A Garden Grows in California

25 May '09 12:00 pm

Gosh the place really is amazingly tidy, and fresh and clean and happy looking. But I think Gandalf looks like he is sleeping on the job!

29 May '09 10:03 am

All that said in the snotty tones my nephews used (or so it seemed to me - it was an email) when I proudly let them know that in the whole huge empty Namibia I had, by following the only tar road for some 40 miles, identified their farm and their house and sent them the co-ordinates to confirm. And they pointed out that I was in the paddock behind the house and therefore incorrect. Sigh

I did a mighty GoogleEarth spacejump from Sequoia - to be precise, my house on Sequoia to what was supposed to be your house - only to end up in a sort of double cross-shaped building, apparently a shopping mall across the creek from you. So I identified the closest most likely spot, hauled out my plan,and confirmed from the general topography that I was right. There was a white pick-up parked rather rudely in the wildflower meadow. Then I went back to your post and sure enough, you actually admitted to parking there... oh wait: the GoogleEarth view pre-dates the latest developments. (I once convinced a friend in Johannesburg that I could check whether his car was home or not; he got quite paranoid about Big Brother. So much so that I had to tell him the truth...)

So I proceed to explore your peace of earth... and find it fascinating in its urbanity - or should that be urban-ness (as opposed, inter alia, to suburbanness Smile

It is intriguing how much open space there is around your place compared to other buildings in the area... was it a huge search to find it? Is the area bohemian by nature? Or are you the bohemians in it? Or is it a compromise that you've made beautiful?

Then I pan out - and discover you are actually on the Bay. Or IN it. I thought you were below it- South of the bridge. I can play for hours on GoogleEarth. when I get a connection that can cope....

29 May '09 1:12 pm

On the other hand this 100 year old warehouse does provide Lia with enough room for all the equipment she could want. That the train and its tracks were removed 25 years ago and replaced with the park is a definite bonus. It provides my garden with an illusion of depth and size it truly does not have.

We're in the middle of an odd single block of warehouses in what has become suburban sprawl. We (especially the one who gardens) are lucky to have more land than any regular house for miles while at the same time having no next door neighbor on either side or behind us. It's a noisy place compared to you rural folk but what are you going to do? Lia needs the space and neither of us has the energy to contemplate ever moving.

(In defence of the white truck, the wildflower meadow was not yet in.)

4 Jun '09 2:29 am

Wonderful abutilon. I love the mask idea. The view from the deck is so inviting for a stroll.

25 Jun '09 1:33 pm

Here are a few taken earlier this month. I think there may be enough of them now to justify a new post.

The first one is of the Kiftsgate rose growing in the front border on the Pyrocanthus.

"2" is of the new wildflower meadow.

3-6 Are taken on or near the hot tub deck at the end of the driveway.

7-11 Are taken inside the backgarden, to the right in the area I call the Pond Amphitheatre.

12 Looks north down the back path toward the corner deck.

13 - 15 are taken near the corner deck or circle lawn.

16 - 18 are of the dogs using the lawn as their personal back-scratching device.

25 Jun '09 6:56 pm

Remember what you said about exploring my garden, Mark? Well I sure would enjoy exploring yours! Made all the more urgent by the fact that I am now scanning gardens visited in 1995, and I can remember every shot and detail and 'fill in' beyond the photos... (well of these first Yellow Book gardens anyway - but I know I have a vast store of mental images from the trip!) SO: if that isn't a good return on an admittedly considerable investment, then I'd like to know what is!

I love your yellow and orange compositions. I yesterday photographed our aloes (yellow - orange - red)and was again inspired by the colours. I'm planning a new garden (heaven knows why, but I am) and it was going to have cream and orange roses underplanted with greys with blue flowers. But you've set me thinking: underplant with yellows and oranges: gazania, arctotis, eschscholzia (must be a Polish name!), erysimum... Darn! Now I'm even more excited. And even if they need to be in pots and protected during winter, I WILL have streptosolen! Now my mind is really racing: for winter have aloes in pots that are set out daily between the pruned roses. Gawrd, but I can be impractical!! (On the other hand, if I am one-day going to develop the big house as an upmarket tourist destination, that could make for a stunning winter sit-outery (Moosey's word!)and photo opportunity. And the aloes, which I'd love to have more of except they don't like our cold, could live in a tunnel and be brought out on high-days and holidays. Louis XIV, stand aside Exclamation

)

As for your aeonium flower... it really is a marvel - of the pin-up girl variety. But the classiest of pin-up girls! You say what you grow is standard Schwartkopz (or whatever the spelling)? Because I've never seen anything larger than a flower-head the size of a large leaf rosette. Do you do extra feeding, or do you just watch on in amazement?

A ceonothus in pic 10? I would never have guessed! And your wild-flower meadow grows ever more lovely... Thanks for the tour!

25 Jun '09 6:58 pm

Very nice series of pics Mark. Some of your best perhaps. We are in the tentative grip of Winter and your photos show the richness and heat of Summer. Photo 9 really appeals to me as I have a largish area down near the pond that is dedicated to gold and black/purple foliage plants. The gorgeous yellow aloe next to the black Aeonium and that stripy variegated stappy leaved thing. I also love that crazy Passion vine - never heard of it 'til you spoke of it a while back.

Questions:
1. What is the yellow flowering Aloe. And does it stay yellow.
2. What is the stripy long leaved thing in photo 9?
3. I like the Diamond Heights ceonothus but could live without the blue flowers. Does it have a long flowering time?

Crikey I sound like an examiner - not hard to tell I am involved in the tertiary education sector is it?! Very Happy

26 Jun '09 6:01 am

Glad you could stop by. The Aeonium in the small, circular planter with the big flower is either the species A. arboreum of which A. a. 'Zwartkop' is a cultivar -or- it is a different cultivar called A. a. 'Cyclops'. The nursery I bought it from had labeled it as the species but said it had been represented to him as the cultivar Cyclops. (Richard buys plants from us -his clients- as well as from growers, but doesn't always stand behind our claims.) You're right about the difference in the size of the flowers. The dark leaved one had a couple flowers this spring and they were perhaps the size of an American football whereas the one in the picture above is more the size of a large lampshade.

Now lets see if I can pass Kerole's quiz. 1.) I don't recall the name of the yellow blooming Aloe and can't put my hands on it just now. It doesn't change colors other than to become more richly yellow as it blooms. 2.) The yellow striped leaves belong to a variegated Yucca. This has very nice cream colored flowers which you would look forward to. 3.) Good news regarding the Ceonothus. The flowers don't last long and are an inconspicuous powder blue color, in early spring I think. I just went through a bunch of photos to find you a picture of it in flower and came up empty. Apparently its flowers are inconspicuous enough to avoid drawing the camera's attention. This plant is at least a dozen years old but it notoriously short-lived if given much water.

Now Jack, you have to promise to use us as home base when you get around to exploring our West coast. That would give you all the time you need to explore my garden which isn't really all that big - just less than a quarter aacre. One of my fantasy projects is to develop the old birdroom into a guest cottage. So if you take long enough to get out this way perhaps you'll get to try it out. This is the shed that has the 'greenhouse' attached to its Southern side, the shade structure on its Eastern side, a covered patio on its Northern side where the garden 'bed' and Begonia wall are located and, on the Western side the first aviary I built which is destined to become an outdoor shower and a WC.

I have no idea how easy Streptosolen is from seed but would you like to find out? I haven't really noticed what its seeds look like as I always deadhead it to keep them coming. But I could try to collect some.

26 Jun '09 8:21 am

Ahhh, you're a doll Mark. As helpful and informative as ever. Thanks for taking time out to help us nosy Southern Hemispherians. Like Jack, I am inspired by the rich Summer colours in your garden. We have to be very careful here because of the low (or no) ozone in the Stratosphere. It makes our summer sun very harsh and colours can all off a sudden take on an eye-searing, garish quality. But keeping the colours muted and soft usually works well. Cool

11 Jul '09 7:41 am

A week ago yesterday, we drove up to Portland, Oregon to spend the 4th of July holiday (Independance day here) with our friends Marjory and Corwin. We stayed with them from the 3rd through the 7th on Sauvies Island, a very rustic farming community in a river. I should know which one but there are so many through the city that I'll probably guess wrong by suggesting the Willamette. Anyhow Marjory and her family have been hosting a pirate themed 4th of July celebration for at least three generations. They and their neighbors set off lots of fireworks during the night and they fired a four foot cannon loaded with over-ripe grapefruit, newspaper and gun powder throughout the day.

On the way up we visited with Lia's cousin Ian in Lake Oswego and paid a visit to a park known now as the Bishop's Close which was designed by the same Olmstead that designed Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and a well known park in Ashland Oregon.

On the 5th, we visited the Japanese Garden and the Rose garden in Portland as well as their Contemporary Art Museum where I saw an interesting show of Dutchman M.C. Escher's illusionistic prints. We also visited Powell's Books a famous new and used book store which occupies an entire city block and had dinner at Basta's (strongly recommended).

On the 6th, we visited a flickr friend with a wonderful little garden in nearby Sherwood, Oregon. She steered us to a neighborhood famous for their frontgardens where I took some more photos. Then we took a drive down the Columbia gorge East to Hood River where my father grew up. On the way back we stopped at the Multomah falls lodge for dinner where we could see the fall through the large multipane window.

On the 7th we bid adieu to Marjory and Corwin and went to the Cistus Nursery which just down the street. At the new Craft Museum, Lia had a great visit with the head curator. After that we took off for Silverton, Oregon which was about an hour South of Portland. Here we stayed at the resort associated with "The Oregon Garden", a name that struck me as at least a little presumptious. However, the garden though only ten years old had many memorable moments. We stayed at the newly opened resort, taking advantage of a sweet deal I found on the internet which included a four star room with a king sized bed, free admitance to the garden, free dinner with a bottle of wine and a free complete breakfast the next day. The next day we drove home, a nine hour trip.

These photos are all from the Oregon Garden, our last destination.

A Garden Grows in California

For a mathematician you're simply not accurate enough!

Ours is not a genteel neighborhood to say the least.

Recent Views Around The Garden

Strolling around your garden...

Hot and Summery

Good morning Jack and Kerole.

Starting from the end of our Oregon Trip