Ravishing Miss Ruby .. Butterfly Love!

Ravishing 'Miss Ruby' arrived on my doorstep as a small plant just last year, and in a short window of time, the new compact Buddleia cultivar has shown itself to be a keeper. Proven Winners / ColorChoice sent it to trial - one of the perks of being a garden writer. The color is admirable, far richer and more intense than any buddleia I've grown since moving to California.

Here's Buddleia X 'Miss Ruby' enjoying a sun bath in late-spring. A butterfly bush that blooms like blazes, even before the first day of summer. 'Miss Ruby' has been developed to grow more compactly than the giant butterfly bushes I see when walking around my town. Originally a summer community for San Francisco residents, the town's small cottages remain as vestiges of the old days, along with well-established shrubs such as buddleias with thick trunks, growing streetside for screening and privacy.

Yesterday a marketing person explained that unlike older varieties, 'Miss Ruby' produces vary little viable seed, so the plant should not be invasive. It's certainly a profuse bloomer! Producing enough sprays to enjoy fresh bouquets continuously these past few weeks. And still, the shrub is covered in blooms, attracting a host of swallowtail butterflies.

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

Lolling in Little Venice - A London Excursion

London's Lovely Little Venice!

In London's Little Venice, delightful parks rise up with brilliant displays of spring blooms and elegant bridges are eye-catching diversions. We arrived at the wharf on a cold, wet morning for a cruise to Camden Lock. Having booked a return trip, we decided to shorten the experience to a 45-minute, one-way trip because of the weather.

Booking a week-long cruise in the north of England had been on my wish list, but I suppose life on a narrowboat might feel claustrophobic to someone who is tall, and used to a very active lifestyle (umm... that would be T.)

Britain's narrowboats have a fascinating history of moving supplies along a complex and vast system of canals. Booking a tour on the Regent's Canal is a little pleasure I highly recommend, albeit, an activity that generally marks one as a visitor to London. (Usually when traveling, I make an effort to avoid doing anything that has me swimming in a sea of tourists. I'm happiest spending time in places that allow me to meld with locals.)

Jason's Trip .. www.jasons.co.uk .. is a 100 year old canal boat that's been converted for leisure travelers.

Alliums .. Mosaics and A Park Created by Children

Waterloo Millennium Green - May .. London

We found ourselves on the South Bank with a bit of free time while awaiting an afternoon performance of The Real Thing at The Old Vic.

Waterloo Millennium Green presented an inviting parkland to explore.

A proud resident of the neighborhood took Tom aside to explain that the park had been created

by local school children.

Delectable, Organic Vegetarian .. London!

One of the final days of our trip, strolling Portobello Road - not during market day, but the following afternoon, when Notting Hill is a bit quieter. Luscombe's organic juice - simply the tastiest blend of Carrot and Sicilian Orange with a bit of lemon to add zest; concocted in Buckfastleigh (great name!), Devon.

Lunch was at Gail's Bread; an open-face vegetable tart with flaky crust - picture does not do it justice - along with a red rice salad. And yes, the sun finally broke through, streaming in through the window.

Foodie heaven.

And a celebrity sighting, too: Looked like actor Barnaby Kay walking by, after we had seen him appear the previous day in a revival of Tom Stoppard's 'The Real Thing' at The Old Vic!

Beautiful yet Noxious .. Tamarisk

A follow-up to Monday's post showing a gorgeous Tamarisk holding center stage at London's

Chelsea Physic Garden. As gardening/blogging compatriot, Helen, aka Toronto Gardens recently pointed out, Tamarix ramosissima is considered to be an invasive plant.

I have vivid memories of seeing a beauty such as the one pictured here in a private garden in Provence a few years ago. Yet, as responsible stewards of our own bits of the earth, we must respect the fact that while we might be swayed to plant this tree, it would be a mistake to do so.

Perhaps you'd like to visit another London garden with nary a Tamarisk in sight!

For your pleasure ... a 1.5 acre rooftop landscape cultivated in the very heart of London's Kensington District!

Click on the link to the feature on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz: Kensington Roof Gardens

LONDON Calling .. Gardens Galore in the Weeks Ahead

A rare peony growing alongside the pond at Chelsea Physic Garden.

So much to share: Here, a few sights/sites to revisit.

I've returned from the U.K. with stories to tell and garden gossip. After experiencing two weeks of cold weather, the sun appeared, blazing among the aisles of London's Chelsea Physic Garden; preening with Paeonia and poppies.

A scene-stealer... the brilliant Tamarisk.

Physician, entrepreneur, plant collector: Sir Hans Sloane stands watch over the Physic Garden's amazing flora. Imagine! I returned today just as the Chelsea Flower Show was about to kick off. And though I've attended this fabulous show in previous years, I had other plans to occupy my days on this sojourn.

Detail of a rare, wonderful Echium - E. wildpretii

Along Portobello Road, cascading golden panicles of Laburnum trees draped the sidewalks.

Look for garden touring from London to Wales, continuing in the weeks ahead here on

Bay Area Tendrils

& on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Jet lag notwithstanding.

Solitary Survivor .. Dendrobium Orchid

Hundreds of species and cultivars grow in Alice's garden ... but there is only one orchid:

Dendrobium x delicatum 'Extra Fine'

is blooming rather late this year. A single stem sends out flowers, unlike previous seasons, when sprays emerged from multiple stems. A dear friend passed this plant along, a savvy plantsman and native San Franciscan with impressive expertise in the sphere of orchid cultivation. I've managed to keep the plant alive, although a more tender specimen - Masdevallia coccinea 'Leywoods' did not survive. I'm appalled to report that I failed to provide winter protection for the tender Masdevallia orchid and it perished.

The Dendrobium receives a bit of coddling during the rainy season, when it's placed outside the french doors on the back porch. There, it avoids the worst of my micro-climate's winter frosts that drape the floor of the garden, and the onslaught of drenching rainfall, resulting in soggy conditions. Only .. one .. orchid.

Pendulant, Promiscuous Cerinthe!

Cerinthe major purpurescens

Although slow to colonize here in Alice's Garden, the richly graduated shades of blue, purple and green of Cerinthe are now rampant, bolstering the planting in the garden's central bed. I extended an invitation to this self-sowing annual years ago, but its promiscuous nature has only recently taken hold in the loamy soil. I find the flower color to be reminiscent of Han Purple, an ancient pigment found in the decoration of China's terra cotta army figures. Oe perhaps the color is more akin to the Royal Purple associated with Medieval Europe. In general, I am put off by the color purple for clothing or decor. But in the garden, I revel in the contrast between the bracts' blue-purple hues and the rounded, pale blue-green leaves.