I am a talk to trees, stop and smell the flowers, play hide and seek with squirrels, sing to hummingbirds, make friends with spiders, chase butterflies, and sit and watch bees kind of gal. The LA Arboretum and Botanical Gardens nourished the fullness of my connection to nature and all it's little and larger critters and creatures.
I adore that LA Arboretum is a home to one of the most beautiful birds on the planet, peacocks. I could sit and admire a peacock for hours, maybe even days. Their beauty is astounding. When I look at them I see Mother Earth's natural fashionista icon. It was such a pleasure to be in the presence of so many peacocks while at the Arboretum. They were so free and at peace in the gardens. I was even able to sit for a moment with a mama peacock and her two little babies who were bouncing around as they discovered the newness of their earthly home. The peacocks seemed to really love the rolling lawn of grass at the entrance.
After spending some quality time with the peacocks, Treya and I made our way to our 10:30am Goat Yoga class. I have been dying to combine my love of yoga with my admiration and respect for goats. The class was $45 and covered entry fee to the Arboretum. We rented yoga mats for $5 and made our way to the lovely lawn with a stunning waterfall in the foreground. Goat yoga was a ball of fun. There were four goats. Goat yoga is totally all about the goats and the yoga is an extra bonus. We explored a series of yoga poses and the goats wandered around weaving through our legs and jumping onto our backs. They were having a ball and getting treats for their exploration with us humans. I haven't hung out with a goat in a while so it was great to get in some quality time with the goats. One came and snuggled up with me on my mat towards the end of class which was so wonderful.
I have to say that the LA Arboretum offers the most activities I've seen a garden offer. They have goat yoga, regular yoga, oil painting, sound baths, full moon forest baths, adult night folklore hikes, family night hikes, tai chi, and the list goes on.
After Goat yoga, Treya, my garden adventure buddy and I went further into the Arboretum. I was blown away by how many bodies of water and waterfalls the garden offered.
My favorite was the aquatic garden. I made friends with many turtles there. The turtles were all bathing on logs under the warm sun.
Everywhere I looked there were hummingbirds, bees and salamanders. It was a true animal lovers oasis so I felt so at peace and at home. I am a true lady moss. I feel most at peace, lying amongst the little critters on grass or dirt and gazing up at the vastness of the trees and the delicacy of the flowers. My friend sent me this post on social media that has really sat with me the past couple days. "The girl boss is dead, long live the girl moss (lying on the floor of the forest and being absorbed back into nature". I am a girl moss through and through.
Now for the fashion fun part of this blog post. What did I decide to wear to the Arboretum? Well, I decided to wear a fun organza polka dot black and white dress I recently picked up. It is so light and airy and perfect for a warm LA summer day such a the ones we have been having recently. Feeling so inspired by nature lately and the stunning color green I decided to accent the white and black with pops of green. I accessorized the black and white look with emerald colored heeled sandals and a patent leather purse. I finished the look off with moss colored sunglasses. Green has been speaking to me a lot over the past year or so. I have always deemed purple as my favorite color but green is really starting to steal my heart away these days and may be in the running as my new favorite color soon.
Another quote that came across my path that I really enjoyed the other day was "Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience." - Ralph Waldo Emerson. I have been a fan of Emerson ever since I read Walden and learned of his journey living in the woods. How could I not love someone who "wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and learn what they had to teach and to discover if he had really lived". I admired his connection to nature and connected with him as a Cambridge, MA native and admirer of the Walden ponds. Anyways, I digress. It's easy to digress when talking about nature for me.
What I love about the LA Arboretum is how much green there is. There are so many different kinds of trees and plants and flowers and it just seems to go on for miles and miles. There are hidden and secret gardens. It's truly magical and ethereal. The LA Arboretum was such a treat. I was there for a few hours but wish I could have been there all day. Next time it'll be an all day kind of moment so I can really get in quality time with all the animals there and all the plant, flower and tree species.
My trip to LA Arboretum and Botanical Gardens really rounded out my garden experiences the past few weeks. Pasadena has some wonderful gardens and they all offer their unique set of advantages. The Huntington Library and the LA Arboretum are my faves though so far out of the three (the third being Descanso Gardens).