GardenBook

 Botanical Gardens in the state of California have been given the green light to open again, provided the now familiar safety protocols are in place. If there is any public venue I feel completely comfortable visiting it is a public garden. I never touch anything except plants and my camera and  unless a plant sale or some other event is in progress most are relatively uncrowded. At this point events are pretty much all virtual. I waited a couple of weeks after the Ruth Bancroft Garden reopened before taking the journey to Walnut Creek and it felt quite liberating. And I even experienced filling the gas tank in my vehicle which I hadn't needed to do in many weeks.  I arrived at the garden close to opening time, showed my membership card at the kiosk and in I went -my first visit there since New Years Eve.  Agave franzosinii on the march.  There have been significant renovations to the planting spaces in the last few years-more are completed ...

 No rain and no traffic on New Years Eve morning prompted me to set off for Walnut Creek to pay a visit to the Ruth Bancroft Garden . I realized that I had not been since spring , and since I usually make it a point to go at least 3 or 4 times a year  I was way overdue . Winter is a beautiful season in the garden with it's more subdued light, mild temperatures and blooming Aloes .   All washed clean by the rains. They do a first rate job here of mounding the beds with a sharp gravelly soil mix that for the most part protects these wet-averse plants from rot.   Something I have never encountered in my many winter trips to RBG was paths that were closed due to muddy, mossy surfaces. One of my favorite paths too-dammit ! It's on my agenda to go back this month, but I will monitor the rain and plan accordingly.  Agave ovatifolia is always ready for a close-up  I was very distressed to see that this was all that remained of one of ...

 Garden Bloggers Fling , the annual meet-up of blogging gardeners, took place this year in the Denver Colorado area  encompassing Fort Collins and Boulder as well as Denver. The organizing team put together an outstanding itinerary that was firmly rooted in the unique environment of the mountain west.  In this post we will visit The Gardens on Spring Creek in Fort Collins , which is currently 18 acres and is owned and operated by the city of Fort Collins. I really loved this garden. The sense of place, the attention to detail and the obvious passion of the staff was a perfect circle of excellence. The garden is  at the tail end of  an expansion which includes a renovated visitors center, a butterfly house and a cafe. The grand opening of the newest additions to Spring Creek is expected to take place in fall of this year. We were able to see enticing snippets of the gardens around the visitors center from beyond the caution tape and every bit of the still ...