In January we travelled to California for a winter holiday. We really enjoyed our trip, travelling through the desert and the central coast. We travelled to a lot of really interesting towns and cities and did a lot of sightseeing. We visited lots of Farmer's Markets, botanical gardens and beaches. We also visited the Salad Bowl capital of the world, the valley around the town of Salinas. There were fields and fields of lettuce, as well as broccoli in this area. We came across many orchards of grapes, nuts and fruit trees. All meticulously groomed and irrigated. In the urban areas most of the landscaping utilized succulents and cacti of all shapes and sizes. Recognized a lot of the varieties we grow here, except they were usually much larger. Some of the blooms of the plants were spectacular. I have included a couple of pictures from one of the botanical gardens we visited, a young lady all dressed up in succulents. Isn't her hair fabulous.