GardenBook

 If I ruled the world, Marin County Open Gardens would commence at 7:am and end at 11.  There was no heatwave for a change (that event happened the following week)  but the only year I have been able to capture decent images was when the gardens were on the coast-Bolinas and Stinson Beach specifically. That tour was posted about here and  here. The sun is not soft in our Mediterranean climate,   I visited four gardens on this June Garden Conservancy tour, and batted 500- two were good one was ok, just not to my taste , and one was well, kinda bad.I won't include the latter two in this post .  First ups is the garden of Roger-all owner IDs on this day were first name only . There were areas of deep shade and full sun and they were adjacent  so I didn't come back with many usable photos. I found this garden to be extremely pleasant to be in. The low profile of the house never intruded and there was a nice mixture of colorful areas and artful c...

 The 2018 garden touring season has been robust starting in March and continuing well into June. The first weekend of the month was a garden conservancy open day in Santa Cruz . There were only three gardens open and this post shares my favorite. The GC directory did not name the owner, but he was a vivid presence rushing about answering questions and even digging up offsets and taking cuttings to give to his visitors. A serious plant collector with some really great plants. I have to believe he is a known presence in Santa Cruz horticultural circles-if there is such a thing .  This is what I saw as I approached the house from my parking spot a few door down. It looked promising .  I immediately noticed the mound-y grass between the flagstones and at the base of the palm. I'm pretty certain this is Zoysia, which grows agonizingly slow, so must have been here quite a long spell.  Once I turned in my ticket I headed down the path behind the...