Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, a look back

It's (finally) time to wrap up my posts on our 2021 trip to Southern California. Somehow I've saved my visit to the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden for last. This is a fabulous small botanic garden in the Thousand Oaks area—it's free, and an easy way to indulge your inner plant geek while not boring the rest of the family to tears.This visit was an outing with my mother-in-law, the rest of the family was off doing other things so she and I took a walk.
The succulent plantings at the top of the hillside are what I wanted to see, so we marched up.

Something has been sampling those agaves! Rabbits? Nah to tall, deer? There have been a few serious fires in the area but that wouldn't effect just the lower leaves.


There aren't many labels in this garden so I'm not guessing at other plant ID—these however are easily recognizable as Agave attenuata.

A variegated Agave attenuata under chicken-wire protection. Hungry animals all around!
San Pedro cactus, Echinopsis pachanoi.




Pretty darn cool.
As are the furry cactus, especially when back-lit.




The desert garden has amasing views, especially at dusk.

More furry cactus, because they're so cute...

Bloomed out, but still beautiful, agave.

And golden barrels...


Another view shot...
Erythrina humeana, aka the dwarf coral tree.
Salvia involucrata, the roseleaf sage.
Evidently my little love affair with salvia started way before my 2022 trip to NYC.
This last entry from the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden is a botanical mystery! A small tree with orange berries and pendulous purple blooms...
Anyone know what this is?
If you find yourself in the Thousand Oaks, CA, area, with a little time to kill, I definitely recommend a visit to the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden.