Part 3 ~ GWA Santa Barbara Tour ~ Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.

"Time Keeps on  slipping, slipping, slipping, into the future." 

~Steve Miller, lyrics from  "Fly like an Eagle"  

In 2012, the 1 million-plus readers of Birds and Blooms voted the 1976 rock anthem by Steve Miller the best song about birds. Ever.  

Okay. So the bird my lens followed was a seagull instead of an eagle. It was still on a mission. The same as we. To get fed before moving on. Overhead, the clouds pregnant with life-giving rain were about ready to sweetly drench the earth~ but if we didn't hurry, also soak the gourmet sandwiches and salads. 

At Billy Goodnick's suggestion, we gathered at the stone wall at the top of the Erythrina mound, overlooking the pond.   

We had 2 more stops: soon there would be raindrops dancing on our heads.  Nan Sterman and helpers quickly laid out the casual gourmet spread  from nearby Panino. 

It was rather humbling to realize that two guests flew from the farthest side of this continent to join us. Former American Horticulture Society President Arabella Dane and her husband, Nat- what a treat to our tour garnered that level of interest.   

Billy poured the history of this place into our minds. 

Filling a full city block, it once served as the grand estate of Albert Herter's mother. Surrounded by gardens, her mansion was a repository of artwork of his, including lamps designed for Tiffany, artwork by his wife Adele McGinnis, and furniture designed by Herter Brothers, a major New York design firm, also a family enterprise.  

After the  matriarch died, Albert Herter evolved into a hotelier, remodeling the home, adding bungalows and reopening the property as the El Mirasol Hotel. Until it was damaged by  twin fires in the mid- 1960's, the hotel was a long-favored spot to vacation at by those who expected the finest accommodations. 

It's heyday as a hotel past,  there were attempts to revolutionize the property's character with high-rise development. However, the local citizens prevailed in creating property's highest and best use not in commercial usage- but as a place of where plants are largely the guardians of public  peace and serenity . 

During her lifetime, Alice Keck Park, daughter of oilman and philanthropist W.M Keck, never took credit for providing the funds to purchase the property for public preservation. Not until after her death was the benefactor's name disclosed.  

How Alice's name was incorporated in honorarium took some consideration. Alice Keck Park Park - how words sound together is important.

Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens. Time slipped away from the days where on this spot stood a fine family home. Slipped past the days as a hotel. Slipped to where the influence of this place is even greater now, when trees  surpass architecture in prominence. 

Such is life. Dreams change. What you didn't even imagine possible when you began your journey through time may not be your greatest accomplishment. 

Until we meet again, Thank YOU for all YOU do to make the world more beautiful. 

Part 1- GWA Santa Barbara Garden Tour~ San Marcos Growers

Garden tours are to shelter publications what theater is to the television. Each has its place and purpose. Television and magazines will never go out of style for they are the scouts and advisers we can turn to 24/7.  

However, how much richer it is to participate. To go outside; to celebrate creation with actual creators: to be present for unscripted, unedited moments. This is where the threshold is crossed from fleeting appreciation  to memorable joy.  

To experience a garden or growing ground with all sorts of lovers of gardens, there is simply a vitality from the live garden tour which can only be silhouetted when communicated in two dimensions.  

My work and pleasure as an active member of the community of garden communicators- authors, bloggers, editors, photographers, neighbors chatting over fences- is to encourage observers to take that next step. To actually engage in the wonders found through partnership with the  three dimensional, ever-changing world  God created for our pleasure.  

Ever-smiling, local garden designer and national garden writer, Joan Bolton chats with San Marcos Growers GM Randy Baldwin

With broad strokes, God created the world in 7 days. Then he left the detail, maintenance and improvements to us. 

After brief introductions, 17 garden lovers followed Randy to meet the 1800 plants species San Marcos Growers is raising in everything from 1 gallon pots through 36 inch boxes.

 What we saw...

The plant paparazzi  recorded. 

Aloe 'Erik the Red' 

Each specimen's most compelling angle immortalized, even when it meant contorting our own into unflattering positions.  

Art in the garden grants reason to pause. To focus on what otherwise might be passed by.

This giant drill bit rises as a twisted exclamation point.   If the planting over-takes this visual punctuation, it will be easy to replant the vertical element. 

These rusted fish silhouettes leaping through waves of grasses  reminded me of a recent conversation with Garberville woodworker  Charlie Mott. Long after we met in first grade, before his love of surfing and desire to live in forested lands put our lives on separate trajectories, my cherished childhood friend and I recently discovered that we each went on to develop deep love and respect for the natural world.

In Southern California where I live, Joe and Jill citizen are just now becoming aware of how serious this current drought may be. Where my friend settled, up north in Humboldt County,  people see where their water comes from. Where the Salmon can't dive deeply beneath the water's surface - the fish can't leap out of the way of otters. 

That visual holds more dramatic impact than the color chart on our water bill.  

Art imitating life 

Sculpture in the garden offers added interest both before plantings mature and in the off seasons. As both gardener and sculptress, Berkeley-based artist Marcia Donahue hybridized her two loves into this delightful stand of 'Bambutus baldwinii' . Taking elements of the garden where the sculpture marries elements into a vignette- the artist grafted ceramic lengths of bamboo with renditions of arbutus (strawberry tree) fruit. Note the whimsical touch of life given the sculpture where it appears little bamboo shoots  are trying to run away  from the mother sculpture. 

General Manager Randy Baldwin shares the garden space which inspired Donahue's sculpture with an attentive Sharon Lovejoy.

Santa Barbara author, landscape designer and plant personality Billy Goodnick, the local coordinator for the day's itinerary, wrote a wonderful piece outlining Marcia Donahue's unique interpretation of vertical gardening for Fine Gardening in 2011 which you can link to here.

The vintage vibe and imperfection collaborate to lower urbane elevated blood pressure down to country comfortable. 

This magic place, deep in a forest of bamboo, was not what I expected from a nursery whose General Manager, Randy Baldwin explains "Drought is our best salesman." 

Writer, author, designer, horticulturist and PBS personality Nan Sterman takes a plant's portrait

National Director of  GWA Region VI, Nan Sterman, exults the virtues of San Marcos Growers. "They have a fantastic collection of plants, always something new and always plants that are interesting... the quality is unsurpassed, and they really “get” the concept of plants suited to the Mediterranean environment. They also have one of the best websites around in terms of providing the information you need to make decisions or know how to use a plant in a design." Her hard-won compliment continued "I always get incredible customer service from them- often above and beyond." 

Randy did the talking. Under the gathering of pewter tinted skies, he shared the grower's connection to the $6,000 plant sold at auction at Lotusland's first rare plant. The story is found on their website at Calicarnea.  

But Juli ( pronounced Yuli) stole the show. And quite a few hearts.  A Hungarian Vizsla, Randy's daughter located her through a Temecula breeder of the cyclonic short haired hunting dog. Juli will be 4 this tax day, when she will undoubtedly celebrate by clearing away rabbits, gophers and all those pesky critters other growers suffer through. To fall in love with Juli, see some downright swoon-alicious photography of San Marcos Growing grounds, hop over to Nikkipolani's review of the day here.

San Marcos is a quality wholesale nursery. While its plants have the distinction of having some of their own selected for the New York Rockefeller Center and Disney World in Orlando, it is primarily a high quality regional provider of water-wise wonderful plants. Click here to locate a retailer in their primary delivery areas.

For my own garden- these are two contenders to bring my gardens water needs down while keeping the romance factor up

Peer across the fine knitted foliage- look closely and you can see the lady bug nearly sinking into easy chair provided by the green stubble covering the bonsai-sized shrub crassula sarcocaulis 'Ken Aslet'.

I will share soon what Randy shared about how to propagate Aloes.

 For now I leave you with an image of a perennial foxglove which stood out like a starlet amongst thorny characters. Can't you see its potential to hide Easter eggs under?

Digitalis 'illumination flame' is yin to the neighboring plant's spiky sword's yang.  A spring bloomer, this charmer swept away the competition on the garden show circuit, winning Best New Plant at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2012, the Greenhouse Grower's Award of Excellence in 2013 and the People's Choice Award at the New Varieties Showcase  at the 2013 Farwest Trade Show in Portland Oregon. 

Until we meet again, Thank YOU for all YOU do to make the world more beautiful.

Lydia E Plunk 

PS- GWA stands for Garden Writers Association

Blessings Counted, The Blessing of Organized

It took awhile, but now I am glad Mother Nature dropped in this unplanned Rose of Sharon

Whenever it rains, it doesn't matter how hard I'm working, it feels like vacation. 

With the first drops of the season giving the earth the first wet-kiss of the season, that last grasp of summer's hot breath last weekend is now a memory as distant as the moon. 

Yesterday was a blustery day to visit our accountant. A weather description that surely will bring laughter to relatives in northern latitudes. Half our circle of friends and family are already shoveling snow while I am putting finishing touches on an article about planting wildflowers. 

Thankfully,  business duties put me near Judy Duvall for a belated birthday  celebration. God graced this friend with this thousand mega watt smile and divinely husky voice. I am blessed that she is part of a group of girlfriends who put up with my journalist's quirks in attitude and behavior. I pray she has many more years filled with music, laughter and love. 

Drive-time home in the greater LA Area- one develops great sympathy for salmon swimming upstream. However, being fortunate enough to be caught in traffic when two of my favorite journalists, Jake Tapper and Hugh Hewitt  were chatting on current events- as a not fully-recovered political geek- I understand I have it better than the fish. 

Home. Every item filled with memories.  The changing of this season is swift. Time to open the fireplace flu, light a log and scented candle.  Unpack the electric blankets to warm the reclining chairs for a rare evening of just enjoying my husband's company. 

Near the fireplace is the rocking chair my wonderful sister-in-law Billie Plunk rocked her babies in. Like the Velveteen Rabbit of literature - it was loved so much that some of it plain wore out.  But the gorgeous lines of the chair- its solid construction- I was thrilled that she let me bring it home. Recover it. And dream of visits where I will read out loud to our darling granddaughter.  

Stock items are now easy to find.

Confession. The last couple years: life had gotten out of hand. This summer I hired myself to take back control. One closet. One drawer. One shelf. One shed at a time.  Physical organization= personal and professional empowerment. 

Yes- the top row of soups are alphabetized

 Just 12 " deep, the height and width of the freezer it sits next to in the garage, Gerry built this shelving unit just outside the door into the house. 

Above it are the over-flow of  kitchen gadgetry that made happy memories.  Upside- down acrylic frames serve as shallow shelves for cookie cutters, tools for frosting- things I often thought should be passed to Goodwill. But didn't. 

For that I am glad. For  I am finding in these years between beauty and the grave that memories aren't just about the past. Planning for future memories  is a great joy- if you can find what it is you need. 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day (GBBD) September 2013

 

Summer arrived on wings of butterflies just in time to wave good-bye.

Society garlic- you can measure how long you've lived in a home by how many times the clumps have been spaded apart .  On triple digit days- stand near a clump and you find yourself craving garlic toast.

The border to hinterlands is mapped by where a thousand shades of green gives way to the taupe of where brush was cleared and the land allowed to lay fallow.

I would not call shrimp plants invasive- their habit is better described as liking local travel. 

 Carpet roses serve visual shots of color when the last summer heat torches the landscape.

Rosa 'Betty Boop' continues to grow like a teenager. 

The 'Cinco de Mayo' roses are earning a more prominent role in the garden.

Instead of display as a pair- next year  I would like to budget to change their use to a hedge.  Which means relocating quite a large rose- stay tuned...

Leaves are a source of color and interest. This little spot was created when a terrarium was allowed to spill into the garden.

The charming little angel faced geranium was planted near a seating wall.

The valerian 'ruber' popped up next to her- nature's version of friendship.  Who am I to interfere?

My shed- the window was long-ago cast-off from a neighbor's remodeling project. It is a blessing to live in a neighborhood with some really good trash):-

Here's a close up of the bedding begonia. The secret to her keeping in good shape  deep into her middle age is regular clipping.

The peppers potted up with roses keep color popping above indigo blue pots in our extra- wide driveway.

'Easy Does It" rose- she doesn't seem to be bothered by the hottest of locations- a curbside hell-strip-   that's another rose you should expect to see more planted here in the coming years.

Azalea 'Inga' blooms sporadically throughout the year. 

I read frogs are considered good luck in Japan. This one is equipped with a motion sensor-

Along with the ceramic chirper across the front porch

No more rabbit droppings on the front carpet. Which is a very good thing.

Begonia' Ginny' was potted here the week my young niece died. That was a decade ago. I never expected to say goodbye to my niece before any of my plants.

I am on my way to say last goodbyes to a dear friend.

If you ever loved someone - tell them.  In the bouquet of life- try not to stuff it with moments of regrets.

Until we meet again- thank you for all YOU do to make the world more beautiful.

 

 May the garden gate still be open to link to May Dreams Gardens Gardens Bloggers Bloom Day

Savoring Sunday ~ Nature Break

“A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the most joyous day of the week.” 

~ Henry Ward Beecher

Is it just me, or does food taste better on Sundays?  Our Lord on High certainly knew what he was doing when he prescribed one day a week to take a break... to have definable negative space between the busyness of everyday.  

This morning all the calories landed on the brunch plate. Cozying up to fingers of sausage were fresh cinnamon waffles slathered with cream cheese whipped light with cream  flavored up with sugar and real vanilla- topped with macerated strawberries and blueberries glazed with a drizzle of real maple syrup.  

On  the side, a creamy quiche filled with layers of cheese and Anaheim peppers  planned over from last night's light supper left us dreamy and full.

Overall, it's been a cool summer. Well into August already,  today the thermometer barely tripped into the mid- 80's.  It's kind of fun watching BBC  and hearing our temperature translated into Celsius- just a bit over 30 degrees):-  

The monarch butterflies are just now regularly sailing silently through the backyard. It doesn't matter what is on TV when this is the view from the patio.

It has been a superlative week communicating with colleagues, friends and family at home in the different latitudes of this great nation.  

North Dakota frog image by Trevor Plunk

 Trevor, our oldest son  works in oil and gas in flyover country.  He lives in one state, works in others. We joke that he is our Bedouin son- he owns what he can carry with him from field to field- including the camera he recently put a macro lens on. 

Image by Trevor Plunk

Trevor has always felt a kinship with all of God's creatures.  

It is not the prevailing thought of the popular culture, but it is my experience that many of the great conservationists are those who extract the earth's bounty for our daily use. 

Image by Trevor Plunk

Frogs and grasshoppers-  our son captured the miracle within ordinary inhabitants of the countryside.  

Tonight I'll say a prayer, asking God to watch over our family. I will thank Him for the crickets who serenade us all to sleep- those near - and those very far. 

 Until we meet again, Thank you for all YOU do to make the world more beautiful!