hanging plants...

Walking on I several signs about their hummingbird garden...

... and right on queque I was divebombed by several of these adorable little terrors.

Senna artemisioides, a plant I tried to grow, but failed at. Isn't it dreamy?

There was a nice little pond.

And a simple arty "fence" surrounding it.

There was a lot to love over in the "get dirty" zone.

Including structures meant to engage nature.

And ones meant for kid-play.

I'm got to try your patience by ending this post with even more living wall photos, because it turns out it's a two-sided wall!

And it's just so good that it deserves as many photos as possible!

It would have been fun to be able to walk on the top of the wall, a pathway snaking along the center of the plantings. It's probably a bit of an insurance nightmare though.

Dudleya seemed to love the wall, after all it mimics their rock growing nature.

I first thought this was a senecio, but it's actually another dudleya.

This cool-business! Eriogonum fasciculatum, aka California buckwheat.

That's what the sign said, and when I asked online (sure that the sign was wrong) that's what I was told by those who would know.

I'm still scratching my head over that one.

If you're curious to learn more about the interesting series of gardens at the Natural Hisory Museum, there is a fantastic chapter on them in the book Under Western Skies, written by Jennifer Jewell and photographed by Caitlin Atkinson.