Another weekend of exploring, this time we drove up to LA County to see Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach. In 1790, a Spanish foot soldier, Manuel Nieto, received the area as part of a 300,000 acre land grant for his retirement. He built a simple adobe house on the property to house the ranchers and farm hands. It later was sold and turned into a summer retreat (circa 1880s) for a wealthy family from Los Angeles. They transformed the adobe into a suitable house and began planting trees and creating gardens. Today, it is known for it's different types of gardens, although they still give tours of the house. 
Above, is a picture of one of the gardens, the cacti garden. The giant blue-ish plant to the right is an 80 year old Agave plant. The smaller but still huge, green with yellow outline on the left, is another type of agave plant not quite as old. The agave is best known to make tequila but as we found out has other uses as well. We were lucky enough to have a private tour of the cacti garden by the gardener himself. He was ecstatic to show us all of his cacti that were in bloom and tell us some of the uses the plants have. He showed us the below tool used by Native Americans and made from the giant blue agave.
This is one of the first needle and threads. They would shred the leaves of the agave plant which come to a sharp point at the end (which eventually would become the needle). Then they would create the rope from the strands. He had all sorts of interesting facts and definitely entertained us with his stories and enthusiasm.
Some of the cacti were in bloom, most bloom at night but there are a few that bloom during the day.
They also had artichoke plants. I was so amazed when I found out that an artichoke is a flower and always wanted to see one bloom in person. So I was thrilled when we found this in the garden.
Most of the plants were old and established and this hibiscus plant was absolutely huge. It's one of the biggest hibiscus flowers I have seen! Beautiful.
Above, is a picture of one of the gardens, the cacti garden. The giant blue-ish plant to the right is an 80 year old Agave plant. The smaller but still huge, green with yellow outline on the left, is another type of agave plant not quite as old. The agave is best known to make tequila but as we found out has other uses as well. We were lucky enough to have a private tour of the cacti garden by the gardener himself. He was ecstatic to show us all of his cacti that were in bloom and tell us some of the uses the plants have. He showed us the below tool used by Native Americans and made from the giant blue agave.This is one of the first needle and threads. They would shred the leaves of the agave plant which come to a sharp point at the end (which eventually would become the needle). Then they would create the rope from the strands. He had all sorts of interesting facts and definitely entertained us with his stories and enthusiasm.Some of the cacti were in bloom, most bloom at night but there are a few that bloom during the day.They also had artichoke plants. I was so amazed when I found out that an artichoke is a flower and always wanted to see one bloom in person. So I was thrilled when we found this in the garden.Most of the plants were old and established and this hibiscus plant was absolutely huge. It's one of the biggest hibiscus flowers I have seen! Beautiful.
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