County arboretum left in a real mess

Botanist Frank McDonough of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden posts a sobering gallery of wind damage to the trees and other flora. "I’m probably being very conservative right now with that number, but over 50 percent of our collections have been damaged in someway shape or form," says superintendent Tim Phillips. They are still taking stock, but the Arcadia gardens could be closed for months.

Elsewhere, the city of Los Angeles says that about 400 trees blew down in Griffith Park during this week's winds. Most are on the Roosevelt golf course. Around the city, natives generally withstood the winds better than exotic species such as eucalyptus.

Noted: Jenny Burman lost a eucalyptus, an elderberry and a California cherry in her yard the long windy night , as she writes at Chicken Corner.