Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour

I have to admit I'd never been on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour (shame on me), covering gardens in the East Bay with 50% or more California native plants. There are more than 50 gardens on the 1-day tour so I decided to limit myself to driving no further north than Berkeley, no further East than Orinda and no further south than Oakland.

One of the first gardens I checked out was Barbara Leitner's garden in Orinda. Designed by Ron Lutsko, one of my favorite Landscape Architects, I definitely wanted to see this garden. As did a lot of other people.



A very soft-focus garden of meadowy grasses and wildflowers, it must be a very calming garden to come home to. It was hard to view past the throngs of people on the walks. I did manage to capture a few scenes on the camera before someone walked into the frame. The fine texture of all the plants left me looking for focal points, which were alleviated in the birdbath and the in the house itself.



While I was there I was craving something more dramatic in the plantings but after thinking about the garden for awhile I realized it must be a very sweet place to come home to.

I had to go to Jenny and Scott Fleming's garden in Berkeley begun in the 1950's and jam-packed with a staggering selection of CA native plants, 100% native, now maintained by Luke Hass. The plantings on the side of the driveway were phenomenal! One of the most beautiful and texturally rich CA native plantings I've ever seen.



The main part of the garden on the slope behind the house was rather too textural though. The steep, abrupt slope and the overwhelming variety of plants was a bit too much for me. So heavily planted there was hardly room for a path up the hill. It is an amazing garden considering the dedication of its creators but I don't think it is a garden I could personally live in, it just has so much.



The house, also built by Jenny and Scott, does has some pretty fantastic moments relating to the garden though. One is the stairway to the front door that is anchored by a rock wall sprouting ferns - gorgeous! And another is the way the tinted windows reflect the garden, creating light-filled paintings on the dark somber sides of the house.



And the pool was great! It perfectly captured the feeling of coming across a deep, clear basin of spring water while hiking a trail out in the wilderness. Just the place where you can't help but slip off your dusty hot shoes and dip your feet into the refreshing water.



And I also visited a couple of gardens in Oakland that contained less natives but had some really great details. Wen Hoi Shen's garden, planting design by Liz Simpson Garden Design, contained many jewel-like vignettes. A small garden, the details were lovely and perfectly planted. Niches in a wall, charming bamboo trellises, and architectural fragments placed throughout made for interesting hardscape.



But the rock garden/stairway to the top part of the garden was the best part. A lovely mosaic of succulents, thymes, pebbles and boulders created one of the prettiest rockeries I've seen in a long time.



Carol Baird and Alan Harper have a house and view to die for. (If you ever need a house sitter, I'm available!)



The native plants in their oak woodland I was less interested in, because closer to the house they had some fantastic rarities that I would love to get my hands on. Apparently Alan has volunteered at UC Berkeley Bot Garden, where I'm sure he got a hold of some really great stuff. A couple of plants caught my eye - a golden-leaved Philadelphus, may I please have a cutting!? and a variegated leaf Liriodendron/"Tulip Tree", I'd never even heard something like that existed!



While not all the plants that caught my eye were native and not all the native gardens were ones I felt spoke to me, it was a great day of touring the gardens of Bringing Back the Natives and I enjoyed each one in its own way. Thanks to all the people for opening their lovely gardens!

Coming Soon to a Nursery Near Me

Cistanthe sp.

Orchard Year 2

Last year (Jan. 2009) I went a bit crazy for the fruit trees. I planted what can only be described as an orchard in my tiny backyard. I started off with a Blenhiem apricot, Flavor Queen pluot, Santa Rosa plum, Seckle pear, Comice pear and then just couldn't resist the Donut peach and Coffee Cake Persimmon. In pots I planted a Buddha Hand citrus, Kaffir lime and Kumquat. Most of them are crammed into 200 sq ft or so. I'll keep them pruned I thought. Let's just say I think my backyard will be quite shady in a few years.

Trees in general are really happy in my backyard. A year-round stream goes underground about a block away and then heads right through the back of my yard. Once plants get their roots down into the soil they seem delighted with the high moisture level. All the trees put on tremendous growth last year, even with two substantial prunings. The Donut peach even gave me a several lbs. of fruit last year. Have to say that I am totally impressed with that tree. Good crop the first year it is planted and an even better one coming along this year. In fact, I did the painful task of thinning the peaches recently. (Thin fruits so they are spaced every 3" or so.)



Not only will this help prevent branch breakage, it will give the fruit room to grow and allow them to get plenty of nutrients. There is only so much water and sugars a branch can move up to the fruit, too many and those nutrients will be spread too thin. A few leaves have had a bit of Peach Leaf Curl this year so I guess I'll need to spray it this winter.



Today I had to take out my Seckle pear though. It came down with a bad case of Fireblight. Bummer because it was setting several fruit this year. Just as the fruit started swelling, branch tips started turning black and wilting.



It is possible I could have saved the tree if I had cut it back hard right as soon as I noticed the blackening. But I just lightly cut the tips back and the next thing I knew the whole tree looked terrible. I probably spread it around when I cut it back too. Oh well, you win some you lose some. I looked up Seckles online and they don't seem to be particularly susceptible to fireblight but nor are they particularly resistant. Maybe next year I'll try one in another spot. Anyway, I'm taking out my Comice as well. The only reason I got it was that I read Seckles set more fruit with a cross-pollinator. I wasn't real thrilled to read about all the cold-storage requirements of the Comice though. Sounds like a pain to get the fruit to ripen. Plus I had to plant it in a spot that would eventually shade my Fig. So soon the Comice will be sent packing.

But today I was surprised to see two fruits swelling on my Apricot tree. I don't even remember it blooming.



Plus the Apricot was nearly girdled by my weed-wacker toting husband, a device he just got to edge our tiny lawn. I sternly warned him to keep that thing away from the trees but on its first outing he shredded the tender skin of the trunk to bits. The jury is still out on whether the tree will have long term issues because of it. It was his favorite tree of the bunch so hopefully he will be more careful in the future.

I fantasize about having enough land someday to have a real orchard so I can plant any kind of fruit and nut tree I could want. A girl can dream can't she?

Wordless Wednesday - In Honor of the Full Moon

bud of
Cotula 'Big Yellow Moon'

Spring Break in the Desert - Day 3

The Kid is now at the age where children are required to sit in displays of spring wildflowers and be photographed. And since I don't have easy access to the Texas Bluebonnets anymore - it used to be so convenient when I was growing up: put on a dress, pile in the car, head down Hwy 360, pull the car to the side of the highway, jump out and snap a few photos, and then carry on with the rest of the day. Unfortunately in the Bay Area there are no good massive wildflower displays. The first Spring the Kid was around I even resorted to photographing him in a field of Oxalis pes-caprae (an invasive weed here in CA that has cheery yellow flowers) the horticulturalist in me feeling very guilty and ridiculous the whole time. I've never understood why CA can't have colorful banks of poppies along the highway in the spring, the way Texas has Bluebonnets. So we had to head out and find some poppies. Not that that was hard to convince me to do. And even though J and I are both Texans and I consider the Kid a Texan by blood, he was born here in California so I guess poppies are appropriate. Someday we'll manage to get to Texas when the Bluebonnets are blooming. I can't imagine the Kid would be able to grow up properly without a photo of him sitting in that sea of blue.

We headed out for the day and began passing fields of Lasthenia californica. I was oohing and ahhing.



And then we got here:



Actually, we knew it was going to be good when we were still quite far away. It must have been at least 20 miles earlier when we could see a florescent orange splash on the hillsides like a beacon. OK, I'm going to quit talking now.









I also really like the Visitor's Center at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. So cool how it is built into the hillside.



And it wasn't just orange out there. The Phacelias added a nice purple contrast.



And really the poppies were at their prettiest when set off with the Lasthenia californica. This area also had Lupinus bicolor and Castilleja exserta mixed in.



And the Lasthenia smelled so good too! The view was fantastic but the smell was divine near the Lasthenia. The air was heady with honey fragrance. I hated to get back in the car. Oddly, I didn't smell it earlier in the day when I stopped to photograph the Lasthenia. It must release its fragrance as it warms. So yummy!




And Mission Accomplished:

Spring Break in the Desert - Day 2

Day 1 we drove down to Big Bear. Now Day 2 we drive on further south to Joshua Tree National Park. And lets just start off with yes, I broke one of the cardinal sins of photography and photographed in the middle of the day and in glaring, bright desert light no less. Yes, the photos lack any subtle color. Oh well. Family vacations aren't conducive to getting up in the pre-dawn dark so that one can photograph the desert as the light gently illuminates the rugged terrain. Plus, I'd rather sleep in anyway.



We recently went to Rock City on Mount Diablo. Well, if that was Rock City, Joshua Tree National Park is Rock Megalopolis. And again it was an irresistible playscape for the Kid. A playscape with uneven surfaces, steep drops and lots of sharp poky things to fall into! Great!



There were (of course) plenty of Joshue trees, Yucca brevifolia as well as Nolina parryi.



And while viewing the landscape from afar, I couldn't see much variety in the plants, but there were many interesting things to stumble upon once you were out in it. Lotus rigidus on wiry stems; some kind of Lomatium with delicious black buds; Echinocereus triglochidiatus, a plant we've had in a pot for several years at Annie's, putting up with our Richmond weather; and Castilleja angustifolia, such a lovely red skeletal plant.



But all the rocks make for great habitats if one can deal with the harsh conditions.



This cactus astounded me. Where exactly do the roots go?



And this fatty-bo-batty enjoying his sunny front porch. He was about a foot long and not scared at all of the Kid's intense and animated inspection. He was out of arm's reach but quite close.



There were many of these cocoons of writhing fuzzy blue and brown caterpillars. I really wanted to know what they would become but I forgot to ask the ranger when we were at the visitor's center. Lots of charming little Eriogonums; lovely twisted trees; and some kind of pretty, russet-colored parasitic mistletoe.



My favorite wildflower was Amsonia tomentosa. I smelled it before I saw it. The sweet heliotrope-like fragrance was very strong. Interestingly, A. tomentosa has two varieties -one gray leaved, one green. I saw both growing within 50 feet of each other, kind of odd. Both smelled great. I liked the gray foliage more but the green one had larger flower clusters.



We checked out Barker Dam. The amount of water was quite impressive and odd looking against the dry rock hills. Hard to imagine there is even that much water in the park to capture.





The dam was very handmade looking. Below the dam was an oval structure that I couldn't figure out what it was used for. But I like the way it looked in the landscape.



Around the corner we checked out some petroglyphs. I was surprised at how bright they were until we read a sign that said a vandal had repainted over the petroglyphs I guess in their attempt to make them "better". How do people get dumb ideas like that in their heads?



On the way out we passed a regionally appropriate landscaped front yard that I thought was pretty cute. Love the wheelbarrow and the hay bale benches.



I was surprised to see that some people still have lawn even out in the desert. I really think California should pass a law banning lawns from the desert. Although, I guess someone could make the case that lawns should therefore be banned in all of California. And I'm afraid I would be guilty of lawn ownership (albeit a tiny lawn) if that were the case.