I'm lucky to live so close to the Huntington Botanical Gardens in San Marino.  I'm a member so I usually go before it opens to the public when it's not busy.  It's so peaceful and quiet in the early mornings.  But today, since I was off, I decided to stop by knowing I probably wouldn't stay very long.  The holiday weekends are always very crowded and I like to go to the gardens to walk or to photograph when it's quiet.  The best time for that is to go is during the week, especially during winter.  I have been there many times, even in the rain, when I could walk and be alone.  As suspected, today it was very busy.  I  did take a few shots of some of some flowers in the short time I was there.

One of my favorite parts of the Huntington is their herb garden.  This is how it looked today.  It's so inspiring and if I had the space I would want to have a huge herb garden of my own.