- Author: Sharon L. Rico
Having a small yard and a husband who loves fruit trees, we decided about 10 years ago if we added any more trees they would have to be espaliered. Although we both had seen this technique in books and had observed a friend who lined his front stucco wall with espaliered trees we were apprehensive about undertaking such a project.
Well we jumped in and purchased not one but two apple trees (a Gala and a Fuji) and espaliered them against our backyard fence. This project turned out very successful and beyond our wildest dreams. The trees are beautifully leafed out in the summer, supporting clusters of apples that ripen early since the sunshine kisses each apple. In the winter, after the leaves have fallen, the branches flat against the fence are lovely to see and very architectural.
My husband took an old picture frame, lined it with cement board and covered the front with plastic lath. The frame, cement board and lath were recycled items from our junk pile. Soil was added between the cement board and lath. Between the spaces in the lath, I placed snippets of small succulents. It has been hanging in our backyard for 5 years and it comes down every 6-8 weeks to be watered and thrives even on the hottest summer days. When originally planting this vertical wall, the newly planted frame sat flat for about 2 weeks to allow the plants to set roots and anchor into the soil. Over time I've had to replace succulents that have overgrown the lath.
I've seen pallets used for vertical gardens at the Solano Fair in Vallejo. They were simply made and held herbs, succulents and vegetable plants. Any plant will succeed if shallow rooted. (Do not use climbing plants). Vertical gardens require morning sun and afternoon shade. Potting soil works well and should be packed into the vertical spaces. Make sure your wood frame has not been treated with chemicals.
Vertical gardens can be portable, require less water and the best part-they do not need to be weeded. They add beauty to large blank walls and interest to any garden.
Vertical gardens are wonderful additions to residences that do not have space for plants. I've seen manufactured boxes in catalogs and online that are easy to fill with soil, plant and add to blank walls. These are fun, easy summertime projects.
A recent magazine article pictured a vertical garden in a living room. It had an assortment of plants placed into plastic pockets and sewn onto a burlap wall hanging. The article did not indicate how those plants were watered.
We will be seeing more creative ideas on vertical gardening as public interest increases and new gardens diminish in size.
- Author: Janet Snyder
If you're looking for a quiet place to get some exercise and see some beautiful gardens, I've got a great place for you to explore. The University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley is one of the largest and oldest botanical gardens in the United States, and it is a wonderful place to see. Located in the hills of Berkeley, it is made up of 34 acres of gardens and paths showcasing over 10,000 types of plants. The gardens are organized geographically by continent or origin or by region. There's an herb garden, a Chinese medicinal herb garden, a rose garden, a palm garden, a California garden (a great place for ideas of native plants), and more. My kids were fascinated by the orchid, fern, and carnivorous plant house. The tropical house was a site to see one weekend last summer when the Corpse Flower, Amorphophallus titanium, bloomed.
In addition to the gardens, the Botanical Garden is host to a variety of workshops, crafts, education and kid programs. There are summer concerts, poet nights, exhibitions, garden walks/talks and summer camps. They even host international tours to visit gardens around the world.
Take a few hours one day to go check it out. It's located at 200 Centennial Drive, Berkeley, CA 94720. Parking is located right across the street for a small fee. Admission is free from 9-11:00 a.m. until November 30th. Just make sure you check their calendar at www.botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu for hours and dates over the upcoming holidays.
Enjoy!
- Author: Kathy Low
It's that time of year when you are putting together your gift idea list for your gardener friends, or you may be putting together your Christmas gift list. Whether the list is for yourself, or your friends, here are four gift ideas for gardeners.
Solano Gardening Resource Guide. This newly published guide is an indispensable resource for novice to expert gardeners. The full color guide includes a monthly gardening calendar, details on Solano's soil types and climate zones, information on local nurseries, gardening product suppliers, soil testing laboratories and so much more. To purchase a copy, contact Jennifer Baumbach, Master Gardener Program Coordinator at jmbaumbach@ucanr.edu or (707) 389-0645.
California Master Gardener Handbook, 2nd ed. Containing over 750 pages, the handbook is the training manual for new Master Gardeners and provides valuable research based information for gardeners at all skill and knowledge levels. It also serves as a reference tool for helping diagnose and resolve all types of specific gardening problems. You can find purchasing information at http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu.
Home Orchard: Growing Your Own Deciduous Fruit and Nut Trees. Gardeners with fruit or nut trees will want this book. Featuring over 157 color photos, the book provides information on “which species grow best in the different regions and soils,” as well as information on pruning, grafting, and diagnosing problems, and more. You can find purchasing information at http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu.
Landscape Pest ID Cards and Tree Fruit Pest ID Cards. These laminated cards are perfect for gardeners to take into their gardens to help identify pests on their plants and fruit trees. You can find purchasing information at http://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu.
- Author: Diana Bryggman
I had intended to write about an amazing subject I just learned about: phytoremediation. You'll have to wait for that, because today I was privileged to tour the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon, and I must share its wonders.
The garden was created in 2000, as a sister city project of Portland and Suzhou, China. Its beauty is magnified, in my view, when you learn of the extraordinary work and talent required to construct it. According to the garden guide, "Most of the building materials, including 500 tons of rock, came from China. Sixty-five artisans from Portland lived in Portland for 10 months while they assembled and completed the structures that were crafted in China."
We know Portland as the Rose City. We expect to see azaleas and rhododendrons in Oregon, and this garden does of course feature many varieties. But this month the garden is celebrating "Mumvember", so dozens of chrysanthemums were on display. The garden is designed to look like the garden of a wealthy family, known as a "Scholar's Garden" and includes many indoor/outdoor rooms, ponds, waterfalls, bridges and "windows" that frame views into small garden rooms.
Some of the most interesting specimens were transplanted from old Portland neighborhoods, including a tree that we normally see only as a shrub, Osmanthus heterophyllus 'Variegata' and a lovely Magnolia magnolia. I was thrilled to see tree peonies, which I hope to see another time in bloom, and a climbing hydrangea, Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight'.
The garden also features the work of local artists, including one whose work appears below. Jennifer Kapnek paints and then applies recycled wood to the finished product, often as a tree branch or flower stem.
While it must be stunning on a warm, clear day, even a cold, damp, grey November day will not dampen your reaction to the Lan Su Garden.
- Author: Toni Greer
We left last month with Capitol Kitty, just to remind you.
Southwest of the Unruh Building is the Earl Warren Walk. The path he wore in the grass on his many lunchtime trips to the Sutter Club was named in his honor.
There are 10 Deodar Cedars on the west side of the Capitol. These Cedars are part of the Capitol's original 12, planted in 1872. There's even a Bunya-Bunya Tree! It's native to Australia and named by the Aborigines there. It was planted in 1887 and can reach 80' tall and produces a pineapple-like cone that can weigh up to 15 pounds!
The water-wise garden is a cooperative effort between several agencies and is meant to “educate the public about the importance of wise water use and demonstrate that low-water gardens do not necessarily mean low-color or high maintenance”. You will find Emerald Carpet Manzanita, Skylark Blue Blossom and Red Flowering Currant, all watered with a drip irrigation system. Just outside the west entrance I saw the large bronze Great Seal of the State of California and the Native American and Spanish-Mexican Commemorative seals.
Points of interest for me were the:
*English Hawthorn which marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts (yes, I was one)
*President Franklin Roosevelt's centennial birth is marked with a Japanese Flowering Cherry
* Also, a Japanese Flowering Cherry tree was planted and dedicated to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Peace with Japan
The “Mac” McKeown Rose Bed honors a man who, once a month for over twenty years, gave a rose to each female legislator as a reminder of their importance in bringing issues vital to women to the forefront in the male-dominated Capitol. Wouldn't that be wonderful had that happened at my job!?! A rose named “Mac Rose” is included in this bed in his honor.
In Section 3 (north) I found a Tulip Tree, Chinese pistache and Valencia orange which are numbered. The numbers are small round brass plates. My question was finally answered. These plates mean that these trees are the largest of their species. The Cork Oak in this area was planted in 1879. Also, I found the Pioneer Camellia Grove in this area. It was established in 1942 by the Native Sons and Daughters of the Golden West. Sacramento is now knows as the “Camellia Capital of the World”. The Civil War Memorial Grove was the first monument in Capitol Park. Trees from many battlefields and historic sites were once thriving here, but only a few are now surviving.
In Section 3 (South) there is a Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), which is the only deciduous Redwood and it changes colors throughout the seasons. It was thought to be extinct. A Chinese botanist found a surviving specimen in 1945 in a remote area of interior China. Did you know that both the Coast Redwood and the Giant Sequoia are the State Trees? That was designated in 1937. The name Sequoia pays honor to the Native American who developed the Cherokee Alphabet.
The “Insectary” was built in 1906/07 and housed researchers who explored methods of using good bugs to destroy bad bugs that were damaging California crops. I guess you could say that this was the days of the early IPM system.
During my walk, I stopped to take a break beneath a huge tree, and I mean HUGE tree! The light was shining thru its branches. This tree took my breath away. It is one of my two favorite trees, the Maidenhair tree, also call the Ginkgo biloba. I've never seen one this magnificent. This particular tree is the largest of its species and deserved the awe that I felt. Also in this area I found the “Senator Sheila James Kuehl” Native Plant Garden. It was created “to display the beauty and wisdom…of using native plants in landscaping applications”. This section is also the home of two memorials that touched me to my core—the Firefighters Memorial and the California Veterans Memorial.
The International World Peace Rose Garden was created by T. J. David in 1988. He was known as Sacramento's “Rose-man”. While walking thru the garden, stopping to smell the various blooms I noticed plaques which have been placed throughout the beds. On the plaques I found poems and thoughts from students from a range of grades and ages. Just the plaques themselves were worth the walk through the rose garden. Also in the same section as the rose garden is the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial. For me, just a touch of the wall said it all. The sculptures, like the many other sculptures throughout the park, looked as though they could converse with me, in many ways they were.
Section 5 is full of trees, flowers, plants and shrubs. It's also where our state flower the golden poppy, was cultivated within the California Native Plant Section.
While the trees planted in the Capitol Park range from the Algerian Fir to the Yoshino Flowering Cherry Tree, I'm positive that you will find your Favorite! And…a favorite monument…and shrub…and pathway…and bench!
It's worth taking the time to visit our State Capitol and journey back in time. You can do this as I did, simply by visiting the park at your leisure or on a tour. Whichever you decide to do, I'm sure that it will be informative, educational, relaxing, calming and awe-inspiring!