If you are going to spend a summer in the mountains what sweeter place could there be than “Happy Jack?” Once again my peppermint twist geraniums summered here escaping the killing heat of their winter home. So this week we drove up north to collect them in our new improved “geranium transporter” or Honda Ridgeline pick up w/ a topper shell so they can ride protected back to the valley. It holds nearly 25 pots of flowers with out bending or breaking of stems! Ever so much better than our previous truck!
Category: Out & About
Brief impressions of garden visits
Virginia Robinson Mansion & Gardens
It is hard to say anything but wow, fabulous, amazing, stunning, beautiful and say it over and over and over as you tour this garden and take a brief look inside this Beverly Hills Mansion built in 1911. The docent tells you of dinner parties with Mae West, Charlie Chaplin and other famous guests hosted by Virginia Robinson. Virginia Robinson lived nearly to 100 years and her gardens were her constant opportunity to create something beautiful. At one point she was assisted by a staff of 17 gardeners but it was her design eye that created the space. There is the formal Italianate garden with pool and lawn the sight of many grand parties. The great surprise is the tropical palm garden with a mature grove of over 100 Australian King Palms. Here Virginia would slip away to read among the under canopy plantings of gingers and clivias and plumaries in the cool shade. For her love of entertaining she had a rose cutting garden, from which she had flowers for the table, and a Potager garden providing fresh herbs and vegetables for her classically trained chef. This garden is a gem lovingly cared for by volunteers and the LA County Dept. of Parks & Rec.
Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, Claremont CA
This private non-profit garden/arboretum supports the graduate botany program of Claremont Graduate University. There is a grand selection of California natives in their natural state. The variety of oaks, including live oak, huckleberry oak, majestic oak makes for many happy squirrels. The Coulter Pine produces pine cones once called “widow makers” by lumberjacks because the weight of the cone, some as much as 40lbs., could end a life if you were cracked on the head. The cones when open are as sharp and fierce as bear claws. July is a dry month for a visit but it gives you a clear understanding of how fire can race up a hill and engulf everything in its path. The monarch butterflies gather at the orchid tree’s purple and white blooms. The hummingbirds feast on the pride of madeira’s purple spikes of bloom. Trees are featured here with a fan palm oasis of trees rising 70’ in height and with the spent leaves hanging in a thatch. Wandering through this shaded natural area is a great walk after a long drive. The multi colored flagstone path is a beautiful pattern of colors and shapes.
Green, Flower and Fruit, what all gardeners want,
As gardeners something in our soul calls to us whether on our own street or halfway around world on a small street in Casablanca Morocco. We have need to plunge our hands into the soil, creating a place to grow something even in the most challenging conditions. The life in a green plant signals to us that there is a larger beautiful world we are part of. The color of the flowers brightens our own view of the world. The fruit of the plant is the reward of all the elements of nature working together. The produce provides us the food to eat, to share at our table.
Peony Season
In our globally connected world it is hard to distinguish our garden seasons. Roses, lilies, and tulips show up in markets and bouquets every week. Asparagus and blueberries are available all year. Peony season seems an exception from this sense of timelessness. Peony season is spring and on my calendar it is May. Peony bushes were a part of my childhood landscape in Indiana. Since 1957 the state flower of Indiana is the Peony, or Paeonia so their popularity was notable. The bushes formed a line around our home and were planted right in the lawn. This meant much grumbling by my sister and I about pulling the grass out of the bushes late in the season. Initially though in the spring the grass was still short and the anticipation of their blooms was still quite pleasant. Peony season meant warmer temperatures. The temperature and the peony buds brought out the black ants. The ants hungry for the nectar surrounding the buds crawl up and down the stems. It is an often told myth that ants help the buds open but science says this isn’t so. Still the ants had to be removed from the flowers before we could bring them into the house for a bouquet for our dinner table. We would dunk the blooms into a bucket of water and wait for the ants to float off the petals.
Two birds in a tree
I spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon admiring yellow, pink, peach and red cactus blooms at the Desert Botanical Garden. Walking out I noticed a crowd looking up at something moving in a blooming palo verde tree. A road runner was flitting about in the branches. What a treat to see this rare bird in plain sight in the middle of the day! A mourning dove was sitting on a nest in the same tree. Everyone was happily watching.
Escalante Community Garden
What Grows along side fruits & vegetables?
When a person has a passion, a purpose and a connection to the natural world it can feed a hunger of the soul. Dave Talley, head gardener of this community garden may have found a way to prevent starvation for many people. Certainly the garden provides food for the community food pantry, so the physical hunger is reduced. Yet the contribution to the garden made by community members including many homeless individuals may be preventing the starvation of spirit that seems epidemic in so many urban souls. Richard Louv writes in his book Last Child in the Woods & in the follow up The Nature Principal about the importance of time in the natural world for keeping our mental and physical health intact. We need nature in our lives but also in our neighborhoods.  Planting seeds, petting chickens, picking peppers all introduce nature to children of all ages. This garden boasts 43 raised beds growing organic crops of broccoli, kale, leeks, cabbages, calendula, sunflowers, herbs and more. Managing all of this falls to Dave, formerly a homeless man for six years, he positively glows with enthusiasm as he point out the features of the garden. He gently strokes one of 26 hens named “Jessie” as he describes meeting the challenges of the garden. He has completed the Master Gardener certificate program and is currently enrolled in the Desert Botanical Garden training course. He supervises and manages the watering, the planting schedule and the organic practices. There are 25 fruit trees growing. There are art projects covering the walls. There are innovative planters, recycling ideas. A garden grows hope.
A Gardener’s Resolutions
I resolve to dig the holes before I go to the nursery.
I resolve to not purchase a plant that doesn’t have a chance of survival in this climate.
I resolve to keep the plant labels that come with the plant. (and in my spare time learn the Latin names)
The River Cafe, Brooklyn, NY
Hurricane Sandy has done such harm. Many lives were lost, homes destroyed, business devastated and natural beauty permanently altered. Living in the West it is hard to grasp just how much damage this area of our country has received. I was in New York last fall and as I read today’s news I recognize areas where I visited. An article in the NYTimes (11/11/2012) described the damage done to “The River Cafe” in Brooklyn. This 35 year old restaurant is an icon of elegant, formal dinning. This is where one went for very special dinner occasions, such as marriage proposals, significant birthdays and anniversary celebrations. According to the Times article one evening not long ago 7 couples were each celebrating their 25th anniversary in the dining room.
Hospital Gardens
If you are at the hospital there is probably a crisis going on in your life and your mind is in a whirl (arriving babies quite the exception.) Once there as you navigate the many halls and pods of rooms you may rush by a garden. Healing gardens and meditation gardens are part of many hospitals. Banner Desert Hospital in Mesa, AZ has gardens. I recently spent three days rushing through the halls here and found the Harmony Garden, Bistro Garden, Children’s and Train garden.