Santa Barbara Sunday: Mission

On my recent trip to Santa Barbara, I took a bunch of photos that don’t go with any of the plant- or garden-related posts I have planned. Many of these photos are too nice to hide away, and I want to share them with you. That’s why I’ll have a “Santa Barbara Sunday” special for the next month or so, each one focusing on something different.

Let’s start with the Santa Barbara Mission, or Old Mission Santa Barbara as it’s officially called. It was the 10th of the 21 Spanish missions to be founded in California (December 4, 1786) and is often referred to as the “Queen of the Missions.” It’s the best-known landmark in current-day Santa Barbara and draws tourists from all over the world, myself included. I think I’ve stopped at the Mission every time I’ve been to Santa Barbara. I’m not going to go into its history, but if you’re interested, check out this article on Wikipedia.

Last Sunday morning, I strolled around the grounds in front of the Mission to check out the plantings. As was the case in the past, the landscaping at the corner of Laguna and East Los Olivos Street is dominated by agaves, including Agave americana, Agave ‘Blue Glow’, Agave ‘Sharkskin’, Agave desmetiana, and Agave vilmoriniana ‘Stained Glass’.

Closer to the church, I found two large Mexican grass trees (Dasylirion longissimum):

On the side of the church is a beautiful Peruvian pepper tree (Schinus molle):

Plantings along the arched colonnade:

Agave attenuata, ubiquitous in Santa Barbara

Peruvian apple cactus (Cereus repandus)

NOID aloe

NOID aloe

NOID aloe

Another Dasylirion longissimum

NOID aloe

Monstrose form of Cereus repandus

Colonnade

Clump of spiny euphorbias

Along the western side of the lawn, I spotted two tall aloes in bloom, possibly Aloe × salm-dyckiana, a naturally occurring hybrid between A. ferox and A. arborescens.

And across the street in front of the parking lot wall, a small tree aloe...

Aloidendron barberae

...and several Canary Islands dragon trees:

Dracaena draco

The last photo isn’t anything special, but it shows a section of the hellstrip where I parked. Elsewhere, this would be a patch of grass (or, more likely, weeds), but here it’s home to four different agave species!

Clockwise: Agave parryi, Agave titanota, Agave ‘Sharkskin’, another Agave parryi, and Agave lophantha ‘Quadricolor’

No matter where you find yourself in Santa Barbara, there’s beautiful landscaping wherever you look – a testament to the frost-free Mediterranean climate and the general affluence of the city.

© Gerhard Bock, 2024. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.