Tag Archives: destination nurseries

The Virtual Vacation

June 26, 2020 Jan Nelson

Since it doesn?t look like I?ll be traveling this year I?ve been re-living past trips via the photos on my computer and putting them into slideshows. As you know, photos take a lot of editing to limit the number to what a person can endure who wasn?t on the trip. I?ve got photos of Poland, Costa Rica, southern Mexico, Hawaii, Guatemala and Honduras. But the photos I?m really enjoying seeing again are those from the destination nurseries and public gardens I visited with my sister to islands in the Puget Sound.

Years ago, before I lost my sister, I would visit her on Fox Island, near Gig Harbor, Washington. Off we?d go by ferry to one of the public gardens or destination nurseries on another island. We visited the islands of Vashon, Whidbey, Vancouver, Bainbridge and San Juan. Any destination was sure to provide lush landscapes and a cornucopia of colorful flowers.

Vancouver Island is home to the famous Butchart Gardens, transformed a 100 years ago from a limestone quarry. Their website is https://www.butchartgardens.com and worth a few minutes to explore. Smaller and more intimate, Abkhazi Garden offer a fine example of what you can do with a large lot full of rocks and trees when you put your mind to it. https://www.abkhaziteahouse.com/abkhazi-garden.

Another ferry, another island. This time the ferry takes us to Whidbey Island. Here there are flowers blooming everywhere. Hanging baskets of purple and lilac supertunia, lobelia and red ivy geraniums grace every light pole. The container plantings burst with color. White rugosa roses grow on a split rail fence overlooking the harbor in Langley.

Another highlight of my tour of gardens on Whidbey Island was a visit to Chocolate Flower Farm. If you like deep burgundy, chocolate, black, midnight blue, deep magenta or mahogany flowers and foliage like I do, you would be amazed by this garden. No surprise but chocolate cosmos are featured prominently in the perennial beds https://www.chocolateflowerfarm.com/

Another of our stops on this island is Meekerk Rhododendron Garden. This peaceful woodland garden features dozens of varieties of rhododendrons and we were drawn to one called Golfer with silver fuzzy leaves. Another one had velvety rusty red leaves that sparkled when backlit by the late afternoon sun. http://www.meerkerkgardens.org/

Bainbridge Island is home to the world famous Bloedel Reserve. A place to connect with nature, this garden allows only a few visitors at a time so each can enjoy the solitude and beauty of the 150 acres. Their website will hook you for hours of inspiration. https://bloedelreserve.org/

Vashon Island. a large green island at the southern end of Puget Sound is home to The Country Store and Gardens. This nursery, in the heart of the island, boasts mature plantings on a 10 acre site with the nursery featuring rare and and unusual plants along with a wide selection of perennials, shrubs and blueberries. The flowers of a deep, dark purple clematis mingled with a rich pink, climbing cabbage rose on a long trellis surrounding the front porch of the store. A dead fruit tree was left to provide support for another midnight purple clematis blooming above a bed of deep red Lucifer crocosmia. I’ll remember this exciting pairing for a future design where the spreading crocosmia won’t be a problem. https://www.countrystoreandfarm.com/

Closer to home Hakone Estate and Garden in Saratoga is now open. Also now open is Filoli Historic House and Garden in Woodside and Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto. So if your out and about, be sure to visit one of these almost-local gardens. And check out the websites of the destination gardens and nurseries I?ve mentioned.

Nurseries and gardens nourish our soul. They are more important now than ever before. If you want to stay healthy, stay gardening.

California Native Plants, destination nurseries, garden sculpture, Sierra Azul Nursery

A Day at Sierra Azul Nursery

July 6, 2019 Jan Nelson

Smoke Bush showcasing rusted metal sculpture

It was one of those days when the light is soft as the fog burns off over Watsonville. My group of fellow landscape designers were gathered for a private tour of Sierra Azul Nursery and Garden. The picnic tables were set by owner Lisa Rosendale and covered with delicious salads, chili, appetizers, desserts and beverages. We were in for a real treat.

Lisa?s nursery is a demonstration and sculpture garden as well as a retail and wholesale nursery. She and her husband Jeff grow drought tolerant and exotic plants that promote the use of Mediterranean climate adapted plants in water conserving gardens and landscapes including fruit trees and plants for shade gardens. It was fun and interesting to hear the back story of the soil, growing conditions and trials and tribulations of the 2 acre demonstration garden straight from the source.

Seems this property, which is directly across from the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, sits on 20 feet of clay covered with 2 feet of top soil. The drainage is poor as Lisa found out when they planted a field of Grosso lavender. It turns into a marsh during wet years. She still harvests some lavender spikes to make into wands for sale but many of the plants have died.

A few of the many sculptures amid blooming Bidens

The demonstration garden is always evolving. The mounds showcase Mediterranean plants and many types of full grown grasses, trees, shrubs and perennials. The birds and the bees love it. A different scent greets you at every turn. Lisa did confess that maybe one of the self sowing ornamental grasses is too much of a good thing. Personally we thought they were charming. ?Nothing we can do about it?, Lisa said, ?Plants grow where they want.?

There are breathtaking sculptures incorporated into the plantings that are permanent. This is also the13th year that the exhibition Sculpture IS in the Garden featuring 52 artists and 80 sculptures have been installed throughout the garden. They will be on display through October 31. Admission is free. Relax under the umbrellas, bring your picnic lunch and spend an afternoon like we did enjoying the demonstration garden and the exhibit.

But back to the plants. Some were new to me and some old favorites not to be forgotten. There are hundreds of plants growing on mounds in the demonstration garden. These were just a few of my favorites.

Velbet Centauria- a Dusty Miller relatvie

Similar to a dusty miller, a Velvet Centauria (centauria gymnocarpa) immediately caught my eye. This beautiful, fast growing sub-shrub features soft grayish-white filigreed leaves and purple thistle-like flowers. It blooms from spring to mid-summer, is deer resistant, tolerant of any type of soil and is very drought tolerant. As a 3 foot by 6 foot wide groundcover it looks great between other contrasting colored plants.

Another cool plant that all of us commented on was a columnar redwood called Mt. Loma Prieta Spike Coast Redwood. With its robust, upright weeping habit a mature specimen will measure 20 feet tall and 6 feet wide. This cultivar originated as a natural mutation by Allan Korth around the time of the earthquake. He is thought to have found the mother plant near the epicenter near Mt Loma Prieta peak.

Just a few of the other plants of note was a beautiful blooming upright hypericum called Mystic Beauty. A California native, salvia lilacina ?De la Mina? , was in full bloom among one of the many sculptures. A huge clump of bidens covered with red and yellow flowers grew among three upright sculptures that resembled giant cabbages. A gold cultivar of phlomis fruticosa or Jerusalem Sage was stunning in the late afternoon light. Covered with ?smoke?, a Purple Smoke tree looked spectacular next the a rusted metal sculpture. Lisa told us that the artists who created the different works came to the nursery to decide on just the right spot that would showcase both the sculpture and and plants.

Don?t miss visiting Sierra Azul. You?ll be glad you did. If you want to see more photos of the nursery and just some of the sculptures visit my blog on my website.

destination nurseries, garden design, garden inspiration, Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

Exploring Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

January 7, 2016 Jan Nelson

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens sign — Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens

What could be more lovely than spending Christmas Eve at a botanical garden? After a windy, stormy morning the clouds cleared and winter sun brought color to the golden heather, early blooming rhododendron and grevillea growing in the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens. I’ve long wanted to visit this famous garden and here was my chance. I was not disappointed at what is described as 47 acres of beauty to the sea.

The mission of the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden is to conserve plants in harmony with the Northern California coastal ecosystem. Like your own garden this one provides interest year round. I could see the affects of the long summer drought on some of the rhododendron leaf edges but winter rains have turned every fern and blade of grass bright apple green. Mushrooms emerged from

damp earth and the Fern Canyon Creek looked more like a small river.

Dogs are welcome here at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden so Sherman, our Welsh springer spaniel, was overjoyed with the gardens, too. He seemed to favor the weeping Lebanon cedar and red-twig dogwood but the wild ginger was a big hit also.

It’s an easy half mile walk from the perennial garden to the spectacular vista at the ocean’s edge but with so many side gardens and side paths the journey is as long as you want. In the summer and fall the perennial garden is ablaze with blooming plants but even at this time of year there are many specimens that provide foliage color and structure.

euphorbia_lonicera-nitida — Euphorbia paired with lonicera nitida

I especially liked the combination of blue euphorbia paired with Baggeson’s Gold lonicera. This type of lonicera is not the familiar honeysuckle vine but an evergreen shrub called? box honeysuckle. It is hardy to cold and requires only moderate irrigation. Other favorite plants in this section of the garden were the blooming hellebore, pheasant tail grass, dwarf conifers, Hinoki cypress and a brilliant purple hopseed.

Further down the path, the garden’s signature plant, the rhododendron, made its appearance. Several varieties from the Himalayas including Pink Delight and the fragrant, Harry Tagg, are early bloomers and were covered with blossoms. Many tree-like rhododendrons, including the native rhododendron californicum and the Big Leaf rhododendron will put on their show in late spring.

Blooming also in the woodland garden large stands of bergenia cordifolia bordered the path, their bright pink flower spikes surrounded by huge round leaves. Helleborus take any amount of winter weather and the Corsican hellebore at the botanical garden were also in full bloom.

I’ve seen huge fuchsia shrubs before but never a fuchsia tree with flaky bark and a few brave fuchsia flowers growing right out of the wood. Fuchsia excorticata is the world’s largest fuchsia and in its native habitat, New Zealand, is can grow to 36 feet tall and form a trunk over a yard in diameter. The flowers are rich in nectar and visited my honey-eating birds there. The dark purple berries, known as konini by Maori, are edible and taste like tamarillos. In New Zealand, possums love this tree fuchsia and have eaten it out of many locations.

After passing through an ingenious deer fence gate made from woven tree branches on a wooden frame, the rest of the garden trails wind through pine forest, a fern canyon and a creekside path finally emerging at the Pacific ocean along the Coastal Bluff Trail. This area is open to black-tail deer and native plants like mahonia, salal, wild ginger, huckleberry and Pacific wax myrtle abound.

Sherman loved the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens as much as I. The gardens are located an on Hwy 1 just south of Ft. Bragg. If you are in the area at any time of year. take a stroll through. You’ll be glad you did.

destination nurseries, fall foliage, garden design, Pacific Northwest, Puget Sound, trees

Beni Kawa Japanese Maple

January 10, 2014 Jan Nelson Leave a comment

Last fall my sister lost her favorite tree in a windstorm. She lives on Fox Island in the southern part of Puget Sound. I remember hearing about the extraordinary Pacific storm on the national news shattering records in the Northwest. Gusts up to 76 mph closed bridges, falling trees hurt 2 people and thousands lost power. Her Silk Tree didn’t stand a chance.

While visiting over the Christmas holiday I thought it would be a nice present to replace her dearly departed tree. Several nice ornamental trees made the short list including the Katsura tree with leaves that smell like vanilla in the fall and Forest Pansy redbud with magenta spring flowers, burgundy heart-shaped summer leaves and reddish-orange fall color. We also considered the native Pacific dogwood but she already had one in the yard. Driving around we started to notice the beautiful color of the Coral Bark Japanese maples in many landscapes and the decision was made.

I knew we would have no trouble finding a good specimen in the Pacific Northwest and I was right. Close by in Gig Harbor we found Yang’s Nursery and I walked into the realm of a Japanese maple expert. Owner Won Yang opened the nursery to give us a tour of the grounds.? We walked between rows of hundreds of maples and marveled at the huge bonsai specimens of Weeping Katsura tree, Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, several different conifers and a very impressive, beautifully pruned Oshio Beni Japanese maple all over 20 years old.

Won showed us his greenhouses where he propagates the maples himself. He has been in the business for 30 years so he knows his stuff. Starting with a small green maple seedling with a half inch stem that is cut off 6″ above the ground,? he carefully grafts a tiny tip of new growth from the desired specimen onto the larger stem. It will take at least 3 years before the new tree will be big enough to sell. Won’s pride in his work was apparent as he smiled at the rows of newly grafted maples.

Back out among the maples, I had my eye on the rows of coral barked Sangu Kaku maples when I saw them. Lined up alongside were several trees with bark so bright I couldn’t believe my eyes. “What are these”, I asked? Won just smiled and told me they were called Beni Kawa Japanese maples and were a cultivar originally developed in 1987. They are prized for their brilliant salmon red bark which is much brighter than the regular coral bark maple. I was hooked. How could I not plant this gorgeous tree in my sister’s yard?

I learned that the bark of this tree can be polished to keep the bright color. Lichen often grows on older trees hiding the salmon red bark of the new branches. I’ll have to try using a soft cloth on my coral bark maple and see how it turns out. The Beni Kawa is a fast growing Japanese maple that will eventually reach 10-15 ft tall and 5-12 ft wide. It is hardy to 15 degrees.

Won grows his trees in a 50/50 mixture of top soil blend and fine crushed bark. He fertilizes with a balanced granular fertilizer and prunes in the winter. The 6 ft tree I bought my sister will not need to be pruned for a couple of years allowing it to establish a strong root system.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the new tree evolves as it grows especially since I know where this Beni Kawa Japanese maple was born.

Design trends, destination nurseries, flowering shrubs, flowers, fragrant plants, garden design, gardening with children, gardening with kids, landscape design, Pacific Northwest, perennials, Puget Sound, Whidbey Island

Chocolate in the Garden

August 6, 2013 Jan Nelson Leave a comment

Gardeners are always on the look out for new plants. I recall when I worked at a nursery looking over the showy dahlia shipment for the one that was a deeper, more vivid shade than all the rest. One color that always gets my attention is chocolate. Whether I find it in the foliage of a plant or the flower itself it's one of my favorites. You can imagine my delight when I discovered the Chocolate Flower Farm in Langley on Whidbey Island while I was visiting the Puget Sound recently. I was a kid in the candy store.

As a landscape designer I often get requests for certain colors to be included in the plant palette. Mahogany,burgundy, deep magenta, midnight blue, eggplant often make the list. Many people like dark flowers or foliage paired with ivory, others prefer peach or chartreuse. I marveled at all the combinations at the Chocolate Flower Farm.

Some plants are the color of chocolate and some smell like the real thing. Chocolate cosmos looks and smells just like a dark chocolate bar. The warmth of the day releases this delicious fragrance. A favorite flower for the perennial bed it's always a winner with kids.

In addition to chocolate cosmos, a wildflower called chocolate flower or berlandiera lyrata grew at the farm. I also enjoyed the fragrance of warm chocolate in the flowers of chocolate akebia, chocolate mint and chocolate snakeroot.

Strolling the grassy paths at the Chocolate Flower Farm I admired a Sparkling Burgundy pineapple lily. The foliage, nearly black, glistened in the sun growing next to a white-flowering Nine Bark called Summer Wine.
Nearby a clump of two-tone chocolate and ivory daylillies bloomed. With grazing horses nearby and a dozen ducks taking turns bathing in a kiddie pool the scene was idyllic. At every turn a different pairing of chocolate flowers and foliage caught my attention.

One section featured plants for a kid's chocolate garden. Easy to grow chocolate pincushion flower, chocolate viola, chocolate nasturtium, chocolate snapdragon, chocolate sunflower and chocolate painted tongue would be fun for any child to have in their own garden.

I loved a penstemon called Chocolate Drop as well as a Mahogany monarda the color of deepest magenta. Blooming black sweet peas grew up and and over an old bed frame. A dark purple-black clematis from Russia called Negritanka intertwined with lime green hops covering an arbor. Toffee Twist sedge, Royal Purple smokebush, Chocolate Sundae dahlia, Sweet Hot Chocolate daylily, Chocolate Plant and Hot Cocoa roses grew in many of the flower beds.

What makes dark foliage or dark flowers pop? At The Chocolate Farm each bed pairs the deep rich chocolate color with another contrasting shade. I don't know which was my favorite. One area featured peach, pink and silver to offset the darker shades. Pink dahlia and fairy wand, blue oat grass and rose colored sedum 'Autumn Joy' made a lovely vignette. Another bed paired the yellow flowers of phygelius 'Moonraker' and digitalis grandiflora with white anemone and ivory dahlias set among Chocolate Baby New Zealand flax.

Not to be ignored the dark chocolate shade of black sambucus growing next to a golden Himalayan Pheasant Berry made an impression. All-gold Japanese Forest grass at the base of dark leaved Tropicana canna lily was also a show stopper.

If you are up on Whidbey Island, the Chocolate Flower Farm is a great place to spend an afternoon. If your vacation plans don't include the Pacific Northwest, plant some chocolate in your own garden.

destination nurseries, Pacific Northwest, Puget Sound, Vashon Island, Whidbey Island

Gardens around The Puget Sound

July 23, 2013 Jan Nelson Leave a comment

My summer travel season started this year in the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest. My sister lives on Fox Island overlooking the sound with a breathtaking view of Mt. Rainier. There are so many gardens and nurseries in this area I hardly know where to start when I come up here. Any destination was sure to provide lush landscapes and a cornucopia of colorful flowers.

green island at the southern end of Puget Sound. After the ferry docked we headed south to visit The Country Store and Gardens. This nursery in the heart of the island boasts mature plantings on a 10 acre site with the nursery featuring rare and and unusual plants along with a wide selection of perennials, shrubs and blueberries.

The flowers of a deep, dark purple clematis mingled with a rich pink, climbing cabbage rose both growing on a long trellis surrounding the front porch of the store. A dead fruit tree was left to provide support for another midnight purple clematis blooming above a bed of deep red Lucifer crocosmia. I'll remember this exciting pairing for a future design where the spreading crocosmia won't be a problem.

This nursery propagates many of their plants from their own stock. Mature specimens of ornamental grape, lace-cap hydrangeas, tangerine colored alstroemeria, hellebore and heuchera grew in the perennial beds bordered by sections of cut logs. We enjoyed the sweet scent of Summer Ice daphne and admired the velvet red blossoms of Serotina honeysuckle before moving on to our next destination.

The Pacific Northwest is famous for their lavender fields. The soil and climate here really agrees with this plant.
Lavender Hill Farm is just one of many lavender growing concerns on the island. On a hill overlooking the picturesque Quartermaster Harbor, several lavender varieties are grown.

You can pick some for yourself or buy some already harvested. Sitting under an apple tree, a young worker introduced herself as Audrey and told me the farm grows several French lavender varieties. Grosso is grown for the long stems and fat flower buds, Provence for intense fragrance and Melissa and Coconut Ice for their pink flower buds. It's a beautiful spot with sailboats docked below in the tiny harbor.

Next stop, famous in the nursery world, was Dig Nursery. I've seen it mentioned in Pacific Horticulture and Sunset magazines. The plants here are displayed in very unique ways making this destination nursery something to be experienced. Massive gabion pillars made of heavy wire fencing and river rocks provide the base for rusted ornamental iron trellises and arbors. More rusted iron is fashioned into hanging planters overflowing with flowers, succulents and grasses.

Repurposed cyclone fence sections provided a perfectly drained platform for more succulents, native plants, herbs and grasses. Several pots of unique black daylilies caught our attention as did the large collection of Darlingtonia and other carnivorous plants. In the shade section, a lime-green lace cap hydrangea was offered for sale with mopheads, Japanese forest grass and hellebore. We wondered if the resting Swallowtail butterfly came with the pot of hydrangeas.

Another ferry another island. This time the ferry takes us to Whidbey Island. Here there are flowers blooming everywhere. Hanging baskets of purple and lilac supertunia, lobelia and red ivy geraniums grace every light pole. The container plantings burst with color. White rugosa roses grow on a split rail fence overlooking the harbor in Langley.

One of our stops on the island is Meerkerk Rhododendron Garden. At this time of year we thought the show would be over but we were pleasantly surprised to find several very specimens still blooming. There are so many kinds of rhododendrons here and we were drawn to one called Golfer with silver fuzzy leaves. Another one had velvety rusty red leaves that sparkled backlit by the late afternoon sun.

The perennial beds were filled with lilac oriental poppy, dahlia, campanula, lavender and shasta daisy. A 30 ft white dogwood shone like a beacon surrounded by the deep green fir trees. Bordering the curving paths, oregano and moss covered fieldstone beckoned one to linger and admire the smaller jewels of the garden.

Another highlight of my tour of gardens was a visit to Chocolate Flower Farm in Langley. If you like deep burgundy, chocolate, black, midnight blue, deep magenta or mahogany flowers and foliage like I do you would also be amazed by this garden. There is so much to share about this special place that I plant to write about all it's treasures in another column. Stay tuned.

As I left to fly back to California and the redwoods I thought that in some ways this temperate rain forest is not so different from ours. It's a little greener up here during the summer and the daylight from 5am to 10 pm makes the plants bloom like crazy, but there's no place like home.

Gardening Tips for the Santa Cruz Mountains