Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
mashamcl

A Little Bit of California - a Visit to Carmel Mission (pictures

mashamcl
13 years ago

I have really enjoyed some recent threads on neighbors' gardens around the world. I would like to make a little contribution and post some pictures from our recent visit to Carmel Mission. Well, I can hardly call it a neighbors' garden, but then in my little corner of suburbia the most prominent landscape feature is a lawn (sometimes mown) and a hedge (sometimes clipped). Hardly interesting. Today I took 239 pictures of the Mission, Bay and some private gardens. The landscaping is lush and beautiful, lots of California native plants and not a lawn in sight. In my humble opinion this is what more gardens around here should look like. For those of you who have not seen Carmel, I hope you get a feeling for what it is like. I hope you enjoy seeing these pictures as I enjoyed taking them.

{{gwi:298098}}

The Mission San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo was established in 1770. By mid-19th century it was in ruins, and restoration began at the turn of the 20th century.

Entrance gate

{{gwi:298099}}

{{gwi:298100}}

{{gwi:298101}}

The Basilica

{{gwi:298102}}

Entrance garden

{{gwi:298103}}

{{gwi:298105}}

{{gwi:298107}}

{{gwi:298108}}

{{gwi:298109}}

{{gwi:298113}}

{{gwi:298116}}

The cemetery decorated with abalone shells

{{gwi:298119}}

Walking around the Basilica

{{gwi:298121}}

{{gwi:298123}}

{{gwi:298124}}

{{gwi:298125}}

{{gwi:298127}}

{{gwi:298128}}

School

{{gwi:298130}}

More pictures of the grounds

{{gwi:298133}}

{{gwi:298135}}

{{gwi:298137}}

{{gwi:298139}}

Meet the photographer and two reasons why the pictures are smudged, tilted and generally not as perfect as could be:-)

{{gwi:298142}}

Carmel Bay

{{gwi:298145}}

Notice the cloud cover coming from the sea in a straight blanket. The fog is burned off by the sun as the air warms up closer to land

{{gwi:298147}}

Downtown Carmel

{{gwi:298148}}

Some private beach-front gardens

{{gwi:298149}}

{{gwi:298150}}

{{gwi:298152}}

{{gwi:298154}}

{{gwi:298156}}

{{gwi:298157}}

Masha

Comments (26)

  • sherryocala
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, there wasn't a single shot I didn't love, and those residential gardens were magnificent. Thanks! I got a lot of good ideas for my winter garden - I hope. Great to meet you and your boys.

    Sherry

  • ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, one of the best collections of pictures I've seen in a long time. The mission and its gardens are so quintessentially Californian and for me seem like a perfect melding of site and garden design. I could live with those gardens forever. The picture of you and your boys is utterly charming. Thank you for this wonderful treat.

    Ingrid

  • harborrose_pnw
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, dh and I have spent some happy weekends in Carmel, and I remember that mission. So much fun to remember and to look at your pics. Enjoyed the pic of you and your children and all of those tropical plants and warm colors. The beach pics are beautiful. Thanks for posting, Gean

  • mariannese
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lovely pictures of a lovely landscape! It was a nostalgic trip for me. I've been to California twice only, first in 1981 travelling for three weeks, visiting family and friends in Playa del Rey and San Jose and nearby places, then in Palo Alto for a month in 2001. I didn't get the chance to visit a mission though.

  • cupshaped_roses
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What a nice place and how interesting to see gardens in such a different climate! TY for sharing your pictures.

  • imagardener2
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is the kind of garden I adore, human-size. It brought back memories of our California coast trip mucho years ago and our visit to this and other missions (every one we could find).

    Carmel is a wonderful village. My DH and I couldn't decide which we like better, Carmel or Monterey. It is an enchanted coast.

    You are such a talented photographer and what a lovely family.

    Denise

  • sfokay
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you Masha for the wonderful pictures. Very nice to meet you and your family. I loved the picture of the abutilon having never (yet) successfully raised one. These pictures show what can be done without huge amounts of water. Yes these plants were watered but many of those are happy without it. Love those echiums. Thanks, Karen

  • mendocino_rose
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What wonderful photos! I love the mission and that whole area. I don't think I've been there in spring time(too busy) Thank you so much.

  • elemire
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lovely pictures Masha! It looks so different and exotic with all the palms and cactuses mixed in and yet very natural! Also nice to meet the photographer and her two "helpers". :D

  • aimeekitty
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had to take notes while I was looking, there was so much awesome here!

    This first picture is so GREAT.
    http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/mashamcl/carmel/ecb471e5.jpg
    You can tell there are a lot of drought-tolerant plants here, but they're all mixed in such a way that it looks totally magical and romantic, not like a DESERT GARDEN. You know what I mean? I respect people who have that type,... but this one is more what I like.
    What are the stars of spikey leaves mixed in the photo? Pride of Madeira? I can just barely read the tag. Those are neat! I've heard of them before, but I was worried about the eventual size.

    Carmel Bay is just stunning. It looks like you're in the Caribbean or something, but we know you're not from the tree in the foreground. :)

    Love all the cottagey gardens in downtown carmel. all my favorite plants looking amazing! Wow!

    And this big old tree with the hydrangea in front is stunning!
    http://i655.photobucket.com/albums/uu274/mashamcl/carmel/b9b47139.jpg

    Also, nice to "meet" you! :D

  • Terry Crawford
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Living here in the Midwest, it is such a wonderful experience to be able to log on and go on a little mini-vaca and view other gorgeous gardens that I will most likely never have the privilege of traveling to...the terrain, plants, and trees are just so fascinating and different.

    Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures with us. I enjoyed viewing them with my morning cup of coffee :)
    -terry

  • AnneCecilia z5 MI
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I would love to have gardens like that - the plants are supersized (to me, anyway!) and lush. So many of them I couldn't name, don't recognize - but others I look at and think about my own modest sized plant in my northern backyard (that goes for the roses, too.) Ahhh. To have such a growing season and climate would be nice. Your photos were absolutely wonderful. I thank you so much for this post!

  • jeannie2009
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you so much for sharing this oh so special place. Your photographic skills are amazing. Each pic was better than the last.
    Jeannie
    Just makes me want to hop in the car and drive right over.

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you for sharing the gorgeous photos! It was like a vacation without having to leave home (my favorite kind). Thank you again. You need to go to Filoli next (hint, hint). :)

  • annabeth
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Gorgeous and interesting. Your boys are very cute, such personality shining through in one photo! Thanks for taking the time to share your trip with us. It was a lovely trip for us all.

    Annabeth

  • antiqueroselady
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I grew up in Santa Cruz and visited the mission at 16. I really miss California. It was sooooo easy to grow ANYTHING there especially roses. It is so hard to grow roses in Houston with the hard clay soil and hi temps and humidity. So many beautiful roses and flowers at the mission - a dream.

  • roselee z8b S.W. Texas
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Stunningly beautiful! I'll be looking at them again and again. Thank you ...

    Masha, ou've probably been asked this before, but I have not seen the answer; what camera do you use? Your pictures are so clear and crisp. I remember on another thread you said you used the automatic setting.

  • mashamcl
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you very much for your wonderful comments! I am glad my pictures entertained you a little. With two kids, a California mortgage and economy in recession most of my traveling is done on the couch these days, and photographs are a big part of it:-). After 7 years in the Bay Area I still view myself as a foreigner, and Californian climate and natural beauty never cease to delight me. I am always amazed at how many plants are in bloom at any time of the year, and what a riot of color it is. I still miss the lush softer-colored gardens of my childhood but I am beginning to take a closer look at drought tolerant plants. Desert landscaping is a complete mystery to me but I am getting tired of being a semi-permanent summer landscaping feature ("A Lady with a Watering Hose") and then gasping at the water bill... Carmel Mission gardens were a surprise to me in that water wise landscaping can be lush and beautiful too. I am learning:-).

    Aimeekitty, the tag reads "Echium Pride of Madeira". You can see a close-up of a spike in the fourth picture.

    Hoovb, I would love to go Filoli again, but they don't like children there. My kids do know how to behave around plants, but there they are asked to not even step on the lawn. It is hard on the boys to spend two hours never straying off paths...

    Roselee, my camera is Nikon D3000. It is the cheapest entry-level DSLR I could find. It is not professional quality and not the best for macro, but it is a good all-around camera for me. My oldest boy is a gymnast so I also take pictures of fast moving kids, not just close-ups of roses. It has multiple focus points which is great - you can see in the close-up of the Echium how it focuses vertically all along the spike, or in the picture with a little field of pelargoniums, how it focuses horizontally all along the blooms. In case of these particular pictures, it helped enormously that the day was cloudy - you get a nice even tone. The pictures of private gardens were taken later when the sun came out and they are not as good as the ones of the mission. For me, taking pictures in bright sun is very difficult.

    Masha

  • rosefolly
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, these are simply wonderful pictures. I have never visited this mission, and I think it is about time I did so. Thanks so much.

    Rosefolly

  • emmiegray1
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    THese are beautiful! We were there in February, as you can see the wisteria was blooming, but I was wishing that the roses were as well. My son did his 4th grade report on this mission. It's quite beautiful, and I wish we had time to travel and see all the missions.
    {{gwi:298158}}

    We went to the aquarium afterwards, and I did the same thing you did, taking pictures of all the pretty little seaside cottage gardens.
    After years of wanting a Pride of Madeira Echium, I finally planted one in my parkway. I suspect it might not do as well in my climate, but I'm hopeful anyway.

    Thanks for the second visit!

    Andrea

  • le_jardin_of_roses
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, the beauty of California is well displayed in your photos. California can be a gardeners dream in what can grow here, although you and your boys are just as beautiful as any of the gardens you have shown us. Thank you, Masha, for sharing.

    Juliet

  • vettin
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    WOW

  • aimeekitty
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, I know w hat you mean about learning about drought tolerant plants. I'm from South Carolina originally, it rains enough there that it sometimes floods up from the marsh into my parents' yard! Though the temperature is similar to here (about the same latitude) many plants that grow easily there do not here. And there's a degree of lush wetness, in general, that you just kinda feel there.

    But they have mosquitos.

    So... :) (mosquitos search me out within a 5 mile radius.)

    At first, I was really downcast about using drought tolerant plants, because you think of cacti and dustbowls, etc, etc... but there are a lot of very gorgeous plants that are drought tolerant! Seeing people use drought tolerant plants in more romantic ways is really inspiring to me. You always see the Mediterranean/californian/desert look, where the succulents and spikey shapes are emphasized and people talk about how great it is to have a big swath of rocks with some cacti sticking out of it. I can see how people would appreciate that, but it's so not me.

    but penstemons are drought tolerant and they're just as cute as snap dragons. And a lot of plants have rarer varieties of them that are more drought tolerant, too, if you look hard enough.

    also, our roses bloom all the time, right...? and some of the plants get really huge... so there are definitely positives.

  • malibu_rose
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just beautiful. So inspirational! You and your boys look so happy. Thanks for sharing.

  • mashamcl
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you!

    Andrea, what a lovely picture! I did wonder more than once what that area looked like with the wisteria in bloom - you must have read my thoughts:-).

    Aimee, I agree, gardening here is a joy. We spent three years in Dallas and there were so many mosquitoes you couldn't go outside in the summer. I remember putting on a rainjacket and long pants in a 100 heat just to go out and water! Also giant cockroaches...

    Masha

  • judith5bmontreal
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Masha, what beautiful pictures, and wonderful photography! And also such a lovely photo of you and your boys!

    I think I'll take another look at them...and pretend I'm there in person...

    Judith