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.

Frothy Flower Clusters Atop Filigree Foliage .. Sambucus 'Black Lace'

If I were compelled to choose a recently released cultivar, a shrub that appeared in garden nurseries only the past few years and one that elicits a 'happy dance' when the foliage leafs out in Spring, that plant would be Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace.'

Such an easy plant! A beauty that never stirs up a fuss, it deserves a starring role in gardens.

The divine, deeply cut foliage is richly colored, as you see. Darkly dramatic 'Black Lace' forms wonderful alliances when grown amidst a canvas of greenery.

Despite the fact that I generally turn my nose up at pale pink or white when selecting flowers that will occupy important spots in the garden, I love the frothy flowers on Sambucus 'Black Lace.' They enliven two rather sedate, semi-shaded areas of my small plot: One 'Black Lace' grows in the 'secret garden' adjoining a neighboring stucco garage wall;

and on the far opposite side, another plant rises up in a border along the western perimeter.

I received two plants to trial before they were available in nurseries, and they've outperformed my expectations as they've grown taller and matured.

Only May 3rd and flowerheads are forming!

I can't imagine the garden without this lacy character!

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

Fabbest Foliage .. Favorite Shrubs, Perennials & Vines

Alice's Garden Blooming in Spring

In Spring a gardener is allowed to gush!

Kerria j.'Albiflora' .. one of the earliest and most beautiful blooms to appear on a shrub.

Another early bloomer, Weigela f. 'Midnight Wine' with its deep, dark foliage.


Plantings have had to be adjusted as the tree on the property to the west soars ever higher and wider; its branches shading the garden where sunlight once fell.

Couldn't ignore this outrageous Raymond Evison Clematis cultivar, 'Crystal Fountain'

Perhaps the combination I find most enchanting in Spring: dramatic chocolate foliage of Corylus 'Rote Zeller'

intertwined with variegated Porcelain berry vine, Ampelopsis brevipedunculata 'Elegans,' a deciduous, woody, perennial climber - every leaf demonstrating a uniquely complex shape, mottled white and pink flushed.

Click to see more of ... Alice's Garden

Bright Beacons .. Elegant Ixia & Incarvillea

Incarvillea arguta .... aka summer gloxinia is native to the Himalayas. A lovely perennial that's well suited to partly sunny sites. Boasting divided foliage with a distinctive fern-like foliage, it grows as a sub-shrub in the Bay Area. I must wait until midsummer for the blooming to stand out as a focal point. But once the trumpet flowers emerge on terminal stems, the flowering continues well into the fall. A choice perennial, Incarvillea takes its name from a Jesuit missionary to China in the 1700s, Pierre d'Incarville. The species, arguta refers to the plant's "sharply toothed or notched" leaves, according to Gledhill's Names of Plants.

The African corn lilies are strutting their stuff! Ixia hybrids from South Africa's Western Cape province are members of the Iris family: Bulbous plants that have naturalized here, so I can look forward to a perennial show in April, as the wiry stems shoot up into space while the garden is coming to life.

The oval buds are appealing, while the star-like flowers - 12 on a single stem - emerge in rosy reds and golden yellows, none as abundant as brilliant white blooms with edges flushed pink and dark throats. Blooms open when basking in sunshine, but remain closed under cloudy skies. In summer my garden receives little water, emulating the South African habitat: When the Ixias enter a period of dormancy, my garden's exotic dahlias varieties can take center stage.

Link to... Making a Garden - Chapter 1

1999 The early days - to the present.