A cactus vignette

My first night in New Mexico was spent at the home of college friends Tom and Betsy. They live in Albuquerque, in a charming area called Corralles. Betsy is an artist and the vignette above is a great example of her artistic eye.

New Mexicans can teach us a lot about losing the lawn! This is their front yard; the back is similar. It’s a whole different world of gardening there.

I really covet this big boy! He survived a hellacious lightening and thunderstorm the night before. I have never been so frightened in my life! It sounded like War of the Worlds out there. (We never get thunderstorms where I live.)

On the web:

• Des­canso Gardens/​East Val­ley: ⁹⁄₁₇: Organic Vegetable Gardening (www​.des​can​sog​a​r​dens​.org)
• The Theodore Payne Foundation/​East Val­ley: ⁹⁄17: Gardening with California Native Bulbs @ 10am, Chumash Healing with Native Plants @ 12pm (www​.theodor​e​payne​.org)
• Los Ange­les Arboretum/​East Val­ley: ⁹⁄₁₅: New Roots talk with Emily Green and 9/17:Organic fruit and vegetable gardening (www​.arbore​tum​.org)
• City Farm­ers Nursery/​San Diego: 9/18: Growing and preserving herbs (www​.city​farm​er​snurs​ery​.com)
• San Diego Fall Home and Garden Show: 9/16 — 18 (www.fallhomegardenshow.com)

Inside Rolling Greens

Scrolling through the nursery websites on Socalnurseryplants.com, I have come across some terrific content in unexpected places that I would like to share. Always remember that nurseries often put coupons and sale notices on their websites. I’m dividing the sites into two sections; the first one follows:

East Valley:

• www.sgnurserynews.com (San Gabriel Nursery): a newsletter, monthly advice, photos of exotic plants they carry
• www.theodorepayne.org: see the great classes they give on native gardening

West Valley:

• www.papayatreenursery.com: videos on how to prune specific fruit trees like curry leaf and cherimoya; “ask Alex” feature; in the news/miracle fruit; guide for choosing rare fruit trees for your yard.

Los Angeles:

• www.armstronggarden.com: Gardening from A to Z answers many of your questions; a Save Water feature; Garden Guides help gardeners at every level; a garden forum.
• Mickeyhargitayplants.com: a beautifully designed website with music that will take you to the tropics; check out the links, you will be surprised!
• www.rollinggreensnursery.com/: a gorgeous website with music.

Orange County:

• www.lagunanursery.net: news and  events; owner Ruben Flores offers a free walking tour in the Laguna area most Saturdays at 10am.
• www.Californianativeplants.com (Tree of life nursery): Guest speaker series, lots of native plant information.
• Tropicalvibe.com: Lots of information on palms, and their selection and care.

To be continued.….….

On the web: Potted storewide sale;   9/10 — 9/19; 20% to 75% off;   www.pottedstore.com

Bottle tree @ RBG

I am visiting my brother Scott and his wife Kate in Northern California. They live in Walnut Creek, about 25 miles east of San Francisco and at the foot of Mount Diablo (site of a recent controversy concerning the name “Mt. Devil”, but that’s another story). There is a treasure right down the street from their house, the very first project of the revered Garden Conservancy.  That would be Ruth Bancroft Gardens, dedicated to the  preservation of as fine a collection of water conserving plants as you will find on the planet. Started by it’s eponymous founder in 1971, the 3 acre garden is located on a fruit farm owned by the Bancroft family since the 1880’s. I have always found succulents easy to love for their form, color, ease of propogation and most of all architectural good looks. The succulent and cacti collection @ RBG is thrilling for it’s contrasting textures, forms and colors, especially in the spring.

The bottle tree (Brachychiton Rupestris) shown above is literally a giant succulent. Using it’s trunk for water storage, the Australian native  is slow growing up to 40′ in height; it doesn’t display the bottle shape until 15 years along. The good news is that if you have more money than time the bottle tree can be transplanted very easily.

Ruthbancroftgarden.org