It's a Wrap~ 25th Annual Southern California Spring Garden Show

"Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soul."

~ Bishop Reginald Heber

For 25 years,  South Coast Plaza has delighted gardeners and wanna-be gardeners with visions of springtime. 

Now is the season for miracles. A waist-high to a basketball player covey of quail, appear perfectly possible. 

The 20' tall birdbath floral centerpiece

Floral fantasies at center court made the ladies feel sprite and lovely as fairy tale princesses. The men, their gallant princes. There was nary a grump. Better: lots of cameras handed to strangers to record a happy memory .

  
Once upon a time, fields of beans grew on the flat land. Now a luxury mall, with the second highest sales per square foot on the West Coast, South Coast Plaza is a karmic setting for the spring garden tour season opener. 

This is an event for all budgets; even no budget. Attendance doesn't require a ticket or parking fee. Just a parking spot and a pair of walking shoes. 

Backyard Bees sells luscious products made by tiniest workers  

This year there were 75 vendors, including Backyard Bees. 4 days of free seminars and 11 gardens in competition. The official listing of who was there and how to contact is found here.  My notes, follow- 

Trends 

Trends are leadership translated into reality. 

Gourd Hobbit House by Living Art of Bonsai

Miniaturization. Electronic components aren't alone. So are gardens elements. Fairy Gardens were planted in wagons, over boot tops, under bonsai and even inside birdcages. 

Succulents.  Simple capped posts with rain gutters planted with succulents- how cool a divider is this?

A pedestal birdbath is frosted in succulents. The silver creamer lighting up the deliciousness, just like a candle on a birthday cake.

Sustenance. This bowl reminded me of  Scottsdale designer David Michael Miller's explaining an interior image for Western Art and Architecture- his philosophy includes: every room requires something live to ground the scene.  

Some of the plants for sale were for their visual appeal alone, but not all.  There was allot of action at the herb table. I'm not the only one with with basil on the kitchen counter.

Color: if it is is in the rainbow-  choose what colors stir your heart, uplifts your spirit. 

Greenwood Gardens often sells at So Cal Hort Meetings. 

Geraniums, iris, orchids, roses, succulents- The major trend of the day: 

Diversity is in. 

John Schoustra, owner of Greenwood Gardens, helped me finagle my way onto a tag-along of the garden judges. Besides John, there was horticultural wizard Jay Rodriguez: author/ speaker Melinda Meyers. There was the beautiful  Johanna Silver, Associate Editor at Sunset Magazine and John Gidding, host of Curb Appeal.

John Gidding, photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Of the judges, John Gidding was definitely the most approached. He was absolutely charming to the fans asking his autograph. 

Melinda Meyers seriously comparing gardens to documents

(L-R) Patty Nelson and John Gidding review the judging forms

A pro-am event, Jay Rodriguez explained the gardens are judged on a 100 point weighted scale. The elements considered were theme interpretation, originality, design, accessories, quality of construction, finishing, plant material and correct labeling.

While they rounded the gardens, checking once, twice, three times for their impressions to be accurate and fair, I aimed my camera at some elements for making a better garden.

Design inspired by Thomas Church

Gardens need focal points. Some serious sculpture  dominates this scene.

Design by the Landscape Design Alumni Association of Saddleback College

Geometrically arranged succulents framed as living wall art is now mainstream.

A vignette from the "Garden of Self- Realization"

Garden ornamentation, ancient through modern  is au courant.

Mulches and ground cover- juxtaposing delicate lamium edge edging against bold pine cones- magic!

Front side of "Mt SAC: On a Mission" display garden

Our local San Gabriel Valley Community College, Mt. San Antonio College Horticulture Club  presented a wonderful Mission-inspired garden. The cap-post filled with succulents to thrill, fill and spill over the small space- this is one of the touches which garnered 3rd third place in the college competition.

A Japanese maple specialist's entry sprung from Ralph Waldo Emerson's words " Adopt the peace of nature: her secret is patience." 

The reincarnated high- recycled content replica slices of tree trunks as stepping stones- some equipped with planting pockets... 

The proprietress did not have the number of the person who bought the molds off the artist when he left the business- but you can contact Essence of the Tree  through their website to find out. 

The Rusted Rose looked to the Nixon Library Rose Garden for inspiration. "The First Lady's Garden" placed the roses named in honor of six first ladies, then carried the theme with other plant materials as well as decorative accessories found just up the road on the museum grounds in  Yorba Linda.. 

Seating. Shelving. Decorative elements. Greenery. Retailer The Plant Stand  detailed how the accoutrements of indoor living marry well to the outside landscape. 

Soothing repetition can be created by disparate elements. Here, a vertical slice of tree trunk made into a bench is tinted and polished- an agreeable companion to the roses at its side.

The first place college entry 

A finishing touch: wooden slats tinted to show off the plant material.  The spirit of rusticity is reinforced through random repeating of a limited choice of  vertical stain boards. Note the retaining wall band capping- a finishing touch which elevates the design. Kudos's to the Orange Coast College Horticulture Club for their 21st century interpretation of the 20th Century aesthetic and value of  sculptor/ gardener Isamu Noguchi. 

Vega Landscape  took second place in the professional competition with their gently swirling design. By limiting plant material, and laying the wooden pathway on the diagonal, they made a huge impression on a limited space. Note the uplit fountain at the end. Gardens should be enjoyable when the sun goes down.

Robert Irwin's use of multiple materials at the Getty Gardens inspired LandWorkshop, inc intricate weave of plant and building materials. Interesting from every angle, the judges voted this 3rd place in the professional category. 

Not pictured, the surfboard.

Back to Natives  highlighted the joys of a simple garden. A couple Adirondack chairs set on a deck with sand washing over- seating areas are de rigueur. 

Strollers through the mall paused in admiration of the tranquil beauty of the  The Garden Gallery  pond-dominated installation. Inspired by the Huntington Garden and Library Japanese Garden, it elements are replete with meaning . The event brochure explains "The use of old reclaimed wood in the design evokes age and stability, while the Koi in the pond provide interest, movement and good fortune." 

The 2nd place winner in College Category, an ode to California's seasons

The Landscape Design Alumni Association of Saddleback College  in their own words to the judges, "Few Regions of the world offer the year round outdoor lifestyle of Southern California" (This design) "brings this home by placing you inside, gazing outside to the four glorious California seasons. With a nod to the iconic California design of Thomas Church and an eye for the sustainability we present; 

"Golden fall, when the foothills shimmer. 

Silvery green winter, bringing life sustaining rains.

The exuberant colors and life of a Southern California spring, when the air is filled with hummingbird buzz. 

The seemingly endless summer of surf, sand and bloom." 

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