Alice's Garden Travel Buzz » Botanical Gardens

U.C. Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Alice Joyce — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 19:47:20 +0000

A fetching array of drought-resistant species are planted in the Entry Garden at the …

UCBG Berkeley Entry Structure by Marisha Farnsworth Photo © Alice Joyce

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Currently on view is an inviting structure created by Marisha Farnsworth and her students from Merritt College’s Natural Building Class. The cloth textile ties are remnants provided by designer, Sasha Duerr.

Dudleya brittonii from Baja - Photo © Alice Joyce

The soft hue and fleshy foliage of Dudleya brittonii from Baja California caught my eye. Succulents like beautiful Dudleyas appeal more and more to gardeners looking for plants with low-water requirements.

The botanical garden is truly a living museum, with a global collection comprised of wild collected plants from the Americas to Asia, the Mediterranean to Australasia to Southern Africa. You’ll see rare cycads – architectural plants from the age of dinosaurs, along with a trove of orchids, ferns and carnivorous plants cultivated under glass. The Tropical House is a particularly delightful destination on cool winter days, when you’ll feel transported by the warm, moist environment. Notice a Red Dot? It points out rare and endangered species.

Mantis by Patrick E. Photo © Alice Joyce

Sculpture by artist Patrick E. installed at the Botanical Garden.

: Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden Footbridge Photo © Alice Joyce

Spend time in the Chinese Medicinal Herb Garden and you’ll experience a complex melding of fragrances wafting on the air. I love being enveloped by the scent in this distinctive atmosphere, and can recall how captivated I was during my first visit (when doing research on my first book), before moving to the Bay Area.

: Babiana ringens – So. Africa baboon flower Photo: Paul Licht

: Canary Island Collection Photo: Paul Licht

Savvy garden lovers can expect varied exhibitions of vivid blooms year-round: The Garden of Old Roses starts a bold display in May thru June. The Mediterranean area, South Africa and California gardens are lush from mid-April through mid-June.

South America blooms in May through June, while the Mesoamerica section is looking great in early August. Visit the Eastern North America section to see peak bloom in May for Rhodies & Trillium; around mid-summer the asters strut their stuff.
Asia has several flushes with some of the 400 Rhododendrons blooming from Feb through July. The large tree species are at their best in Feb-March.

Iconic American Landscape: Ruth Bancroft Garden

Alice Joyce — Mon, 09 May 2011 21:32:29 +0000

The Ruth Bancroft Garden (Photos: Brian Kemble)

Echinopsis hybrid

Displaying an originality that outshines traditional garden settings, The Ruth Bancroft Garden, located in Walnut Creek, California, reveals an eccentric cast of characters, along with an enthusiasm for succulent plants that traces back to the 1950s, when Mrs. Bancroft began collecting potted specimens.

After her husband, Philip, had phased out his family’s extensive walnut orchards, Mrs. Bancroft began in 1972 to plant her dry garden, containing a realm of plant life that characteristically requires limited water to thrive.

Bancroft Garden - Photo: Brian Kemble

Mrs. Bancroft developed a keen eye for form and structure as an architectural student in college. Such skills served her well in the garden’s early years, as she sited important palm trees and other arboreal specimens and shrubs.

After being ushered through the garden’s folly, you encounter the intriguing rosette forms of aloes, detecting great variety and scope in plants set off by spotted patterns and menacing pink teeth. Among the strange shapes and dramatic textures are tree-like aloes emblematic of the garden’s maturity.

View with Dasylirions in flower

All sorts of blooms materialize year-round in the garden. In spring and summer yuccas produce a host of towering, cream-colored flowering stalks, while the bizarre attributes of cactus plants indigenous to America are ornamented by pretty flowers followed by plentiful fruits. Aloes are garden curator Brian Kemble’s area of expertise. Among new hybrids developed by Kemble are plants producing flowers over a long period; with clouds of orange blooms creating a brilliant spectacle.

Bristly rotound cacti, yuccas with fibrous sharp-tipped, lance-like leaves, spiny agaves and escheverias with fleshy foliage assume their positions in mounded beds like a sculptural installation composed of living plant material.

Some years ago, I walked the paths guided by Mrs. Bancroft, and found that the assertive plant shapes enhance the garden’s organic layout. Mrs. Bancroft pointed out an area of slightly higher ground with an enticing planting of cacti, where she believed it to be a little warmer than the rest of the garden. Some cactus plants exhibit vivid red spines, while Eucalypts make alluring compatriots for the garden’s vast range of succulents.

Aloe folly: Brian Kemble Photo

Dodging raindrops, we entered a tunnel-like cover sheltering countless varieties of echeverias and gasterias: The wide cover built so that people could walk through and enjoy the plants in winter. I gazed down upon a topography composed of hairy-textured to felted to smooth and sleek leaves revealing a rosy pink glow. Huddled en masse, the gleaming flora boasted a scintillating palette of glaucous pale gray to olive green and blushed mauve, with red and violet tinges.

Mrs. Bancroft’s design artistry and gardening prowess as creator of this iconic landscape inspired the founding of The Garden Conservancy in 1989. Having set its sights on preserving our country’s horticultural legacy, the Conservancy championed Mrs.Bancroft’s 3-acre garden, selecting it as the first to be listed on the organization’s register.

Valley of the Moon: Quarryhill Botanical Garden

Alice Joyce — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:47:13 +0000

: Lilium leichtlinii var. maximowiczii (Photo: Christine Walker)

A botanical profusion of rare and endangered Asian species thrives in the naturalistic setting of Quarryhill Botanical Garden near Glen Ellen, in Northern California wine country. The lily pictured is but one among many: Continuing all through spring, summer and into the fall, collections of lilies from China and Japan offer colorful effects and scented displays.

Rain drops on lilly pads (Photo: Quarryhill Botanical Garden)

Originally the weekend home of benefactor and founder Jane Davenport Jansen, Quarryhill is located squarely within Sonoma County’s bucolic Valley of the Moon, where it spans some 60 acres. One-third of the terrain currently supports a unique woodland environment devoted to collections of plants from the temperate regions of China, Japan and the Himalayas. With more than 90 percent of the flora grown from wild-collected, scientifically documented seed, the collections have proven to be significant in North America.

Autumn at Quarryhill: Christine Walker Photo

A sturdy arbor partly encircled by a dry rock wall marks the gathering point for tours.

As the only formal element in the garden plan, the wooden structure stands out amid a rolling landscape of densely planted hillsides, large pools formed by a winter stream and smaller ponds created from old quarries that endow the property with its name.

: Photo: Christine Walker – Valley of the Moon Vista

Though Quarryhill draws professionals from around the globe, it also invites the amateur naturalist, plant lover or keen gardener to come and learn about Asian plant life. Visitors who take part in a Quarryhill tour conclude their experience upon reaching the final high point of the garden, marked by a mound of rocks adorned with Tibetan Buddhist prayer flags.

Gazing out at the spectacular view from this overlook, the garden’s director, Bill McNamara offers a thoughtful comment: “Usually botanical gardens end up being on flat land as an afterthought, but here we have these wonderful contours … you get great vistas and textures.”

Link to Quarryhill ….should you like to visit or to become a member.

Mecca for Garden Lovers – Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle

Alice Joyce — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:44:54 +0000

Japanese Garden – Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle: Azaleas Blooming by the Pond – photo courtesy Arboretum Foundation

Attention to detail is characteristic of the authentic style you’ll experience when touring Seattle’s Japanese Garden. When Juki Iida, the garden’s primary designer, arrived in the United States from Japan, he proceeded to choose 500 massive boulders from their natural mountainous environment, and then personally supervised the placing of the formidable architectural forms that were so essential to the philosophical and artistic underpinnings of the landscaping.

: Pacific Connections Garden (Photo courtesy Cheri Shanahan/Arboretum Foundation)

: Magnolia sieboldii (photo by Niall Dunne)

Every month of the year, the Japanese Garden and the Washington Park Arboretum offer unique displays to engage the interest of garden lovers.

The Arboretum’s new Pacific Connections Garden is located at the south end of the Arboretum.

Glorious magnolias and lush conifers harbor large-leaved rhododendrons in an area known as Loderi Valley. The collection of ‘rhodies’ blooms from February into June, while the peak exhibition of magnolias spans March through May.

: Witch-hazel in the winter garden (photo courtesy Niall Dunne/Arboretum Foundation)

A witch-hazel blooming in the Witt Winter Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum in January. The Witt garden is especially splendid from November through March. Be sure to tour the Waterfront Trail for up-close views of Marsh Island and Foster Island, with all the flora and fauna that coexist in a marshland habitat.

: Woodland Garden in fall at the Washington Park Arboretum (photo courtesy Joy Spurr/Arboretum Foundation)

Designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers, scions of Frederick Law Olmsted, the city of Seattle’s fine boulevard plan and park system suggest plenty of reasons to explore neighborhoods throughout town. The tranquil landscape of the Arboretum and Japanese Garden play a prominent role among Seattle’s treasure trove of parkland settings.

When planning a visit to Seattle, be sure to visit the Washington Park Arboretum Foundation web site for news and announcements about special events.

Near the Graham Visitors Center at the Arboretum, the crabapple, Malus ‘Adirondack’ flowers.

: Malus ‘Adirondack’ (photo courtesy Niall Dunne/Arboretum Foundation)

Vancouver Gem .. VanDusen Botanical Garden

Alice Joyce — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:58:39 +0000

VanDusen Botanical Garden – Vancouver, British Columbia

A city energized by cultural diversity, Vancouver is a superb destination in every way. VanDusen Botanical Garden – one of the city’s gems – is a hilly 55-acre setting that I like to approach on the No. 17 city bus from my downtown hotel. A Spring visit to VanDusen will remain in the minds-eye long after the experience. During the period of late May through early June, cascading golden panicles tumble from archways over the Laburnum Walk in a medley of ground-covering bluebells and alliums.

: Late Summer – Canadian Heritage Pond

Boasting a collection of contemporary sculpture, an Elizabethan maze, and year-round blooming displays, VanDusen Botanical Garden has been invigorated by a new entry area: The Phylllis Bentall Garden, with paved terrace, pool, and mixed borders, invites you to explore VanDusen’s glorious magnolias.

Photos: Courtesy VanDusen Botanical Garden

: Maze VanDusen

Month by month the landscape turns heads as Himalayan blue poppies progress to a sea of wildflowers blanketing meadows followed by fiery fall color. Seasonal stars include alliances of heathers, hollies and hellebores. To contemplate VanDusen’s charms, ramble along to the Cypress Pond, Heron Lake, or the restored Korean Pavilion, intricately carved with floral patterning in burnished tones.

: Van Dusen Azaleas

The Spring season provides eye-catching swathes of narcissi, advancing to a pathway replete with rhododendrons and scented azaleas. The hedge maze (pictured above) is comprised of 3,000 plants of Thuja occidentalis ‘Fastigiata’ – cedars of a pyramidal form.

Cherry Blossom Cascade .. Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Alice Joyce — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 17:23:42 +0000

A much anticipated annual garden event…

…the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Sakura Matsuri cherry blossom festival takes place May 1 & 2 this year: Visit the BBG web site for details.

Springtime Vista - Brooklyn Botanic Garden (ALICE JOYCE photo)

The Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an especially alluring destination in Spring, when the green haven of the 2-acre Native Flora Garden captivates the senses with arrays of Trillium species, Clematis, bellworts (Uvularia) and shooting stars, among the woodlanders emerging in April and May.

The Garden is positively aglow in the Cherry Esplanade, Japanese Garden, and Daffodil Hill area while avenues of cherry trees are blooming. I enjoyed a ramble through the gardens with Scot Medbury, President of the BBG and former director of the San Francisco Botanical Garden/Conservatory of Flowers, and was delighted to be introduced to Uli Lorimer, curator of the Native Flora collection.

The botanically inclined will find fetching displays decorating the gardens, like the sight of fallen petals floating on the pond, as captivating to the eyes as the bounteous, blowsy blossoms themselves. At this tine of year, there are fragrant lilacs, exuberant azaleas, and a cacophony of frilly peonies, along with a wisteria-draped pergola that signals the coming to life of the Cranford Rose Garden. Plan a summer visit and you’ll be swept away by the fragrance that envelops you in this classic, formal setting.

Slipper Orchid - Cypripedium – below (Alice Joyce photo)

Click on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden map to see the garden’s layout, plant collections, and design features.