East Bay Birds, Butterflies, Wildlife: UCBG Faunal Guide

The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley has published a foldout guide to illustrate the wealth of birds, butterflies, and wildlife inhabiting the East Bay Hills... "bounded by Hayward and Wildcat earthquake faults... of the Pacific Coast Range."

Both trained zoologists, Garden Director, Paul Licht and Chris Carmichael, Associate Director of Collections & Horticulture, have created an informative, beautifully produced, pocket-size and plasticized pamphlet to enhance any area outing you might undertake.

The guide is available in the UCB Garden Shop...

Click on this link to read more

Read more about UCBG at Berkeley on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

A Welcome Visitor: U.C. Botanical Garden, Berkeley

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Mantis created by Patrick E

Heritage Rose Garden: Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Rosa chinensis var spontanea

A magnificent setting year-round! Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Photo courtesy, Christine Walker - Quarryhill

From the garden: Quarryhill director, Bill McNamara returned from a trip to New York City after accepting an award marking Quarryhill's induction into the Great Rosarian's Rose Garden Hall of Fame. Bill received the award at the headquarters of the Manhattan Rose Society in recognition of the outstanding dedication to the preservation of Asian species roses and cultivars.

This honor comes at the same time as the Heritage Rose Garden takes shape at Quarryhill. A new feature at Quarryhill, it will trace the lineage of hybrid tea roses back to their Chinese ancestry, and expand the scope, beauty, and accessibility of the public garden. New attention is being paid to species or wild roses that require less chemical pesticide and fertilizer use.

www.quarryhillbg.org

Asian Species .. Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Photo: Christine Walker

(Photo: San Francisco Chronicle)

Some years ago one of my San Francisco Chronicle 'Garden Walks' columns

highlighted Quarryhill Botanical Garden

The site is a horticultural paradise that is surprising to discover when touring Sonoma's Valley of the Moon in wine country. What sets Quarryhill apart is the fact that most all the plants - trees, shrubs, bulbs, roses - have been grown from wild collected seed gathered during plant expeditions undertaken by the garden's director, Bill McNamara, who travels extensively to China, Japan and the Himalayas. You can click below to read...

...the original feature in the archives on SFgate.com...

More photos of the garden are posted on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Writing about garden travel is especially gratifying when sharing information about a place like Quarryhill.

Plant Hunting! 'Blue Heaven' .. VanDusen Botanical Garden

(Photo courtesy VanDusen Botanical Garden)

Wish I could attend this upcoming event at VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver, BC.

Bill Terry will be presenting at 7:30 pm in the Garden's Floral Hall on November 11, sharing vignettes of his plant-hunting sojourn at 2700 km while traveling through Sichuan and Tibet.

Bill's tales include sightings of lovely alpine plants, including Meconopsis, the mythic blue poppy known to provoke plant lust in many a gardener. Author of 'Blue Heaven - Encounters with the Blue Poppy' (book will be available), and a grower of the genus, Bill can boast the most diverse collection of Asiatic poppies in North America. Visiting the collection is going on my bucket list!

Tickets in advance or at the door subject to availability.

If you're on FaceBook .. check out this link:

Cedar Lecture: Poppies and Plant Hunting on the Roof of the World

Link to Meconopsis grandis on Bay Area Tendrils

Bewitching Blue Poppies

Link to VanDusen on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Magnificent Succulents at Mrs. Bancroft's Garden

(Bancroft Garden Photo: Brian Kemble)

The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek is hosting a Workshop Series,

to include a Succulent Propagation workshop on Sunday, May 9th, 2010.

Visit: www.ruthbancroftgarden.org for details.

Link to an earlier post:

Remarkable Australians! Australian plants at The Ruth Bancroft Garden

Sumptuous Springtime Garden Travel!

May I suggest:

Sumptuous settings for Springtime Travel!

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

Sonoma County Getaway

Click on garden to read full feature on Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel.

Sonoma Hort Display Gardens - Sebastopol, California

Van Dusen Botanical Garden .. Vancouver, British Columbia

Surface Tension: A Permanent Installation by Andy Goldsworthy

Hess Collection Winery Napa Valley, California

Jardin de l'Alchimiste - Garden of the Alchemist
Photo Courtesy of the Garden

Note: No longer open

Eygalieres, France

Ira Keller Fountain .. Portland, Oregon

Exquisite Rush of Cascading Water .. Multnomah Falls & Ira's Fountain

Cherry blossoms! 2010 Sakura Matsuri Festival takes place May 1 & 2 at:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

...you'll see Trillium & slipper orchids,

peonies, shooting stars and wisteria amid the garden's glorious blooming displays.

Blue... but not Sad - Hail to the Horticulturists!

Hail to the horticulturists!

A look back at display gardens & plant nurseries ...

garden installations & public gardens ...

 featured in 2009.

Perhaps, like me, you can't get enough of the magical blue poppy.

Above Photo:  Garden Valley Ranch

Petaluma, California

Click on garden links to view the original posts.

Berry Botanic Garden  Portland : Photo: Kris Freitag  

Topher Delaney - Garden Play Installation

Cornerstone Sonoma

Photos: Alice Joyce unless otherwise indicated

Tibouchina ... Getty Center  Los Angeles

Sonoma Horticultural Nursery

Sebastopol, California

Eryngium  -  Cistus Nursery

Sauvie Island, Oregon

Photos Copyright Alice Joyce

Looking back on  2009:

Clamor .. Murmur .. Plash! A Potpourri of Fountains

Elementary! Arbor .. Pergola .. Loggia .. Colonnade

Words and photos (unless otherwise noted) © Alice Joyce, Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

The theft of content and photos on the Internet is widespread.

For now, I'll be taking steps to insert links back to my site.

Besotted in Berkeley! UC Botanical Garden

Babiana ringens - the South African baboon flower grows in the South Africa - Karoo section of the UC Botanical Garden. The Great Karoo, a region of hot, arid plains: A vast landscape where an amazing 9000 plant species appear (www.centralkaroo.ca.za/).

Photos Courtesy : University of California Botanical Garden

Arisaema sikokianum - the cobra lily grows in the Garden's Asia section, encompassing microclimates and habitats from sunny havens to shady glens. I'm besotted by the dazzling shapes and forms of these botanical treasures!

Regardless of the time of year,  a visit to the UC Botanical Garden surprises and delights.

Cornus florida urbiana ... Mexican dogwood, growing in the UCBG Mesoamerica section.

Plants from mountainous areas, as well as the cloud forests of Mexico and Central America 

appear in this area of the Garden. Gardeners in the San Francisco Bay Area incorporate many of these species into our mixed borders, from agaves and dahlias to salvias and fuchsias. Click on link for more on the University of California Botanical Garden:

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/11/enchanted-flora-uc-botanical-garden.html

Enchanted Flora .. U.C. Botanical Garden

Enchanted Flora

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley - Part II

Chiranthodendron pentadactylon .. Monkey Paw or Monkey's Hand Tree,

- a relative of California Fremontodendron, the flannel bush -

this evergreen tree grows in the Garden's MesoAmerica Section.

Photos Courtesy: University of California Botanical Garden

Doryanthes palmeri, the spear lily, blooming in the Garden's Australasia Section.

On a brisk Fall Day, glowing reminders of a World of Flora. Other continents ... other seasons. The Garden's Canary Island section is located above the Garden of Old Roses, at the acme of the Garden, overlooking breathtaking views of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Here, a vigorous shrub, Salvia canariensis blooms in the foreground and also further back.

A detail of the Canary Island section, with the flowers of Aeonium lancerottense

taking center stage.

Click on link for more on UCBG:

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/11/autumn-in-east-bay-and-preview-of.html

Autumn in the East Bay and A Preview of Spring

Dawn Redwood Glade in Winter

Obata Gate to the Japanese Pool

 University of California Botanical Garden ... A Preview

Photos Courtesy : University of California Botanical Garden

Autumn in the Asian Collection  

With its hilly topography, Strawberry Canyon is a dramatic setting for the U.C. Botanical Garden in Berkeley, 

located across the Bay Bridge to the east of San Francisco. Stretching over thirty-four acres, the grounds feature a geographical arrangement of gardens, displaying plants from around the world. Rhododendrons are well represented in the Asian gardens, along with maples and hydrangeas,  witch hazels and epimediums. Pictured above in a wintery scene, the Botanical Garden's lovely grove of Dawn redwood trees,  Metasequoia glyptostroboides, are another highlight in this collection. The unusual trees are deciduous conifers:  Having been believed to be extinct, they were discovered growing in western China  some sixty-five years ago. The trees at UCBG are among the first grown outside of China.

More to follow on the U.C. Botanical Gardens.

San Francisco Botanical Garden Vignettes

Leucodendron argenteum - Silver tree - South African Garden

Endangered in its native habitat of Cape Province
Photos © Alice Joyce

Himalayan Blue Bamboo - Entry Garden

Vignettes from a stroll through the San Francisco Botanical Garden

New Rhododendron Pavilion - stonework by Edwin Hamilton

Elegia capensis - above - Library Terrace Garden

Entry Garden plantings - below
Photos © Alice Joyce

New Zealand Garden - below - Norfolk Island Pine

Eastern Australia Garden - below - Reed Madden Design, Sculptural Wall

Photos © Alice Joyce

Oxalis deppei 'Iron Cross'

Native to Mexico, North America

Faux flower - Entry Garden

Read More...

Luculias at San Francisco Botanical Garden

Inspiration... Behind the Scenes - Making A Garden

San Francisco Botanical Garden  Entry Border / Shade / Blue Bamboo

June 2009  -  Making A Garden ... Chapter 2

The Agony & ...the Word that Must not be Spoken

(the 'E' word having generated an inappropriate advertisement with Chapter 1)

San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum

Entry Border -  Sun

Designed by 'Planet Horticulture'

Inspiration / Behind the Scenes

While waiting for slides of my garden's early days to be converted to digital images, I offer another bit of background:

On January 13 when BayAreaTendrils was brand spankin' new, I wrote about designers Roger Raiche and David McCrory, aka Planet Horticulture. The entry borders they designed for the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum opened my eyes, providing limitless inspiration, and helping to lead the way in the creation of my garden's plant palette.

Now, for one of those secrets promised in Chapter 1. I chose a customized blue, always referred to as Moroccan blue, as the main accent color for my garden. After a few years, I decided to introduce a contrasting color; to be an earthy terra cotta. Ready to begin painting, I dashed around from store to store, to buy a ready-mixed enamel paint. But my impatience won over. Unable to find what I was looking for, I seized upon the saturated yellow that appears in my garden today.

Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' SFBG Library Garden below

More about 'Planet Horticulture' on link below:

http://bayareatendrils.blogspot.com/2009/01/insomnia.html

Wildflowers - Native Flora at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Spring in the Native Flora Garden

Trillium vaseyi

Trillium luteum

Photos: Ulrich Lorimer

Curator, Native Flora Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Trillium luteum emerging

Uvularia sessilifolia

Clematis viorna

Clematis ochroleua seed heads

"What of the future of rare native wildflowers? Because of the attrition of habitat, some are in a very precarious position."

Roger Tory Peterson/Margaret McKenny, from Introduction to Wildflowers - Peterson Field Guide

It's been my great pleasure to review the photographs included in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Flickr collection. And in particular, to look through the images taken by Ulrich Lorimer, Curator of the BBG's Native Flora Garden.

As mentioned in my previous post, I found the Native Flora Garden and its wildflowers entrancing. In the same way, I'm drawn to the subtle beauty of trilliums and clematis when I see them in wild places.

After taking in the woodsy tableau I've put together here, you can view the full photo set, along with portfolios of all the BBG gardens, at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklynbotanicgarden/

Kudos to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for their preservation of the region's native plants,

& a personal note of thanks to Uli, for sharing his beautiful photographs.

Link to A Springtime Stroll ... Brooklyn Botanic Garden