- Author: Betty Victor
A trip to the Mendocino coast recently was a chance to visit the Mendocino Botanical Garden.
This garden covers 47 acres with paths from each garden some down to the ocean, some that can be a challenge because of the terrain. Most of the garden is easy to manuever from path to path. The botanical garden has several gardens within it, perennial, rose, succulent, dahlia and so many more to enjoy. In one garden you will see a large metal sculpture of a honeycomb with metal bees.
There are rhododendrons that are classified as tender species in this garden. The Fort Bragg rhododendrons growing in this garden are hybridized. 'Noyo Chief' has large red blossoms and is Fort Bragg official flower. In this garden there is a 40 foot rhododendron that can have leaves up to 3 feet long in the wild.
In the camellia garden, most are mature plants and some as large as trees and rarely found in any commercial nursery.
All the gardens were wonderful to see, but maybe because here in our climate Heaths and Heathers do not grow as well as they do in the cooler, foggy areas. I thought this garden with its vibrant colored plants might be my favorite garden.
As you look at this garden you will see a metal sculpture of a tree surrounded by heaths and heathers in a variety of color.
Three of the many plants that caught my eye are:
Calluna vulgaris 'Pat's Gold', this heather has colors of pale lavender, bright gold and green through it and it is a ground cover.
Calluna vularis 'Humpty Dumpty', grows only about 1 inch tall, it is Scotch heather with bright green foliage and small white flowers.
Last but not least is Daboecia cantabrica 'St. Daboc' this is a bi-colored dwarf low growing Irish heath. It spreads to 25 inches wide about 16 inches tall with 3/8 inch flowers.
They don't just have shrubs, trees and flower at the botanical garden, they also have a vegetable garden, to protect the vegetables from deer, and this garden is surrounded by deer resistant plants.
For the hearty and adventurous, you can go through the deer gate follow a steep path through the natural area and down towards the ocean.