Wednesday Walk ~ Ventura Botanical Gardens

kunschj (64)in #wednesdaywalk • 6 years ago

My wife and I first learned about the Ventura Botanical Gardens when we picked up a brochure during an art walk in downtown Ventura. Unfortunately, laziness got the best of us and we never made it to there before the Thomas Fire last year, which severely impacted the gardens, burning it entirely. We were pleased to learn that the VBG is beginning to regrow after the fire. They had a grand re-opening on November 3rd, so we finally took a walk there. Put on some good shoes (not the flip flops my wife tried to hike in), and walk along with us on this #WednesdayWalk. Wednesday Walk is a weekly challenge created by @tattoodjay that encourages us to take a short walk and share our experiences.

The Ventura Botanical Gardens is laid out as five Mediterranean climate zones. Because this was a spur of the moment walk, we only visited the lower Chilean Zone.

Many of the plants from the regions featured at the Gardens are fire-adapted, and are already showing signs of regrowth.

There are several tranquil seating areas offering views of downtown Ventura, the Pacific, and the Channel Islands.

Unfortunately, the view was somewhat obscured by smoke from this year's Woolsey fire.

Besides replanting, the VBG volunteers have been busy improving walkways, including stairways that offer shortcuts on the way up or down.

I hope you enjoyed this walk. Someday I would like to go back and hike farther in to see the other regions of the gardens. If you want more, check my #MonoMad post today for a couple of black and white images from the gardens.

^{Be sure to click on the images to view them full screen!}
_{These are all original photograph @kunschj. All rights reserved}