Silver Tree Landscape Design

Mad About Maples

Gladys and her husband, Marv, moved from the Central Valley to Santa Cruz over fifty years ago. After building a house along a forested bank of Branciforte creek they commissioned local landscape architect, Roy Rydell, to design a garden around their house. Gladys said that they had requested a low-maintenance garden since Marv was concentrating his attention on establishing his medical practice and Gladys’ was directing all her energy on raising their children. The garden that Roy Rydell designed was all that they had asked for. There was plenty of paving and lawn for the children to play on and a large cantilevered deck overhanging the slope going down to the creek.
Roy had used a basic palette of easy, undemanding plants including a few Japanese maples. Gladys was so impressed by the elegance and grace of the maples that she asked Roy if she could plant a few more. He told her that it would be fine with him. Gladys said that after that her passion for maples snowballed. She now cares for what is probably the largest collection of Japanese maple cultivars in the Monterey Bay area if not the entire Central Coast.
Besides the Japanese maples she has filled the woods around her house with dogwoods, Chinese pistache, crape myrtles, redbuds, smoke trees, Parrotia and persimmons along with several other species of Acer. Beneath all these trees are azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and ferns. The native redwood sorrel and wild gingers are part of the groundcover.
Gladys says that the big show is in the spring. This time of year there is plenty of fall color overhead and underfoot as the deciduous trees go out in a blaze of glory.

Part II: Angel's Davis Arboretum Excursion

Warren Roberts briefly touched on Carolee Shields connection to the Arboretum as well as UC Davis and explained the reason for having this ‘white’ garden in her honor. Carolee Shields was a socially prominent Sacramento hostess before air conditioning was generally available. She would have her summer soirees in the evening to avoid the oppressive heat of the day.  Besides wanting her guests to be comfortable she wanted her garden to look beautiful at night. Colors disappear in darkness. White flowers are the only that really shine in the night, with some plants like the flowering tobacco becoming even more fragrant at night. The garden had Nicotiana sylvestris in bloom. There were the last of summer’s roses along with the first Anemones of autumn. Nearby were clumps of the ostrich fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, which prompted Warren to say; “With fronds like these who needs Anemones.”

Part I: Osmanthus Osmosis

After checking out the offerings at the UC Davis Arboretum’s fall plant sale and restraining our plant lust, we met up with the long-time Arboretum Superintendent, Warren Roberts, near the gazebo in the Carolee Shields White Flower Garden.  He pointed out the two mature Osmanthus fortunei shrubs that we were standing by and invited us to enjoy their pleasant aroma.

Osmanthus fortunei is a hybrid between Osmanthus fragrans and Osmanthus heterophyllus. The larger of the two had profuse white flowers. The smaller one was the variety ‘San Jose’ introduced by the W. B. Clark Nursery of San Jose in 1941. Its flowers were smaller and cream colored. It had a noticeably different fragrance which Warren said that he personally preferred. This cross very likely had the Osmanthus fragrans variety aurantiacus as a parent. The leaves of the ’San Jose’ Osmanthus were smaller and spiny like an English holly but thankfully without the Ilex’s bloodlust.

There was a cry of anguish and the pleasant atmosphere suddenly took a serious nosedive. Barbara Stevens had an unfortunate encounter with the lingering after-effects of a long-gone dog. We immediately decided to move on leaving poor Barbara shuffling back and forth on the lawn.

Stay tuned for Part II of this entry from Angel Guerzon.

Fragrant Lemons

For a little touch of garden party elegance any time, whip up a batch of this fragrant, delicious drink!
Ingredients:
Makes about 16 servings

    * 3 cups sugar
    * 7 sprigs lavender (stems and buds), plus additional for garnish*
    * 2 cups fresh lemon juice (from about 12 lemons)
    * 1/2 cup fresh lime juice (from about 5 limes)

In a large saucepan, bring one gallon of water and the sugar to a boil. Remove from heat; add 7 lavender sprigs and lemon and lime juices. Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill. Serve on ice, with additional lavender for garnish.

If unavailable, substitute fresh basil or lemon thyme.
Created by Chef Humphrey Morbeck.
Photograph by Danielle Patterson.

Orchard Nursery Harvest Festival

If you find yourself in the East Bay this weekend, then be sure to visit Orchard Nursery's Harvest Festival. Orchard Nursery is a longtime favorite and always hosts a fantastic harvest celebration. On Saturday the 18th from 11-5 and Sunday the 19th from 10-4, there will be fun filled activities gracing the beautiful grounds of the Nursery. On Saturday from 1-2:30 there will be a Home Composting Seminar as well as many other great activities, such as learning how to eat healthy all the time, and you listen to guitar player, David Schroeder . On Sunday there will be a wine bar, a pie eating contest, beautiful scarves for sale and wonderful live music. Orchard Nursery is located in Lafayette at 4010 Mt. Diablo Blvd.
For more information on the festival and a full schedule please click here.

papas y puerros

SWEET POTATO and LEEK PATTIES
2 lbs of sweet potato
4 t sunflower oil
2 leeks, trimmed and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 t finely chopped fresh ginger root
7 oz canned or fresh corn
2 t lowfat unsweetened yogurt
Generous ½ cup whole wheat flower
Salt and pepper

GINGER SAUCE
2 t white wine vinegar
2 t superfine sugar
1 red chili, seeded and chopped
1 inch piece of ginger root, cut into thin strips
4 T vegetable bouillon
1 t cornstarch

TO SERVE
Lettuce leaves
1 Scallion, shredded

1.    Peel the potatoes. Cut into thick cubes and boil for 10-15 minutes. Drain well and mash. Let cool
2.    Heat 2 tsp of oil and fry the leeks, garlic and ginger for 2-3 minutes. Stir into the potato with the corn, unsweetened yogurt, and seasoning. Form into 8 patties and toss in the flour. Chill for 30 minutes. Place the patties on a preheated broiler rack and lightly brush with oil. Broil for 5 minutes, then turn over, brush with oil, and broil for another 5 minutes.
3.    Place the vinegar, sugar, chili and ginger in a pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the wine. Blend the bouillon and cornstarch and add to the sauce, stirring, until thickened. Serve the patties with lettuce and scallions and the sauce.

Crispy, Crunchy, Cold weather Vegetables

COOL SEASON VEGGIES

Now is time to be planning your winter veggie garden. There is a large palette of vegetables and greens that you can grow. Many of the choices are wonderful for classic hearty, healthy winter meals.  Many cool season vegetables also make a beautiful addition to your ornamental garden, such as; Artichokes, Chard, Kale, and even Potatoes. The following list is a good choice of cool season vegetables, which should be planted in September/October. In the following weeks we will be featuring a few of these fantastic vegetables. So stay tuned!

Artichokes                      Fava Beans   
Asparagus                      Garlic
Beets (seeds)                  Kale
Bok choy                         Leeks
Broccoli                          Lettuce
Brussels Sprouts             Onions
Cabbage                         Peas
Carrots (seeds)               Potatoes
Cauliflower                     Radishes (seeds)
Celery                            Rhubarb
Chard                            Spinach
Collards                         Turnips (seeds)

Plant of the Day!

Last month as I was perusing the Strybing Arboretum at the San Francisco Botanical Gardens I ran into this interesting, beautiful plant. Bowkeria gerrardiana is a large rounded evergreen shrub from South Africa. The plant pictured to the left was about 8 feet tall and almost as wide. The flowers are round, shiny pure-white, tight-lipped little balls that look like obese snapdragons. The shininess is from a coating of sticky resin. The coating has no odor, but the flowers have a pleasant grape soda fragrance.
While it will never win any contest for floriferousness it is but another interesting and nearly unobtainable plant for the cool coastal strip of Central and Northern California.
Entry by Angel Guerzon.

Plant Sale!

COTTAGE GARDENS
If you haven't been to Cottage Gardens then I would supremely reccomend going to this sale. The Petaluma location boasts a gorgeous site, wonderful demonstration gardens and exquisite plant stock. The nursery is very clean and tidy, with beautiful pots and garden art and plants.
The Fall Sale started on Wednesday August 27th and continues through to October 5th. Hope to see you there!
30% off all plants
20% off all non-plant items

Petaluma Address
3995 Emerald Drive
Petaluma, CA 94952
Open 9-5 daily

Santa Rosa Address
2780 Yulupa Ave
Santa Rosa, CA 95405
Open 10-5 Daily

http://cottagegardensofpet.com/

The wonders of Natives

This Saturday, August 16th, from 11am to 12 noon at the Arboretum at University of California Santa Cruz, there will be a ethnobotanical tour of native plants. The focus will be on the human uses of California native plants as shown in traditional and contemporary ways. Please meet in the lower parking lot. Admission is $5.00. Free for Members. Call 831.427.2998 for more information.
Image to left: Ceanothus. Ceanothus has many uses, which include dye and soap. All parts of the plant are rich in saponins. When you crush the flowers or leaves and mix with water, a great lather will be produced. This soap is great at removing dirt. I have found that the flowers create a better lather and if you are making handmade soap, they add beauty to the soap too!