Foodie Treat: 'Circus Circus' Tricolor Carrots Renee's Seeds

A tender foodie treat: This new variety for 2011 from Renee's Seeds:

Tricolor Carrots 'Circus Circus' is a winner.

We grow it in T's sun-drenched community garden.

We're harvesting small, tender carrots and eating them straight from the plot. I used a macro setting on the camera so they appear full-size. T hasn't had any luck with carrots in the past, but this variety is already producing an extremely abundant crop and it's only July.

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

Patrick Blanc: Vertical Gardens Update

Patrick Blanc Vertical Gardens: London and San Francisco

Detail: Heuchera Bloom at Drew School Living Wall - Photos © Alice Joyce

May 2011 Athenaeum Hotel, London

Compare images below from 2010 with those taken this Spring, and you'll see evidence of amazingly lush growth from one year to the next. Photos © Alice Joyce

Athenaeum Hotel's Vertical Garden completed in 2009 Photo © Alice Joyce

Spring Blooms - April 2011 Drew School Vertical Garden, San Francisco: Planted February 2011 -- I'll visit soon to update photos of the living wall's native plantings.

April 2011 ... Drew School Vertical Garden - San Francisco

Verdantly Vertical on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Summer, Sonoma and St. Francis Winery

St. Francis Winery in Sonoma Valley

The cooling effect of a fountain's cascade on a summer day.

Garden Design RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2011

Awarded Best Artisan Garden - RHS Chelsea 2011

Designed by Jihae Hwang (Muum), 'Emptying One's Mind' -- 'Hae - Woo- So'

represented a true first for the Chelsea Flower Show, a traditional Korean toilet.

The design worked around the concept of 'a place where you empty your mind' - which can also refer to a traditional-style Korean outhouse.

The charming, rustic building was surrounded by a landscape of herbaceous wildflowers & perennials, with lilac and camellia shrubs and a Magnolia denudata tree. Ferns, herbs and climbing vines added a lush, woodland ambiance to the setting.

The garden design's environnmental aspects included a half-basement accessed at the back to compost human waste for fertilizer. To walk the pathway, one experienced being refilled by the serene surroundings of flora, together with rock walls that gave the structure stability.

Sponsored by:

Suncheon Bay Garden Expo 2013 - Gwangju City, South Korean;

and Korean Cultural Centre UK

Ravishing Raymond Evison Variety: Clematis Josephine

Under Construction

Yet another Gold awarded to Raymond Evison Clematis  in 2011 -- Chelsea Flower Show.

That's Gold every year since 2003.  Sublime Clematis 'Josephine' represented but one outstanding variety among many.

Evison display in bounteous bloom.

An urn formed the centerpiece of the design,

While a tunnel Allée of draped and flowing vines invited you to walk through the exhibit.

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

Sculpture! Chelsea Flower Show 2011

Chelsea Flower Show 2011: A look at selected sculptural works on view at this year's show.

Above: Laura Antebi - Wire Sculptures

Tom Hare installation: 'The Power of Plants' on exhibit in The Great Pavilion.

Physalis alkekengi: the Japanese Lantern or Cape Gooseberry is said to have use as a sore throat remedy; also to treat eczema, among the plant's medicinal properties.

I particularly liked this eye-intriguing work by Tom Hare - aka Willowman, combining willow elements woven onto a steel framework. At the base, a naturalistic planting, along with woven willow honeybees.

Photos © Alice Joyce

RNIB Garden - Royal National Institute of Blind People:

A silvery gilded figurative work, although not readily apparent, revealed itself to be a 'living' sculpture when slight movements could be detected.

Exuberant oversize blooms...

A discretely minimal form emerged as a central fountain in the M&G Garden designed by Bunny Guinness.

Photos © Alice Joyce

One side note: Strolling on the streets of London near the Victoria Embankment Gardens, a noteworthy architectural element loomed large.

On offer at Chelsea, works in most every style and material.

Tom Stogdon Sculpture

Photos © Alice Joyce

Sculpture figured prominently in all the major show gardens.

For more on design and horticulture at Chelsea, visit my website:  Alice's Garden Travel Buzz and click on 'Chelsea Flower Show' in the Topics.

100,000 Flowers Thailand Exhibit: Chelsea Flower Show

The petals of more than 100,000 flowers were used to compose the elements of a dramatic exhibit mounted by...

Nong Nooch Tropical Botanic Garden

Brilliant! Winner of Gold at ...

The Chelsea Flower Show!

the captivating design brought together cultural elements in the manner of Thai flower arranging.

A stunning sight to behold.

Overview of the lavishly colorful, vibrant exhibit.

'The Temple of the Dawn'

Thai Shadow Puppets - Fantastic Thailand Exhibit (Photos © Alice Joyce)

More horticultural displays -- Raymond Evison's Clematis 

And...

David Austin Roses  

in The Great Pavilion at Chelsea 2011

Look for more Show Gardens, Art and Design Trends to appear in the days ahead.

There is nothing quite like the Chelsea Flower Show!