The Times, They Are A Changing

"The present now

Will later be past "

Lyrics from "The Times They are A- Changin'"

by Bob Dylan

"Changing Times, Changing Gardens" was the Pacific Horticulture weekend-long seminar.The journey up the central coast began at the train station in Fullerton.

A transportation center is a tough place to have a garden. But garden lovers are not tethered to "can't do". Planted between the succulent and cactus is a heart covered in a quilted mosaic pattern.  Phooey   on the drought- this garden will always have color in "its heart".

Instead of tensely watching for idiot-drivers along hundreds of miles of traffic, I could lazily lean against the window, allow my attention to nature's vignettes- places such as where boulders perched precariously on golden hillsides.

I could admire our long coastline without looking for off ramps with "restroom potential" . How magnificent to live in an age when people sail with seagulls over the waves.



Garden designer and  fellow garden writer Joan Bolton met me at the train platform for the rest of our journey. First stop: a wine tasting and book signing for  her long-time friend Andrea Weir's novel A Foolish Consistency.  So far, the heroine has hooked up 25 years later with the man she should have married, but didn't... Will they or won't they? To find out  buy the book . 

My date: Einstein

Even Einstein would be impressed with the All-Star line up for Day 1

Lorene Edwards Forkner, Editor of Pacific Horticulture Magazine. 

Matt Ritter, Cal Poly Biology Professor and author of A Californian's Guide to the Trees Among Us

Jeffrey Gordon Smith  JGS Landscape Architecture

Susan Van Atta of Van Atta Associates

Christopher Lee Wassenberg, Director of the Leaning Pine Arboretum, Cal Poly Pomona

 Randy Baldwin, GM of San Marcos Growers 

Carol Bornstein,
Director of the Nature Gardens at the Natural History Museum of LA County  

Todd Davidson, Owner/ GM of Sage Ecological Landscapes and Nursery

and  

Gabriel Frank - of Gardens by Gabriel and about-to-be- father

There is much to report from the weekend, which measured in time, is already past. But measured in influence- the road forward is only just begun. Beginning with editing through 444 images... 


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