“Press Two Callas” by Imo­gen Cun­ning­ham, circa 1929

When I was a kid my per­fect day was going horse­back rid­ing fol­lowed by a movie. As an adult things have changed con­sid­er­ably. For instance, there was an arti­cle in the Los Ange­les Times recently about an exhibit at the Ocean­side Museum of Art of the pho­tographs of Imo­gen Cun­ning­ham. Enti­tled “Botan­i­cals: The Pho­tog­ra­phy of Imo­gen Cun­ning­ham”, it runs from Jan­u­ary 8 — May 22. I started think­ing about how much I would love to see it; that led to other thoughts, like nurs­eries I could visit near the museum, and of course good places for lunch and dinner!

The museum is south of Camp Pendle­ton; the nurs­eries in close prox­im­ity include:

• Anderson’s La Costa Nurs­ery in Encini­tas, a 50 year old fam­ily owned nurs­ery spe­cial­iz­ing in drought tol­er­ant plants.
• Bar­rels and Branches Nurs­ery in Encini­tas, owned by 2 young women, with unusual plants, pot­tery and gifts.
• Jun­gle Music in Encini­tas, a palm col­lec­tors mecca.
• Wei­d­ners Gar­dens in Encini­tas, owned by local gar­den­ing expert Eve­lyn Wei­d­ner and spe­cial­iz­ing in bego­nias and fuschias.
• Cedros Gar­dens in Solana Beach, a stun­ning loca­tion in a vibrant com­mer­cial area.
• Solana Suc­cu­lents in Solana Beach, devoted to suc­cu­lents and cacti.
• Ever­green Nurs­ery in Ocean­side, a large operation.
• Bam­boo Head­quar­ters in Vista, spe­cial­iz­ing in bam­boo and drought tol­er­ant and unusual plants.

All these nurs­eries are listed alpha­bet­i­cally under the San Diego Nurs­eries sec­tion to the left on my website.

Now, for break­fast or lunch, there is a great lit­tle place in Del Mar with a quaint out­door patio. The Strat­ford Court Café is located on a leafy side street; the patio din­ing there is very comfy. They have lots of great break­fast, sand­wich and soup choices. For din­ner, I would go to The Fish Mar­ket in Del Mar, a bustling rus­tic restau­rant spe­cial­iz­ing in mequite grilled fresh fish. I have enjoyed eat­ing at both.

Now, not that it can get any bet­ter, but if you time it right, you can attend a San Diego Hor­ti­cul­tural Soci­ety meet­ing, held @ 6:30 pm on the sec­ond Mon­day of each month. They rou­tinely draw crowds of 400 to 500 because of the great pro­grams and speak­ers on tap.

• Strat­ford Court Café, 1307 Strat­ford Court, Del Mar, (858) 792‑7433
• The Fish Mar­ket, 640 Via de la Valle, Del Mar, (858) 755‑2277
• The Ocean­side Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Ocean­side 92054, (760) 435‑3720 /​www​.oma​-online​.org/
• San Diego Hor­ti­cul­tural Soci­ety, www​.sdhort​soc​.org/
• Imo­gen Cun­ning­ham arti­cle in the Los Ange­les Times: http://latimes​blogs​.latimes​.com/​c​u​l​t​u​r​e​m​o​n​s​t​e​r​/​2​0​1​0​/​1​2​/​i​m​o​g​e​n​-​c​u​n​n​i​n​g​h​a​m​-​b​o​t​a​n​i​c​a​l​s​-​a​t​-​o​c​e​a​n​s​i​d​e​-​m​u​s​e​u​m​-​o​f​-​a​r​t​.​h​tml

On the Web:

Sheri­dan Gar­dens in Bur­bank is hold­ing a free rose and fruit tree prun­ing class on Sat­ur­day Jan­u­ary 15 hosted by Deb­o­rah Fox. Call (818) 841‑8845 for the time.

LA County Arboretum:

• 90 minute docent led walk­ing tours on Wednes­days, 10:30 am — 11:30 am/​free with admission
• Fam­ily bird walk: First Sat­ur­day of the month/​10am/​free with admis­sion: Join Arca­dia Naturalist/​recreation leader Ray Jill­son on a 2 hour walk through the Arbore­tum — chil­dren welcome.
• Sat­ur­day, Jan. 8: Wildlife Explo­ration /​10am — noon /​free with admission
• Sat­ur­day, Jan. 8: Rose Prun­ing /​9am — 12 am/​hands on work­shop about prun­ing and care of roses/​bring gloves and prun­ing shears. $28.00 non-​members. 626−821−4623
• Thurs­day, Jan. 13: The Native Flower Gar­den with Susan Van Atta/9:30 am — noon/​pro­files col­or­ful native plants based on Susan’s new book “The South­ern Cal­i­for­nia Native Flower gar­den”. $20.00 at door /​626−821−4623