Paradise in Mill Valley: Don Worth Garden

The Garden Conservancy 'Open Days' Program in June of 2012

featured a Marin County garden created by Don Worth.

This magical Mill Valley paradise created by artist/photographer Don Worth was one of the gardens opening to the public, allowing for a rare opportunity to visit a unique West Coast landscape.

 I wrote an in-depth feature on the garden at: 

 Alice's Garden Travel Buzz:  Drop by to see a photo portfolio of the garden and learn more about Worth's exceptional vision.

Exotic Gardens for California: A Garden Conservancy Seminar

Alhambra - Generalife Gardens: Painting by Ludwig Hans Fisher 1885

Photos: The Garden Conservancy

The Garden Conservancy and Ruth Bancroft Garden will present a fascinating seminar, looking at Moorish, Mughal, and Mediterranean Influence on California Gardens.

Royal Mosque Tile from Isfahan, Safavid period, from Patrick Hunt's Presentation

The seminar: Gift of Persia

will take place on July 15 at The Gardens at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek. To read more about the exceptional agenda and speakers for the day-long event, see the June 19th feature on...

Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Courtyard Garden in Rajasthan

You can register online

or phone The Garden Conservancy office in San Francisco at 415.441.4300.

The event moves to the Ruth Bancroft Garden for a wine reception, where participants can hear the garden's curator Brian Kemble share his horticultural expertise!

Contemporary and Naturalistic... Open Days Visit: The Garden Conservancy

The Garden Conservancy Open Days: Marin County

On a most unusual, rainy June day I visited a landscape designed by Studio Green: A 'Bay Friendly Certified Garden' designed with an awareness for water conservation, wildlife habitat, and the nurturing of healthy soil.

I found it enlightening to hear landscape architect John Merten talk about his approach to the project, and how he implemented the landscape design with a no-mow meadow, and native plantings that include Coyote Brush and Berkeley Sedge, California Fescue & Gray Rush (Baccharis pilularis, Carex tumulicola, Festuca californica & Juncus patens).

Had the process not been explained to me, of how the terrain of the creek bank was stabilized and reconfigured, I would have assumed the expansive site was natural and untouched.

Majestic oak trees overlook the stunning contemporary architecture of the home's horizontal design. While on the Open Day, a natural stream gurgled and sputtered as visitors climbed along a path up the hilly terrain to a bocce court and picnic area with a beautiful view over the property. The contouring of the land added the element of rainwater runoff management.

The property's sinuous concrete and dirt trail appears natural, as well, blending into the land in an unobtrusive way.

Visit The Garden Conservancy web site to learn more about the Open Days Program

and the Open Days Directory: 2011 Guide to America's Gardens

Tis the Season for Lavender & Roses - Summery Scenes

Tis the season for lavender and roses!

Summery Scenes from a garden visit in Northern California:

On one day only these private gardens open their gates as part of

The Garden Conservancy ... Open Days Program.

As promised, a few glimpses of one of the featured gardens on this year's Open Days, which coincided with peak rose bloom.

Above: Austin's Rosa 'Graham Thomas' perhaps?

Pictured below: One of the stately homes featured on last weekend's open gardens.

On this extensive property, the dense greenery of shrubs, vines, and mature trees provides plenty of shady nooks.

The historic Victorian house and grounds have recently undergone a comprehensive restoration.

As our dry season generally persists for six months of the year, a pool is a welcome addition to the landscape.

Perhaps the most beautiful mature dogwood I've ever come upon, with pale, buttery yellow bracts. Despite the construction work, the tree appeared extremely healthy.

Central Water Feature with a Classical Theme

The Dogwood in all its glory.

Rose draped arbors helped to define the garden's intimate spaces.

A greenhouse filled with colorful succulents and tender specimens, amidst a welcoming layout of rose beds combined with perennial plantings to attract beneficial insects, butterflies and birds.

An intimate garden room where visitors seemed to naturally congregate amid the aromatic herbs & roses.

Count Your Chickens! .. Artful Edible Gardenscapes

COUNT YOUR CHICKENS - IN YOUR EDIBLE GARDEN

Workshop at The Marin Art & Garden Center - Friday, June 18th.

Pictured: Pollinator Garden designed by Kate Frey, one of the presenters.

News of another timely workshop from The Garden Conservancy! To feature a morning of talks, a farm-fresh lunch, & afternoon garden visits followed by a reception.

Pictured: Private edible garden designed by Blasen Landscape Architecture

Photo: Shirley Collenette

The Norwood Garden will also be featured on the day's garden tours. Photo: Marion Brenner

The workshop's focus: Growing edibles in your home garden, dipping into the topics of both cooking and gardening. There'll be a history lesson on classical kitchen gardens and contemporary design, along with short talks that promise to whet the appetite for growing plants for flavor; mixing ornamentals and edibles; the charm of chickens; and an aspect I think of as basic stewardship: Creating the sort of healthy environment that attracts pollinators.

Artichoke Bloom from Nancy Goslee Power's book: Power of Gardens

I'm a great fan of the design work of Nancy Goslee Power and Associates, whose projects include the Norton Simon Museum Sculpture Garden. But I've yet to have the chance to hear her speak, so I'm anticipating what she will share in her presentation:

Fields to Front Yards: A History of Classical Kitchen Gardens

I've only mentioned a few of the speakers and topics. There's much more, along with the afternoon visits to two kitchen gardens in Marin County, another workshop highlight.

Shirley Collenette's garden is one I've wanted to visit for quite some time.

In the final garden of the day, wine will be served and participants will have a chance to chat.

The Marin Art & Garden Center is at 30 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, in Ross, California.

Workshop hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Details and registration online:

www.gardenconservancy.org

Snowy Egrets! The Gardens of Alcatraz Island

Restoration of the historic Alcatraz Island gardens is ongoing.

The island is reached via a short ferry ride from San Francisco.

On a recent trip to see the lush spring bloom throughout the Gardens of Alcatraz,

I took countless photos that must be sorted and labeled.

Look for an in-depth feature to appear very soon on: Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

One delightful aspect of the tour: An opportunity to peek through the vegetation and see the fluffy feathers of young Snowy Egrets!

Sorry, but it was impossible to get a good photo, as the birds are ensconced in such dense thickets.

As the sign mentions, the egrets are able to find plenty of food in tidepools and at island's edge.

No problem getting close to the seagulls!

Getting there: http://www.alcatrazcruises.com/

To learn more about visiting the gardens: www.alcatrazgardens.org

Click here: Gardens of Alcatraz on Bay Area Tendrils Garden Travel

Historic Gardens of Alcatraz - A Garden Conservancy Project

Westside gardens

Photos by Elizabeth Byers

Spring 2008

The Historic Gardens of Alcatraz

- a project of the Garden Conservancy - recently received two awards from the California Preservation Foundation.

Alcatraz staff family in an Officers' Row garden, circa 1869

Photo by Eadweard Muybridge, Bancroft Library

Roadside Gardens, 2009

The Garden Conservancy became involved in 2003 with spearheading the rehabilitation of the heritage gardens on The Rock: now a National Historic Landmark,

and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 22-acre island, part of the National Park Services Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is the GGNRA's most visited site, with some 1.3 million annual visitors

hopping a ferry ride from San Francisco to see Alcatraz first-hand.

Officers' Row, 2009

A brilliant team of volunteers have gardened and toiled

to restore the uniquely stunning landscape.

A tour is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure! The gardens shown to you within the context of history, horticulture, and cultural significance.

A Sustainable Landscape and Green Roof Garden

Like her design firm’s name, Wonderland Garden and Landscape, Lauren Schneider conjured a magical rooftop plantscape in the sky.

An Evening at the Margarido House, Oakland, California

Benefit for

The Garden Conservancy

Thursday, October 1 - 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Join the designers and creators for a private tour of a LEED-H Platinum Rated home, landscape and rooftop garden, designed and built by MCD/McDonald Construction & Development; landscape design by Lauren Schneider, Wonderland Garden and Landscape.

Softened by a sustainable landscape of drought-tolerant California natives & Mediterranean plants, the Margarido House is the first LEED-H Platinum certified custom home

in Northern California.

Photos by Mariko Reed, courtesy of Garden Design magazine

Los Angeles-based outdoor living expert Debra Prinzing will be on hand to help tell the story of this award-winning sustainable design project, which she profiled in the September-October 2009 issue of Garden Design magazine.

Remarkable Australians - Native Species for Gardens

Pimlea spectabilis Photo, Melinda Kralj

The Ruth Bancroft Garden

Walnut Creek, California

Eucalyputus caesia

Photos: Brian Kemble

The Australians Part II

A Seminar & Study Tour

presented by The Garden Conservancy

& The Ruth Bancroft Garden

Seminar - Friday, July 10, 2009 at Civic Arts Education Center, Shadelands Campus, Walnut Creek

Study Tour to Santa Cruz, Monterey: Saturday, July 11, 2009

Cosponsored by Pacific Horticulture magazine

"Refreshing Your Australian Repertoire"

An impressive gathering of experts will advise and enlighten seminar participants, with Richard Turner, editor of Pacific Horticulture magazine, serving as Moderator.

As Dick told with me, some of the most knowledgeable speakers on Australian plants in California gardens are among the presenters.

Botanist Glenn Keator has spent time studying the flora in the wild. Glenn will give an overview of its diversity, some 25 to 35,000 taxa.

Curator of the Australian Collections at the Arboretum at UC Santa Cruz, Melinda Kralj has worked and traveled in Australia. She helped with the initial plantings of the Australian Garden at Cranbourne, with the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

The UCSC collection, Melinda's domain, is a magical setting where the scientific aspect of cultivating and presenting these fascinating plants takes place in a garden realm.

On a winter day when I was new to California, Melinda walked me through the Arboretum's gardens, introducing me to banksias and grevilleas, adenanthos and telopeas, boronias, correas, xanthorrhoea (grass trees) and epacris, among plants boasting architectural forms, volumetric blooms, and textures that takes center stage.

The memory has stayed with me through the years, and I'm anxious to hear Melinda's observations on how to fit Australians into our Bay Area gardens. She'll also offer ideas for mixing them with plants from other parts of the world.

Kathy Echols, an instructor at Diablo Valley College, will share her valuable experience, having gardened with Australian native plants for 20 years ago in her East Bay garden.

Kathy imported a collection of 152 new species of Australian plants to the United States in 1992, including 20 new varieties of Emu Bush, Eremophila cultivars . She is known for her expertise in propagating rare and unusual plants, both drought tolerant and tough.

Visit the links listed below for Seminar & Study Tour details,

and for additional background on speakers

Laurence Nicklin, garden designer based in Ojai,

and

Jo O'Connell of Australian Native Plants Nursery, Ventura.

The 2-day event promises to be engaging, informative, and

an excellent opportunity for professional designers, newbie gardeners, and hortiholics who wish to learn more about drought-tolerant choices for Bay Area landscapes.

Eucalyptus preissiana

The Australians, Part ll - A Seminar

Correa 'Carmine Bells' growing in my garden

and Banksia species photographed at University of California Santa Cruz Arboretum
Photos © Alice Joyce

The Australians Part ll - A Seminar Presented by The Garden Conservancy and The Ruth Bancroft Garden

Visit .. Bay Area Tendrils for further details.

Refreshing Your Australian Repertoire:

How to mix exciting and appropriate Australian native plants in Bay Area Gardens

Friday, July 10, 2009, Civic Arts Education Center, Shadelands Campus in Walnut Creek

and a Study Tour on Saturday, July 11, 2009.