Hi Alex,

Thanks for the warning that was a good tour of palms and other plants. Those stag horn ferns were huge as well as the butias which makes me wonder how big are are going to get. I would have thought the stag horn ferms would perfer a more humid climate.

This must be a new trend here to share our vacation photos with palms... lol. Did you have fun at the zoo?

I have an idea of what the tree is you are asking about in the photo of the Norfolk island pine in the foreground. The background tree is a type of pine from China and can easily survive 7A winters. I have seen them in our Botanical Gardens for years. I'll see if I can get the name for you.

Great pics Alex!

I was about to ask(until I scrooled down futher)if they had any animals there (-;

In a climate like that they can combine the best of the animal and plant kindom......beautiful!

Thanks for the comments! Greg yeah, I think sharing vacation photos are a new thing now!! I was going to also upload pics from my trip to Maui, but there are so many that Ill probably have to cut that down to just the most special plants (and the best of the coconuts). And I would really appreciate if you could find the name of that pine for me. Its so beautiful and if it can survive the winter, its on the top of my list to add to my yard (yep now I have so little room that only the best of the best can have the space in the ground!). I was also extremely surprised by the staghorn ferns and all the other bromeliads thriving. Im sure they probably get daily waterings and mistings to keep them happy in such a dry climate. Lol, I had a great day at the Zoo!! They even said on one of the tours that because of the vast amount of plants they are sometimes considered a botanical garden too!!

Jim, hahaha, Yeah thats what happens when there are a lot of tropicals and I have a camera! I love animals, but the the plants stole the show in this thread. I did take some more animal pics that didnt upload, but I really took a lot more of the plants :) San diego was pretty cool especially in the morning when I was there (I needed a sweatshirt for the mornings) The mild winters and occasional but rarely really severe heat definitely keep these plants and animals very happy. I also saw a lot of very healthy royal palms in the zoo and throughout the city that I thought would have preferred a more hot and humid climate. Im surprised that I didnt upload any pics of those.

Oh and I apologize if you are viewing this with a slow computer. Its probably taking a long time to load if you have a slow computer!!

Thanks for looking!!!
-Alex

Thanks for posting your pictures! I love to visit San Diego and the zoo does have an amazing collection of plants. That hibiscus is stunning! Makes me want to plan another trip down there since I have not been down there in several years. Sea World has nice grounds too. Thanks for sharing.

Linda

San diego is a very nice city. I also wanted to go to Sea World but I didnt have enough time :( I also wanted to go to some of the palm nurseries but didnt get the chance. But I had a great time looking at all the plants in the zoo and around the city! San diego's a great city to spend a few days. Next time I'll try Sea World also!
-Alex

I was at Wild Animal Park last spring. Lots of huge Aloes and other cool plants there.

Re: "cacti" photos, the first one looks like it could be a columnar Euphorbia, not a cactus. The second photo is Alluaudia, not a cactus.

#63 is Agave attenuata. The other Agave unknowns could be A. americana

x

photo #50 (..."fishtail"...) under "Folribunda" the topic by lzrddr has what looks to be that same palm tree but its hard t tell 'cuz u can't see the trunk in 1 pic.

Thanks xerophyte_nyc! I wouldnt have ever figured the euphorbia ID out! And you are definitely right, the agave is Agave attenuata. Probably one of my favorite agave and now I know the name!!
Tropicpalms, I looked up "floribunda" pic but I didnt see any palms in the pic that matched the one in mine, but Im going to look into it more. There are lots of really exotic palms in those pics so I would be really happy if it was one of those and not just a common (but beautiful) fishtail palm.

Thanks for looking everyone!
-Alex

Alex,

WOW!!! Great Pictures...looks like you had a great time in San Diego!!!

I love that city...

Thanks for posting these wonderful pictures!!!

Laura in VB

I will try to ID some of your question plants: #104 is a Ficus dammeropsis (as is #82); First large philodendron is Evansii, the second is bipinatifidium; #99 palm is Parajubaea torralyi; Dioon in first cycad photo is meijae, and others are actually ferns I think (Blechnum gibbums); first 'cactus' is indeed a Euphorbia ammak, I think; and second 'cactus' is Alluaudia procera; #11 is a bottle tree or Brachychiton rupestris; the palms you called European Fan palms (can't recall number, if any) are Nannorhops (not European, but Iranian); #57 is Dioon merolae; photo #50 is a Caryota, but not sure what species... something a bit unusual as it does not appear to be a gigas or a urens; never heard of the name Macraw palm... those are Rhopalostylis (Nikau palms I have heard them called) from New Zealand; Hawaiian native succulents are Brighamia insignis; ficus close up #30 is Ficus lyriata; #35 and 33 etc. are Brachychiton discolor; #23 I think is Trithrinax campestris; #14 is Chamaedorea tepejilote; all the Staghorns in all your photos are Platycerim bifurcatum, though they do have nice examples of superbum at that zoo (just no photos of them above); Palm in last palm photo is a Pritchardia, but no clue what species.

Thanks for all the ID's lzrddr. I was looking back at the "macraw" palm and it turns out that I accidentally wrote down one of the palms I saw in Hawaii, a Macaw palm (Aiphanes minima). Thanks for the correction. I looked at the "european fan palm" and its definitely a Nannorhops, so thanks a lot for correcting that!! Chamaedorea tepejilote definitely looks like the right ID. I really like the bottle tree and especially the Ficus dammeropsis. Im not sure if you are right about the Blechnum gibbums ID since it was the North American Cycad section, but Im going to find out about that if I can. Thanks again for all your help! I appreciate it!!
Laura, Thanks!!! San diego is a great city with a great climate for some very nice palms and tropicals!! I did enjoy the city a lot!!

Thanks for helping and for looking everyone!!
-Alex

photo #73 is ocotillo It gets beautiful red trumpet flowers at the tips in spring when it gets a good winter rain. The dried up branches make an interesting web design that is popular in floral arrangements and terrariums so it is now illegal to take any part of it from the wild.
35-33 ?Ginko?? maybe

Close softmentor. #73 is "False Ocotillo"; Alluaudia procera from Madagascar. I donated a large plant, of this species, to the zoo about 18 years ago. 35-33 not Ginko, but very cool.

Thanks for the ID's. The Ocotillo apparently is apparently more commonly called a Madagascar Ocotillo but also called a false Ocotillo. All the ocotillos have pretty nice flowers!
Thanks for looking!!
-Alex