GardenBook

 I should have done some much-needed cleanup and rose pruning today , but it's been gloomy and rainy and it seems like I've been nowhere but the grocery store and the office for ages. It was time for a winter visit to Berkeley Botanical Garden -maybe some Aloes would be in bloom ?    Unfortunately I was a couple weeks early for most of the Aloes. There was a plethora of safety cones and barricades where paths were washed out , and care had to be taken not to step in mud.  Nevertheless, it was a reasonably pleasant day for January and there was plenty to see.   Unnamed Aloe with one of the many fabulous Cycads in Berkeleys' collection. And speaking of Cycads, sometime last year I decided I was going to collect them -modest sized specimens of course since the prices are palpitation inducing. This is likely justified- I have had a Dioon for at least ten years and it has exactly 4 fronds.  I'd have to win the lottery to get anything resembling ...

 I took exactly 4 photos at the SF garden Show this weekend; all four were out of focus . The photo above was taken in my back garden this morning, mundane but springy. I can't post without a photo of something !  So what about the garden show ?  With a  couple of exceptions, the display gardens were just ok. John Greenlees' bamboo and grass jungle with Marcia Donahue sculpture touches was pretty cool (I blogged about Marcias' studio garden here ), and I liked the Urban Habitat  garden by the Academy of Art University .There was, as is typical every  year, a handful that featured lots of hardscape, blooming azaleas Primroses and florist Kalanchoes and ritzy titzy back yard kitchens and sleeping platforms. In fact I would almost bet money that one of the faux Tuscan villa gardens was a mirror image of an installation from 2011 , flipped to the other side of the hall. I like looking at these, but only in the way I liked the...

 Most winter Saturdays here involve hunkering indoors and looking forlornly out windows at mud and standing water . None of that this year-yet. I motored down to Berkeley which was downright balmy and cloudless. At the University Botanic Garden you won't find lush highly designed perennial borders or beds of annual color. The rose garden is full of Chinas, Damasks, and Noisettes, with a killer view of the Golden Gate. Areas are divided by global region; with plants diligently labeled and naturalisticly arranged. Clearly a teaching garden, with a consistently interesting plant palette. Cussonia spicata Echium Awesome gigando twin Banksias. More Aloe action Agave vignette Oooh la-la, I love Restios.

 This past weekend was the last for the 2011 sculpture installation at The Ruth Bancroft Garden . Business commitments and personal travel disrupted my summer schedule and it was dumb luck that I looked up the dates and found that I needed to amend my weekend plans to include a journey to the east bay.  Perfect weather, with a bit of overcast to facilitate decent images, and the crowds tended to be clumped into groups-it was easy to wait for them to move on . People photos weren't in the plan. This blooming Agave was beginning it's decline- and how prettily it expires..like Camile. Sadly, one of my favorite Agaves in the garden , a robust 'Sharkskin' is blooming. Sigh.

 Over morning coffee I pondered my options for a rainless Sunday. Why not visit a garden that I would not even consider for a summertime destination? Davis fits the bill; the central valley of California is dreadful in summer. Flat, hot and hazy.  The University at Davis is the premiere school for veterinary science, and enology in the California system. The arboretum is modest when compared to the botanical garden at UC Berkekely, but it has some nice features going for it. It's free, it's open 24 hours a day ( amazingly I saw no evidence of Saturday night student beer parties ) and it is adjacent to downtown ; walkers, runners and bikers are the beneficiaries of its wide paths.  The paths run along each side of a stream, in this area Hardenbergia was in full bloom along the banks. I couldn't find the tag for this Acacia ..it caught the sunlight in a lovely way. Acacia vestita 'Hairy Wattle' .. so why the 'hairy' moniker ? I searched for eviden...

 The Stanford Inn is built on a hillside above Big River Estuary on the coast of Northern California. It features cozy rooms with distant ocean views, outstanding service, and gardens. Inns with gardens always have an advantage, trumping even a crummy mattress, surly front desk employees, and bad in-room coffee, (Ok, ok, so there's no such thing as good in-room coffee) none of which are the case here.At check in you are personally escorted to your room by one of the charming staff. The fire will have been built, chocolate truffles will be on your table, and your room rate will include full  from-the-menu breakfast from the Inn's wonderful vegetarian restaurant. And your dog is welcome too. The gardens here are visible from every guest room, walkable, organic and nicely designed with plants suited to the  coastal environment. A 15 minute drive north will put you at the entrance to Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens , and to the south the splendid Digging Dog Nursery . I v...

 The sun has put in only fleeting appearances in the last week, and was never robust enough to address the dreadful swampzones that persist in the garden. The back is now designated 'The Lagoon'.  The front features a consistent deluge facilitated by overflowing rain gutters-'The Falls'-one needs a stout layer of waterproof garb to negotiate the path from the sidewalk to the front door without enduring a drenching.  May as well stay in a warm dry house and take a tour through the photo files from 2010 garden visits.  This private garden on a hillside above  Oakland  is certainly enduring the same relentless precipitation that I am at the moment, but last summer it was a tropi/xeric haven.