After attending the orchid show at the beautiful Huntington Botanical Center and Conservatory in beautiful San Marino, California, I visited the Chinese Garden section and captured this stunning view, way back on 10/18/09. Found mostly in the vast drainage areas of Tai Lake in China, these calcite/limestone rocks are hard but brittle, with slight variations among those taken from lake beds and those extracted on land or from different districts in the surrounding environs. Those formed underwater are more precious, because of their fresh, soft color and their multiple, linked perforations produced from years of wave and water erosion. With their pale gray or ivory tint, Taihu rocks are usually large and are regarded as the best garden rocks.