Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

Spring in southern California is magnificent for glorious weather and wildflowers. We are lucky to live near the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, 86 acres which are home to the largest collection of native California plants anywhere.

Naturally, the Garden attracts many birds. The image below captures the pert Bewick's Wren.

One year a pair of owls nested and raised their young in a tree a few feet from one of the trails. This year a pair of Red-Shouldered Hawks nested above another trail.

The Garden also attracts many butterflies, among them the Pipevine Swallowtail.

This June, one of the research associates, "BugBob" Allen, a biology professor, botanist, entomologist and photographer, who teaches digital photography classes at the Garden, organized the Garden's first butterfly exhibit, a wonderful presentation of native plants and the butterflies that pollinate them.

Monarch

Pipevine Swallowtail

Chalcedon Checkerspot

June brought bright pinks to Fay's Wildflower Garden, replacing the oranges, yellows and blues of poppies and lupine a month earlier.