Heronswood, the world-renowned botanical garden in Kingston, Wash., is excited to announce the first Garden Open & Plant Sale for 2013 on May 18 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is the first garden tour and plant sale event at Heronswood since its purchase by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe last year.

While plants from Heronswood won’t be available for purchase, nurseries from around the Puget Sound area will be on hand to bring patrons a wide variety of unique and unusual plants perfect for home gardens.

Featured nurseries include:

• Far Reaches Farm
• Naylor Creek
• Sundquist Nursery
• Dragonfly Farms Nursery
• Keeping It Green
• Chimacum Woods
• Rhododendron Species Foundation
• Friendly Natives
• Windcliff
• The Desert Northwest
• Foxglove Greenhouses
• Colvos Creek Nursery
• Celestial Dream Gardens

In addition to the vendor plant market, attendees will be able to tour the garden and experience the progress being made in its historic renovation. A series of afternoon lectures, including two by master plantsman and Heronswood co-founder, Dan Hinkley, will also be offered. At 11:30 a.m., Dan will talk about Heronswood’s early days and the work being done today to restore the garden in a talk called “Heronswood: Past, Present, and Future.” He will follow that up at 2:30 p.m. with “Foliage First.” Dan’s lectures will bookend a 1 p.m. talk from Kelly Dodson and Sue Milliken from Far Reaches Farm called “Plants Outside the Mainstream.” Seating is limited to first-come-first-serve.

The Heronswood Garden Open & Plant Sale is being hosted by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the quality of life for tribal members while increasing the understanding of PGST’s rich cultural heritage among people in the Puget Sound. The Foundation—along with a Steering Committee made up of plant enthusiasts, tribal leaders, and respected horticulturalists—has been charged with managing restoration and community outreach activities at Heronswood.

According to Foundation Director Laurie Mattson, Heronswood provides a unique opportunity to further an appreciation of tribal art, history, and culture, while stressing the Tribe’s commitment to education and environmental stewardship. With this in mind, every event at Heronswood beginning with the Garden Open & Plant Sale on May 18 will feature tribal artisans, including carvers and painters, selling their work. One of the Foundation’s goals is to install tribal-inspired art throughout the garden.

Admission to the plant sale and all lectures is free of charge. Tickets to tour the garden will be available for $10 with all proceeds going towards the restoration and maintenance of the garden. Entrance for garden tours will close at 4 p.m.

The Foundation wants to ensure that both tribal and non-tribal communities have regular access to Heronswood and, as such, is planning for future Heronswood Garden Open & Plant Sales on July 6 and again in the fall.

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, originally known as the Nux Sklai Yem or Strong People, are descendants of the Salish people who have been well-established in the Puget Sound basin and surrounding areas since 2400 B.C. In the late 1930s, the Port Gamble S’Klallam reservation, located on the northern tip of the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State, was established. Many of the Tribe’s members, who total over 1,200, still live there today.

For more information about the S’Klallam Tribe, please visit www.pgst.nsn.us.

Spring bloom in the Meadow at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Photo: Lorene Edwards Forkner

Tending a garden is a constant education. Likewise, whenever I visit a garden I always come away having learned something of value even if that garden is nothing like that of my familiar landscape in Seattle, Washington. Recently, four of us from Pacific Horticulture Society—Carol Moholt, executive director; Steve Gerischer, PHS board president; Andrea Testa-Vought, PHS outreach coordinator and board member; and me—all got together for an exciting couple of days of touring gardens and brainstorming with colleagues in Santa Barbara. The weather was foggy but pleasantly warm and spring-like. This PNW girl felt right at home in the maritime haze.

The Santa Barbara Botanic Garden 2013 garden tour, Cultivating the Wild: Native Gardens of Montecito, featured five remarkable home gardens of incredible beauty and sophistication built on a palette of California native plants.  We were all struck by how well each garden nestled within the context of the surrounding scrubby hills and bluffs above this scenic shoreline community. Landscape architect, Lane Goodkind, referred to it as “sitting lightly on the landscape.” Yet the strength of each garden’s design created very comfortable and human spaces within a largely wild environment. While the weather prevented us from taking in the dramatic views and ocean panorama, the fog lent an atmospheric intimacy, veiling the magnificent oaks and grassy meadows in gauzy light.

Photo gallery of Cultivating the Wild, SBBG Garden tour 2013:

(Click thumbnail to start the slides, then toggle between shots with onscreen arrows or your keyboard)

Meetings with Amy Blackmore, president of the Santa Barbara Horticultural Society, and folks at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden generated several new partnerships and exciting events. Watch for announcements about upcoming tour opportunities and an exciting 1-day learning event with Santa Barbara area designers and plants people to be held in winter of 2014.

Lotusland’s iconic plantings adjacent to the visitor center.

And finally we wrapped up our coastal tour with a visit to Lotusland where Curator Virginia Hayes escorted us throughout the estate regaling us with stories of this dramatic landscape and astonishing plant collection. Walking through the jurassic-like cycad collection, towering cacti and palms, up a formal allée of venerable olive trees, or beneath a 100-foot long pergola laden with ripe lemons, it’s hard to escape the magic of Lotusland and the singular vision of Madame Ganna Walska.

The cycad collection at Lotusland.

Palms, tree ferns, and bromeliads at Lotusland.

Lemons trained on pergola at Lotusland.

The cactus garden at Lotusland.

A formal allee of venerable olives at Lotusland.

If all this has you thinking about a trip to Santa Barbara, check out this year’s Garden Lovers Tour produced by the Santa Barbara Public Gardens Partnership in celebration of National Public Gardens Day. Docent-led tours (morning or afternoon) include Casa del Herrero, Lotusland, and Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens.

Scavenging a floral rainbow at the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden. Photo: Rick Knight

Shaggy green dinosaurs parade through borders bursting with perennials and flowering herbs. Nearby, a sunny yellow swing grants a child temporary wings against a brilliant blue sky, and squeals of laughter, high-pitched giggles, and sounds of splashing water fill the warm Seattle summer afternoon. Overhead, a living roof planted with tawny grasses emerging from a carpet of succulents is buzzing with contented honeybee hives. Ducks, chickens, and rabbits round out the lively menagerie.  Welcome to the Seattle Children’s PlayGarden.

Dinosaur topiaries and blossoms having BIG fun at Seattle Children’s PlayGarden. Photo: Rick Knight

The Seattle Children’s PlayGarden is a huge breath of fresh air packed into a city park of just average size.  It’s a place where kids of all abilities— kids on two feet, kids with walkers, kids in wheelchairs, kids who communicate differently—together with their families and friends, can interact with nature, learn, explore, and develop a sense of wonder and independence.

A mini urban farm prospers in the bed of a ruby red truck. Photo: Debra Prinzing

This unique environment has been designed to enhance the cognitive, motor and social skills of children with special needs and physical limitations while keeping these sometimes fragile kids safe and supported. Such was the vision in 2002 of PlayGarden Executive Director, Liz Bullard, a speech/language pathologist who wanted more for her young clients than a life dominated by appointments and office visits.

Flying high in a yellow swing designed to support special needs kids. Photo: Rick Knight

Since that time, this ambitious undertaking has been realized by the creative and collaborative efforts of a team of dedicated professionals and hardworking volunteers committed to the power and balm of gardens. Pacific Horticulture board member, Wendy Welch is PlayGarden creative director and lead garden designer whose past projects include installing a butterfly border embraced by an almost 100-foot long Portuguese laurel (Prunus lusitanica) hedge pruned into a giant caterpillar, and—this being Seattle after all—a rainwater capture system and accompanying bioswale planting. As days lengthen toward summer, work has begun on an all-access tree house fort and Bongobenny Quintet: a Musical Fence by world-renowned sculpture and sound artist, Trimpin debuts in early June.

Tickling toes with water-play and flowers. Photo: Rick Knight

The Fieldbrook Stump, a 3,500 year old coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) with a 35-foot diameter, was successfully cloned in 2011. Photo: courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

In its first effort to recreate a champion tree old growth forest, last winter Archangel Ancient Tree Archive successfully planted a four-acre grove of 2,000 to 3,000-year-old coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) clones near Port Orford, Oregon.

3,000 year old giant sequoia (Sequoidendron giganteum) cuttings. Photo: courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

Propagation, archiving, and reestablishment of clonal materials from “champion” trees—the tallest, oldest, and largest of their kind—is the work of this non-profit organization whose goal is to create a living archive of genetically certified trees for future study and contribute to a sustainable environment by helping to reforest the planet.

New clones of a 2,000-2,500 year old coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). Photo: courtesy of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive.

According to Dr. Francis R. Gouin, Department of Natural Resource Science and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, “The cloning of our champion trees, should not only be of interest to science but can be of commercial value.”

As “charismatic megaflora,” champion trees are the “superstars” of the plant kingdom. These giants capture attention, inspire awe, and attract support for conservation efforts. As Archangel co-founder Terry Mock puts it, “Although we are far from fully comprehending how the components of ecosystems interact with the biosphere as a whole, we must persist. If we do not conserve the biological diversity of the natural world, then we will no longer have a world fit to live in.”

From the organization’s website:

A chronicle of the life and times of David Milarch, co-founder of the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, by Jim Robbins.

The book by award-winning journalist and science writer Jim Robbins entitled, The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet, argues that “trees and forests are the highest functioning members of ecological society,” and chronicles the adventures of David Milarch, co-founder of Archangel Ancient Tree Archive, who has dedicated his life to cloning and replanting the oldest, and most important trees on Earth. Robbins’ crystal clear science behind this noble effort reveals numerous fascinating facts about the importance of trees, such as how they perform vital services to our environment in absorbing carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas, clean pollutants from the air, and protect our freshwater ecosystems.

For more information about the mission, activities, and people behind this ambitious project and links to media coverage of their work visit www.archangeltreearchive.org.

‘Orange Ice’ Bougainvillea, Agave bracteosa, Senecio mandraliscae, and Hunnemannia fumariifolia – a heavenly combination! Photo: Nan Sterman

The phone rings. You are asked to invite the public to see how you use your outdoor space on a garden tour. Nan Sterman: author, garden journalist, speaker, and tour guide of gardens in California and Europe advises “Don’t get too worried about it. There is a reason you were asked—and it wasn’t to embarrass you.”

It was 2003 when the Encinitas Cultural Tourism Committee recommended the town initiate the now venerable Encinitas Garden Festival and Tour. Nan explains the appeal of the event as a way of satisfying natural curiosity “We all walk through our neighborhoods wondering what’s on the other side of the fence.”

It took two years to organize and advertise the first tour.  Nan settled into her role founding the selection committee. All expectations were exceeded when the brand new 501(c)(3) community fundraising organization sold out all 700 tickets, granting admission to 31 private residential gardens near downtown.

Each year since, gardens are selected for the self-guided walking tour of a specific neighborhood within the unique coastal town.  With the exception of 2007 when an unseasonable frost forced the cancellation of the event, each year  host over 1000 inquisitive visitors shod in comfortable shoes, carrying cameras and notepads to record inspirations, tour the featured gardens, humble through grand.

Nan is an influential pioneer in coaching gardeners to rethink personal garden spaces in water-challenged Southern California. Wherever her words wander, they spread wisdom as Johnny Appleseed spread fruiting trees.  When her own semi-rural neighborhood, Olivenhain was in the rotation for the tour, Nan’s garden was a highly requested destination.

She didn’t feel ready. Because the backyard was undergoing a major renovation she agreed to participate only if the tour could be restricted to the front yard.  The response wasn’t what she expected. Her garden was featured. The day of the event, the sign on the gate reminding people the back was closed to visitors only created an aura of intrigue. Exhausted and exhilarated, Nan and her husband were “thrilled by the feedback.”

Looking back, Nan shares what it takes to make the day your garden is on tour successful.

• Months ahead, Nan promises “You will be hyper-aware of what needs to be fixed.” Her heavy lifting needs were served by a helper coming once a week.
• Many decisions are highly personal. Some garden owners post signs to identify plantings as an arboretum does. Others develop lists of notable plants to hand out. But neither is a requirement to make a good showing.
• About a month before the public arrives she advises you get a fresh perspective. “Get a friend to lend you their eyes.”
• Two weeks before is when physical preparation gets serious.  This is the time for final touches to the garden.  Repot the potted plants and go shopping for any last minute fillers.
• The last week, “try to not be always scrambling.”  Now is when Nan suggests you polish the garden surrounds with a final freshening. Chores such as “Washing down the house and cleaning the windows” make your home the gleaming gem in your garden setting.
• The day before, take a moment to enjoy what is truly spectacular. The year her garden was on tour, Nan remembers “the African daisy Arctotis ‘Pink Sugar’ was amazing.  If I had 10 flats, I could have sold every single one.”
• While many of the best garden tours provide volunteers to help the homeowners out, Nan takes pleasure in answering questions from a table set up under an umbrella.
• When the big day arrives, be ready to enjoy, “It’s very exciting to see your garden the way someone else does.”

A Growing Passion, hosted by California-native Nan Sterman, launches on KPBS, May 2, 2013.

Watch for Nan’s new gardening and eco-landscape television series. A Growing Passion, will debut May 2^nd at 8:30 pm on San Diego’s KPBS and KPBS.com.   Find out more and discover how you can help support A Growing Passion at www.agrowingpassion.com.

Flowering buckwheat (Eriogonum fasiculatum) in a hedgerow bordering the vineyards at Frog’s Leap Winery in Napa Valley. Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre

Native plant hedgerows can provide habitat for a diversity of birds, insects, and other small animals, offering food, cover for nesting and overwintering, and safe travel from one area to another. Lists of plants suitable for garden hedgerows are as varied as a homeowner’s landscaping style, wildlife preference, and what the climate dictates, but try to include shrubs, grasses, flowering annuals and perennials, and ground cover. Many habitat plants, especially for native insects, are not well-studied; observant gardeners can contribute significantly to our knowledge of which native plants are best for attracting beneficial insects and other garden allies.

Any of the following lists should be checked with a local native plant nursery for suitability in the individual gardener’s situation. Substitutions are encouraged! Pay attention to available space, and allow room for the hedgerow to grow. With a careful selection of plants, especially those that will support some pruning, hedgerows can be created to fit into even small spaces such as next to driveways and sidewalk strips. Avoid blocking driveway sight lines and be sure to choose plants adapted to the local soil and water availability.

Plants suitable for agricultural hedgerows are not always ideal in gardens, especially some of the large tree species, but if you have enough space, consider including them. Many native trees provide important habitat; for instance, oak trees are known to harbor over 700 species of insects, critical food for nesting birds.

Include plants that provide shelter and forage over a long season by carefully selecting a palette of sequentially flowering plants to provide nectar and pollen for as many months of the year as possible. Remember to include a water source for any wildlife planting; this may simply be a faucet dripping into a basin, a more elaborate pond or—if you are lucky—a nearby riparian stream.

The following plants lists will help you create a hedgerow designed to attract and support specific wildlife. Local native plant nurseries and university extension programs will help you identify additional plants for your specific region. Many native plants appear on more than one of the following lists, and any of these hedgerows will attract a diversity of wildlife.

California Quail Hedgerow

Long ago, I came across a wonderful list of native plants for California quail published by the Golden Gate Audubon Society. I am glad I saved it as it no longer appears on the website. Years went by before I had the opportunity to plant a hedgerow for quail. If you love this iconic little bird as I do, and would like to provide habitat, be sure to include native lupines as many species provide good forage. This list is adapted from the original handout; starred plants are especially recommended.

Shrubs/Trees

Arctostaphylos spp.                           Manzanita                              .

Atriplex lentiformis spp. brewerii      Saltbush/quailbush*

Baccharis pilularis                              Coyote bush*                        

Ceanothus spp.                                   Ceanothus (especially those that provide cover)

Cornus spp.                                         Dogwood                   

Heteromeles arbutifolia                     Toyon                                    

Lupinus spp.                                       Lupine*                                 

Myrica californica                              Wax myrtle                           

Quercus agrifolia                                Live oak*                               

Rhamnus californica                          Coffeeberry

Rubus ursinus                                     California blackberry*

Rubus parviflorus                               Thimbleberry*

Salix spp.                                            Willow*

Perennials and Annuals

Anaphalis margaritacea                     Pearly everlasting                

Eriogonum spp.                                  Buckwheat                

Hemizonia spp. & Madia spp.            Tarweed                    

Lupinus spp.                                       Lupine

Butterfly Bonanza

A hedgerow designed to attract butterflies is incomplete without including plants that host their immature stage: caterpillars. While butterflies are able to harvest nectar from a wide variety of plant species, their larvae are often highly host restricted. Perhaps the best-known example is the well-loved monarch butterfly, whose caterpillars will starve rather than feed on any plant but milkweed.

Host plants for caterpillars can be tucked into less visible parts of a hedgerow if they are likely to look tattered, although many large larval host plants show little damage from caterpillar feeding. In other cases, even plants that appear highly damaged will quickly recover once the caterpillars pupate. Butterflies also benefit from being able to travel along habitat corridors, such as those provided by hedgerows.

Shrubs/Trees

Aesculus californica                         California buckwheat

Ceanothus spp.                                   Ceanothus

Holodiscus discolor                            Creambush

Quercus spp.                                       Oak

Salix spp.                                            Willow

Perennials and Annuals

Achillea millefolium                            Yarrow

Amorpha californica                          California false indigo

Angelica spp.                                      Angelica                     

Asclepias spp.                                     Milkweed

Aster chilensis                                     Aster

California native bunch grasses

Cirsium occidentale                            Cobweb thistle

Encelia californica                              California encelia

Eriogonum spp.                                  Buckwheat

Lomatium spp.                                              

Lotus spp.

Lupinus spp.                                       Lupine

Malva spp.                                          Mallow

Mimulus spp.                                      Monkey flower

Monardella spp.                    

Salvia spp.                                          Salvia

Solidago californica                            Goldenrod

Viola spp.                                            Violet

Abundant Birds

Thorny plants provide great for shelter for birds and protect them from predators. Choose plants that provide fruit throughout the year; plants that hold their fruit in winter are especially treasured bird plants. Provide a long season of nectar throughout the year for hummingbirds. Multi-tiered hedgerows are important when attracting birds. Many perching birds will nest in hedgerows, especially those that include tall shrubs. Tall conifers provide a ‘ladder’ allowing birds a safe route to the lower plants. Include some plants that attract the insects that most birds feed their young. A birdbath nearby will add to the habitat value of the hedgerow; hummingbirds prefer to fly through a mist.

Shrubs/Trees

Berberis spp.                                      Barberry

Chilopsis linearis                                 Desert willow

Cornus spp.                                         Dogwood

Corylus cornuta californica                Hazelnut

Heteromeles arbutifolia                     Toyon

Malus fusca                                        Oregon crab apple

Manzanita spp.                                   Manzanita

Prunus ilicifolia                                  Hollyleaf cherry

Prunus lyonii                                      Catalina cherry

Quercus spp.                                       Oak

Rhus integrifolia                                 Lemonade berry

Ribes spp.                                           Currant and gooseberry

Rosa spp.                                            Rose

Rubus spp.                                          Blackberry, thimbleberry, and salmonberry

Salix spp.                                            Willow

Sambucus spp.                                   Elderberry

Vitis californica                                  Grape

Vaccinium parvifolium                       Huckleberry

Perennials and Annuals

Aquilegia formosa                              Western Columbine

Aster chilensis                                     Aster

Carex spp.                                           Sedge

Cirsium spp.                                       Thistle

Clarkia spp.                                        Clarkia

Epilobium spp.                                   California fuchsia

Galvezia speciosa                                Island snapdragon

Lavatera assurgentiflora                   Tree mallow

Lonicera involucrata                          Twinberry

Mimulus spp.                                      Monkey flower

Montia perfoliata                               Miner’s lettuce

Penstemon spp.                                  Penstemon

Oenothera hookeri                              Evening primrose

Salvia spp.                                          Sage

Satureja mimuloides                          Monkey-flower savory

Clockwise from top left: Penelope Stewart, Rose-Lynn Fisher, Ethan Turpin & Jonathan Smith, and Stephanie Wilde.

A provocative collection of artistic work pertaining to bees and hive culture is now on display at Lotusland. The exhibit, curated by Nancy Gifford, includes contemporary art and sculpture as well as dance and film events created by several artists, both local and from further afield.

Visitors may see the exhibit as a part of a Lotusland docent-guided tour. Tours of the garden take place at 10 AM and 1:30 PM, Wednesday through Saturday. Reservations are required. Admission is adults $35; ages 5 through 18, $10; 4 and under, free. There is no charge for Lotusland members.  www.lotusland.org

Daphne Room, Penelope Stewart, beeswax architecture. Photo: Wayne McCall

A bas relief “beescape” created by Toronto-based artist Penelope Stewart from beeswax tiles adorning the walls in the Pavilion was inspired by plants at Lotusland. This new sensory-rich beeswax architecture with its fragrant wax and dynamic interpretation aims to invigorate our collective imagination of place and our relationship with pollinators. Penelope Stewart was born in Montréal, Québec. Stewart has a multi-disciplinary practice comprising installation, sculpture, photography and works on paper.

Beatrice, Rose-Lynn Fisher, electron microscope photography. Photo: courtesy of Craig Krull Gallery, Santa Monica, California

Los Angeles-based photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher’s highly magnified black and white photos of bees and bee parts were captured with a scanning electron microscope. Ms. Fisher says “When I first viewed the bee’s eye magnified, I was amazed to see a field of hexagons. I thought of honeycomb, and marveled at the similarity between the structure of the bee’s vision and structures she builds.”

Saint Abigail Patron saint of bees, Stephanie Wilde

Six images from Stephanie Wilde’s ongoing body of work, “The Golden Bee,” will be on view. When Ms. Wilde began the Golden Bee project in 2008, her intent was to create images depicting the disappearance of the western honeybee. Though the subject addresses the environment, Ms. Wilde says  “ it came as a natural progression from my past works relating to AIDS. The disappearance of the honeybee and AIDS has a parallel: both are unresolved scientific challenges. AIDS has a growing impact on human lives and the disappearance of the western honeybee has the potential of an impact as significant.”

Bee Cell installation by Ethan Turpin & Johnathan Smith. Photo: Joanne A. Calitri

Visitors entering Ethan Turpin and Jonathan Smith’s  six-sided “bee cell” with images of bees projected on walls of cloth feel as though they are actually inside a bee hive.

Other artists who are part of “Swarm: A Collaboration with Bees” are Theresa Carter, Bill Dewey, Ed Inks, Cynthia James, Casey Lurie, Keith Puccinelli and Anna Vaughan.

The impetus for the establishment of these gardens came from the parks department of the city of Frankfurt financed by contributions from various private donors. Landscape architect, Christine Orel was chosen based on her reputation as an accomplished and gifted designer with extensive knowledge of herbaceous plants. Her primary goal was to create attractive perennial borders filled with adaptive plants requiring minimal maintenance. Planted in the fall of 2002 and in spring 2003, the gardens remain intact and flourishing, a testament to the talent of their designer.

In the early stages of development, members of the designer’s staff walked through the gardens with the park’s maintenance crew to ensure they understood the plants’ requirements. Gravel mulch throughout the gardens effectively control weeds and many of the plantings are on automatic irrigation. These labor saving measures are good for the plants and free up park staff time for other maintenance tasks such as cutting back spent flower heads to encourage new growth and repeat bloom.

Looking to establish a connection or rapport with the location, Christine Orel’s design process begins with an extended site visit. Once she understands the “spirit” of the site that becomes her inspiration for the theme of the garden. What makes Orel’s style unique? In her mind, the plants in her garden must be similar in character with harmonious “personalities,” which is how Orel refers to the plant’s more subtle physical traits. She cites lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus) and lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) as an example. Both plants are suited to the same growing conditions, yet Orel characterizes Stachys as a heavy, coarse-textured plant, while Santolina is lighter and more delicate.

While striving for harmony, Orel believes in maintaining just enough tension to keep the design interesting. In fact, her color combinations can initially be quite shocking, but one is soon won over by the designer’s exciting approach that relies on structure and texture over color so that if one photographed one of her projects in black and white, it would still be interesting and successful.

Beds in full sun and surrounded by paving at subway station entrances on Hemmerichs Avenue are planted with bulbs and Mediterranean plants. These plantings, including the fine-textured grass, Helictotrichon sempervirens, the stately Asphodeline lutea, and aromatic Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’, tolerate the harsh conditions, withstand heat and drought, and complement the bluish color of the huge glass cones marking the station’s entrances. The plants also work well with the designer’s classical blue, yellow, and white color scheme, dominated by Salvia nemorosa ‘Blaukönigin’, Achillea filipendulina ‘Coronation Gold’, Phlomis russeliana, and tall ornamental onions, Allium nigrum and Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’. Perfectly suited to this dry environment, the silver-gray foliage of Stachys byzantina is a beautiful partner, setting off the blue foliage and bright flowers of the other perennials.

Nearby, in an older section of the park near two cylinder-like advertising pillars, Ms. Orel selected perennials more in character with a traditional park setting, including classical border plants like deep pink and red peonies and roses. Always aware of the need to incorporate low-maintenance plants, she chose the compact, disease-resistant rose cultivar ‘The Fairy’. Repeating groups of plants, such as Salvia, Stachys, and Bergenia, she ties the gardens together, providing a rhythm that invites the eye to follow along the length of the planting. Glossy Bergenia foliage with blue-flowering Salvia and rose-pink Geranium ‘Sirak’ flowing into and around them, set off by the contrasting purple foliage of Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’, offer an intriguing summer scene. Towering, late-flowering maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis) provides texture in the background, as well as autumn and winter interest along with evergreen boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) interspersed throughout the planting.

In Christine Orel’s designs, color, growth form, and flower size are closely connected to the garden’s character. For example, the color yellow is more forceful when presented on taller plants and large flowers. In her view, the color pink creates a romantic atmosphere and perennials such as geraniums, phlox and baby’s breath (Gypsophila) evoke sentimentality. This is why the large groups of Geranium ‘Sirak’ work so well in the older section of the park, imparting a nostalgic feeling to the gardens.

Continuing along the park’s walkways, one enters a landscape dominated by mature trees and large expanses of lawn. Plantings here are of a distinctly different nature and perennials must be able to tolerate shade and flourish in moist soil conditions. Along the path’s borders, bergenia and hardy geranium are joined by the regal Aruncus ‘Zweiweltenkind’, Astilbe chinensis cultivars, and fall-flowering Anemone tomentosa ‘Robustissima’. Like in the gardens near the advertising pillars, violet and pink flowers dominate with white-flowering plants used in quantity to light up shady areas.

The designer’s first consideration when combining plants is foliage color, shape and form, as leaves are present throughout the growing season, while flowers appear for a relatively short time. Large- or coarsely-leaved plants become accents, while fine-textured, delicate-foliaged plants offer the opportunity for interplay with their neighbors. Orel purposefully and skillfully combines plants with both vertical and horizontal growth habits. According to the designer, upright plants impart a feeling of fleeting airiness, while plants with a horizontal form bestow calmness. She considers combining and contrasting the many shades of green to be an important part of her design process. “In spite of my love for shrill color combinations, green is still my favorite color—the green in leaves and flowers,” comments the designer in her recent book, Der Neue Blumen- und Staudengarten (The New Annual and Perennial Garden, not yet available in English).

Further on in the garden, a double line of pollarded plane trees (Platanus), reminiscent of what one sees in Provence, covers a walkway. Borders are filled with yellow-flowering perennials, primarily Phlomis russeliana and Euphorbia polychroma. The coarse, felt-like texture of the Phlomis foliage is impressive throughout the growing season and in autumn the leaves of the spring-flowering Euphorbia change to a brilliant orange, adding another seasonal highlight.

Across the street, open sunny beds surrounding a large fountain are filled with rounded mounds of lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) and upright Jerusalem sage (Phlomis), both with yellow flowers in summer, interspersed with soft-textured, purplish blue-flowered Geranium renardii ‘Philippe Vapelle’, with clumps of tall maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis) providing central points of interest in late summer and autumn.

Any extensive perennial garden should contain spring-flowering bulbs to begin the season and Ms. Orel included thousands of striking bulb species and cultivars throughout the Frankfurt plantings to celebrate the end of winter. Integrating flowering bulbs into the design extends the flowering season, and thanks to Orel’s careful planning, the emerging perennials envelope the unsightly, dying foliage of the bulbs. A large, raised, rectangular bed near the exhibition center bus stop bursts into color in early spring with over 1000 crocuses and tulips. One can easily imagine this bed in summer, aglow in yellow and orange, when 200 Hemerocallis ‘Stella d’Oro’, 185 Oenothera missouriensis, 150 Oenothera tetragona ‘Hohes Licht’, and 150 Phlomis russeliana, punctuated by red and yellow torch-like flowers of Kniphofia ‘Royal Standard’ burst into bloom.

Although Christine Orel has developed a reputation for working with bulbs and annuals, she excels at perennial garden design. Extensive beds and borders from German state, federal, and international garden shows— and now public parks—are examples of her superior talent and skills.

Garden in Sevilla. Photo: Cristi Walden

From recorded history’s earliest cultivated landscapes to contemporary California, Persian design has made a mark on the garden. Trace the evolution of Paradise and discover a 21^st century application for ancient practices and aesthetics at Gift of Paradise: The Splendor and Purpose of Persian Design, a Garden Conservancy event co-sponsored by Pacific Horticulture.

Public square in the heart of the ancient city of Samarkind, Uzbekistan. Photo: Cristi Walden

Enjoy a day of lectures, lunch and book signings

Patrick Hunt - “Tracing the Persian Garden in Other Cultures”

Christy Edstrom O’Hara - “Persia to Spain to California: Lessons in Garden Design”

Walter Denny - “Chahar Bagh: The Persian Formal Garden and Its Refection in Islamic Carpets, Textiles, and Arts of the Book”

Cristi Walden - “Tales of Arabian Tiles: Persian Palaces, Sufi Shrines, and Turkish Temples”

Read more about the speakers.

Save with early registration

$65 for members of the Garden Conservancy and Pacific Horticulture ($85 after April 19)

$75 general admission ($95 after April 19)

Register online or call the Garden Conservancy at 845-424-6500 (New York)

Behind the house, beds burgeon with agapanthus, Euporbia rigida, restio, aeonium, and arborescent aloe with Senecio mandraliscae cascading over a low wall and Hydrangea macrophylla to the right of the door. Photo: Richard Snyder

The Belvedere Island home of Paul Vincent Wiseman and Richard Neil Snyder is impossibly wonderful. Built in 1913 by Florence Nightingale Ward, the lovingly restored Mediterranean-style villa is located in beautiful Marin County, California. With a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay and gardens filled with artful, water-wise plantings, indeed, what is not to love?

Californians tend to take their weather for granted. True mediterranean climate regions exist in only five places in the world: the rim of the Mediterranean Sea, the largest of these regions and the namesake of this weather pattern, much of California, areas of southwestern Australia, the tip of South Africa, and the central coast of Chile.

Most of the San Francisco Bay Area enjoys what is arguably the best climate pattern in the world: warm-summer mediterranean mitigated by the cooling effect of the nearby ocean (Köppen Csb). According to the Köppen-Geiger climate
classification system, the most common mediterranean climate pattern consists of mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers with very little, if any, rainfall (Köppen Csa). A further sub-designation, Köppen Csbn, identifies coastal areas that experience summer fog. Summer fog drifts past, and occasionally over, Belvedere Island on its way to the East Bay leaving the island relatively fog-free compared to San Francisco and straddling climates Csb and Csbn.

Climate Classification

The Köppen-Geiger climate classification system consists of five main climate groups with several types and subtypes. Each climate is identified by a two- to four-letter code.

A mixture of echeveria cultivars. Photo: Doug Jones

Mild temperate climates, including mediterranean climates, are in group C. Group C is characterized by summer temperatures above 50°F and winter temperatures above 27°F. The second letter in the climate classification code describes a region’s precipitation pattern. The type “s” climate has dry summers that receive less than one-third of the precipitation that occurs in the wettest winter month. The third letter in the classification system indicates the amount of summer heat in a region. In a subtype “a” climate, the warmest month averages above 72°F and has at least four months over 50°F. The subtype “b” climate averages less than 72°F during the warmest month, but has at least four months over 50°F.

The Csa and Csb mediterranean climates occur between latitudes 30° and 45°, on the western side of continents in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Wladimir Köppen, a Russian/German botanist and climatologist, first published his climate classification system in 1884. His system was based on vegetation distribution. The refined system and map that he published with climatologist Rudolf Geiger is one of the world’s most widely used climate classification systems.

It was the absence of heavy fog that attracted San Franciscans like Florence Nightingale Ward to build summer homes on
Belvedere Island at the turn of the last century. A short ferry ride across the bay allowed escape from what Mark Twain is famously misattributed as saying, “The coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco.”

View of Tiburon and the San Francisco Yacht Club from the grape-covered pergola. Photo: Doug Jones

In the early 1900s, it must have been breathtaking to climb to the top of Belvedere Island and take in the sweep of the San Francisco Bay in its unspoiled splendor. Even with the extensive development that has since occurred, the Wiseman/Snyder property has a front row seat to one of the most scenic cityscapes in the world with stunning views of Tiburon and the East Bay to the east; Angel Island, San Francisco, and the Bay Bridge to the south; and Sausalito and the Golden Gate Bridge to the west.

Historic photograph of the Belvedere property, circa 1913. Photo: unknown

Beginnings

Florence Nightingale Ward was born in San Francisco in 1860; her mother named her after the famous English woman responsible for the foundation for professional nursing. We all navigate unconscious paths lit by the lamps of our parents’ psyches, but Florence must have had an uncommonly bright beam illuminating the way to her life’s calling. With her mother’s enlightened encouragement, Florence became one of only a handful of gifted women in her era to seek higher education.

As a young adult, Florence left the Bay Area to attend school in New York and eventually made four trips to Europe to study medicine. She established a medical practice in San Francisco in 1888, a time when few women studied medicine, much less worked outside of the home. Florence further distinguished herself by becoming one of the first women to be elected to membership in the American Academy of Surgeons.

While in Europe, Florence fell in love with Mediterranean architecture. In 1908, at the age of 48, she divorced her unfaithful husband (another unusual act for the time), and decided to build a Mediterranean-style villa on Belvedere Island as a getaway for herself and her two daughters. The home was completed in 1913.

The provenance of the home’s architecture remains a tantalizing mystery. It is rumored that Julia Morgan helped Florence design her home. The two women knew one another and it is a documented fact that the famous architect worked for the Ward family in San Francisco. Contributing further circumstantial evidence to Morgan’s involvement, Gordon Blanding, one of the wealthiest men in California, commissioned Morgan to build a home for him on Belvedere, a stone’s throw from Florence’s property, during the time when both structures were being built.

Entrance to the guest bedroom flanked by arborescent aloes, large green-leafed aeoniums, and blue-leafed Senecio mandraliscae. Photo: Kirsten Honeyman

One thing is crystal clear: Florence loved nature and was a devoted gardener. This beautifully written passage, quoted from a family remembrance journal, attests to this fact.

“Across the bay in Belvedere was a little house lying close to the hilltop and lost under the crouching oaks. Here she spent weekends and odd mornings and evenings during the summer. Even in winter, when the cottage was tightly shuttered and soaked amber leaves covered the paths, when few ventured through the muddy lanes, she would spend her holidays tramping the wet woods and breathing deeply of the moist fragrant earth. When the year was at its height she was out early and long after sundown with the Italian gardener, listening to his talk of beets and carrots, seeds and snails. Through clouds of color they were in sympathetic converse; foxglove and hydrangea, zinnia and hollyhocks, starring the deeply sloping hillside.” (For the Children, p. 19)

Gracious living and a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay. Photo: Kirsten Honeyman

New beginnings

Sometimes homes get lucky and are purchased by understanding new owners. For internationally acclaimed interior designer Paul Wiseman it was love at first sight. His partner, Richard Snyder, likes to joke that when they took possession in 1998, the Belvedere house was standing by virtue of “termites holding hands and thirty coats of paint.” The couple lived in the home for nine years, learning its secrets and planning, before moving to Mill Valley for two years while the house underwent a major restoration. Now beautifully rebuilt and modernized, the house retains its original footprint and character.

The entry is furnished with antiquities and a mixture of succulents, dominated by blue-leafed Senecio mandraliscae, Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’, various green-leaved aeonium and echeveria. Photo: Doug Jones

Ninety years after being built, nothing remained of the original garden. Even if elements of Florence’s garden had weathered the years, changing times require different gardening approaches. California’s water has become expensive and more precious, encouraging thoughtful gardeners to choose water-wise plantings. Paul has brought his design talents and sensibilities to the  property’s landscape where he has created a happy harmony of beauty and practicality with succulents. Other than the occasional foraging deer, the drought-tolerant plants thrive in Belvedere Island’s wet, frost-free winters and balmy, warm summers and, in the hands of this gifted designer, lend themselves to wonderful vignettes of color and texture.

A narrow raised bed of wiry Corokia cotoneaster and colorful Echeveria ‘Afterglow’ near the outdoor spa. Photo: Richard Synder

Outdoor seating area formed by a ring of Japanese boxwood (Buxus microphylla var. japonica) with Mediterranean fan palm (Chamaerops umilis) and coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia). Photo: Richard Synder

Along the pathway that curves upward from the street below to the home’s original entrance, Paul has created an outdoor seating area with a fire pit for warming cool Bay Area evenings. Overlooking the fire pit, a stone spa accented with three antique urns beckons, its serene beauty promising deep relaxation in warm waters. The house, wisely sited slightly below the crest of the sloping hillside property, allows afternoon winds to sail over the house, not through the loggia.

Stone spa accented with ancient Greek and Roman urns and a drift of Agave attenuata. Photo: Doug Jones

Original to the landscape, another curving garden path leads from the house to a grapevine-draped pergola located partway down the hill. Florence’s winding hillside paths may have been inspired by a contemporary project started across the bay in Berkeley in 1898. The Hillside Club, founded by Charles Augustus Keeler and architect Bernard Maybeck, was having a big impact on the development of the Berkeley hills. This enlightened “improvement society” was wonderfully progressive and years ahead of its time.

“Under the guidance of this organization, its members, many of whom were associated with the University of California, completely transformed the existing landscape of softly contoured, grass-covered hills scattered with oak trees into a wooded hillside of mixed exotic trees, within which carefully sited shingled houses commanded panoramic views of San Francisco Bay. This landscape was in effect a continuous public garden punctuated by a series of private gardens… The irregular blocks of houses were stepped back into the hillside slopes, and a rambling network of paths threaded through the center of each block. Existing trees and rock outcrops were carefully retained, and the local stone was used to pave many garden paths and build low retaining walls… Winding paths created a sense of intimacy and mystery and made each individual garden seem larger.” (Streatfield, p. 70)

Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’ frames a beautiful view of the bay from the Belvedere Island home of Paul Vincent Wiseman and Richard Neil Snyder. Photo: Doug Jones

To enlarge his garden and create just such a feeling of intimacy and mystery, Paul has continued Florence’s path beyond the pergola, creating a walkway that meanders across and down the hillside. A peaceful meditation site located at a break in the trees reveals a slice of the bay. From this vantage point, Paul can contemplate the beauty of Belvedere and give thanks for Florence Nightingale Ward’s good energy and vision, which suffuses the property even now.

“Usually her skirt was pinned to avoid the dust and in the curve of her arm she carried a basket or bowl. There were berries to be gathered in the orchard plot and perhaps a handful of peaches or plums for her sister in the adjoining garden. And she never reached the house again without friendly human talk across a hedge or by the tall green gate… Countless times came these words like song to her lips: ‘I am so glad to be alive.’” (For the Children, p. 19)

Growing beds flush with spring bloom at Little Lake Garden. Photo: Winnie Pitrone

Three miles upland from the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to pygmy-forest-covered ridges above the Mendocino Headlands, a lush organic garden bursts with flowers. It’s an unlikely bounty in this region of low soil fertility, coastal fog, and temperatures that rarely rise above 70 degrees. Yet for the past 19 years, this garden has produced bouquets of flowers that have brightened the lives of people in the Mendocino area. The secret: two gardeners with a passion for flowers and organic gardening.

Little Lake Garden is a magical place filled with color, texture, and fragrance. Winnie Pitrone and Andy Mackey (my sister-in-law and brother) have designed this garden to please the senses while producing cut flowers and vegetables to sell at the Mendocino Farmers Market. Their reward is the daily delight that a well-designed garden brings and the praise of their weekly customers who eagerly purchase their goods.

The beauty of Little Lake Garden shines through in fall. Photo: Winnie Pitrone

Careful Plant Selection

Andy and Winnie consider a variety of characteristics when selecting plants for their cutting garden. To be good in a bouquet, flowers must have a long vase life and not drop petals or pollen. Tall plants with long sturdy stems are the easiest to work with; flowers with thin stems take longer to pick and more are needed to fill up a bouquet. The gardeners choose plants that are strong and easy to grow, yield many flowering stems per plant, and bloom for a long season. Not surprisingly, these are the same characteristics—ease of propagation, high yield, and productivity—that market gardeners use to select fruits and vegetables to plant for sale. “After all,” Winnie says with a smile, “the flowers at Little Lake Garden are our main crop.”

Winnie and Andy have a long list of favorite plants that pass the first test of providing value in a bouquet. The challenge is to decide which ones earn a spot in that year’s garden, balancing a good mix of flowers for bouquets with the work involved to raise the plants. They first consider season of bloom, selecting a variety of flowers and interesting plants that produce from early spring through fall. For each season they want a range of colors that work well together and a variety of flower shapes and sizes to create interest. They also look for accents such as foliage, buds, berries, seed heads, and branches. Serendipity plays a role. Winnie admits, “Nobody can go through a batch of seed catalogs in January and not be tempted to try a few new flowers.”

Andy and Winnie surrounded by buckets of blooms at the farmers’ market. Photo: Maria Pitrone Molina/Marisol Photography

The gardeners aim to strike a balance between annuals and perennials with about one third of the material used in their bouquets coming from annuals and the other two thirds coming from perennials. Annuals offer a long flowering season, and increase the productivity of the garden when planting beds are used to produce more than one crop of flowers: sweet Williams in the spring followed by a fall crop of annual sunflowers. At the end of a season it is easy to clear a bed of annuals, add compost, and let the bed rest for a season. However, growing annuals means starting new seeds and transplanting each year.

Perennials, on the other hand, do not need to be replanted each year; a benefit tempered by shorter flowering periods and periodic maintenance—pruning, lifting and dividing—to keep the plants productive.

Only Organic

A tasty bouquet of edible, organically grown flowers. Photo: Winnie Pitrone

At Little Lake Garden, when somebody puts his or her nose into a bouquet to enjoy the fragrance of lavender, rubs a finger on the soft leaves of lamb’s ear, or picks a violet flower to enjoy its spicy sweetness, there is no need to worry about residues of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Flowers here are raised organically and are safe to sniff, touch, or even eat. Andy and Winnie believe that organic methods are the best to use for any type of plantings, but especially for flowers that people keep close at hand.

The garden’s native soil is challenging. The ridges above the Mendocino coast, ancient sand dunes that were uplifted tens of thousands of years ago, are practically void of nutrients other than iron, are low in organic matter, and have high acidity and potassium. The gardeners focused on building the soil as soon as they arrived on Little Lake Road. Because organic matter quickly washes through the extraordinarily sandy soil, the gardeners have learned to layer it on the surface of the beds rather than digging it in. To increase fertility, they add a variety of powdered amendments including kelp meal and glacial rock dust for micronutrients, and oyster shells to raise the pH. Recently, Andy has been experimenting with using compost tea as a soil spray to unlock nutrients in the soil and increase their availability to the plants.

Weed control may be the most labor-intensive part of gardening. Andy admits, surprisingly, “I love to weed,” though he adds that he thinks a lot about “selecting our weed bank.” Wherever soil is exposed, nature will supply plants—called volunteers by some and weeds by others—to protect the precious topsoil. “At Little Lake Garden, we select our weeds by letting useful plants go to seed, and removing undesirables. Over time, we have built up a wonderful ‘weed bank’ that fills in empty spaces in the garden with plants we are happy to have around,” says Andy. Their edible flower bouquets, composed primarily of plants that some would call weeds, include calendula, borage, sweet alyssum, Johnny jump-ups, and chrysanthemum. Andy and Winnie consider these weedy annuals a living mulch as the prolific self-seeders cover the soil, leaving little room for actual weeds. They also welcome food-plant volunteers such as kale, chard, cilantro, Italian parsley, arugula, red mustard, cress, and mizuna if they choose to find homes in open spaces in the garden.

Plant selection plays an important role in pest management. Winnie and Andy collect seeds from vegetables and flowers that grow especially well for planting out the following year. Through this type of selection, they favor plants best suited to the peculiarities of their climate and soil conditions. The right plant in the right place leads to healthy plants that can fight off pests effectively.

Little Lake Garden has animal pests, too, and the policy is exclusion, relocation, deterrence, and biodiversity. A perimeter fence keeps out deer and rabbits while the worm composter is kept inside the shed to keep it from serving as a tasty snack for local skunks or raccoons. Snails are dispatched by hand at night with the benefit of headlamps. Andy relocates snails to the compost pile or outside the fence where they can do their work as decomposers without causing damage in his cultivated beds. A foliar spray of compost tea coats plants with beneficial organisms that out-compete disease organisms on the leaves, such as apple scab, pear scab, and peach leaf curl.

Andy estimates that they have more than 80 kinds of flowers available on a single harvest day and they use more than 200 kinds of cut flowers from spring to fall. Their garden’s biodiversity keeps pests down by attracting and fostering a wide range of beneficial insects that are natural enemies of many insect pests.

Color-themed bouquets, like this pink and blue July confection, are a favorite among Little Lake Garden customers. Photo: Winnie Pitrone

Artful Bouquets

The rewards of this vibrant garden filled with a wide range of plants come each Thursday when Winnie and Andy head out through the beds with clippers to select beautiful flowers for their bouquets. They know the science of gardening as well as the art of creating stunning bouquets. During the peak of summer, they start harvesting flowers up to two days before the farmers market. Cut stems are submerged in deep containers of water and placed in the shade of an apple tree in the center of the garden. They spend the day before market arranging the flowers, bunching them into bouquets, and trimming the stems.

“I like to think about my customers as I put together special combinations of flowers,” says Winnie, “knowing they will be met with warm smiles.” Winnie and Andy use a range of themes to choose flowers for individual bouquets, creating single-color bouquets, white and green bouquets, or bouquets featuring a stunning peony, dahlia, or gladiolus set off by simple blossoms. They offer a few small bouquets for those who need the pick-me-up that flowers provide but who might not have the money for a larger bouquet. In addition to their weekly farmers market sales, the gardeners supply local inns with weekly flowers, create flower arrangements for weddings, and sell specialty flowers by the stem to local florists.

Preparing stems for market in the shade of the apple tree. Photo: Maria Pitrone Molina/Marisol Photography

Each week, while cutting and assembling their bouquets, the gardeners discuss what flowers are working out well and which ones are disappointing. They constantly challenge their decisions about the plants they select, where they plant them, how they carefor them, how they use them in bouquets, and how well they sell. As soon as they pick the first blossoms of the season, they start thinking of ways to improve the flowers, the garden, and their much-loved bouquets. And, like all gardeners, they always imagine how wonderful the garden will be next year.

Little Lake Garden is a gem of a garden in a most unlikely environment. Using organic principles, Winnie and Andy have transformed poor soil into rich beds that support a huge range of flowers. Their practices improve the environment, and the beauty of their flowers soothes the soul of all who are lucky enough to experience them.

Seasonal blooms from fruit trees, annuals, and perennials provide cutting blooms throughout the year. Photos: Winnie Pitrone

A year of cut flowers from Little Lake Garden

Spring:  sweet William (Dianthus barbatus), evening primrose (Oenothera stricta), bellflower (Campanula medium), love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena), veronica (Veronica spicata), columbine (Aquilegia), gladiolus (Gladiolus)

Summer:  ‘The Third Harmonic’ and ‘Yellow Friendship’ Peruvian lily (Alstroemeria cultivars), love-lies-bleeding and ‘Emerald Tassels’ amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus), sunflower (Helianthus annuus), globe thistle (Echinops), giant bellflower (Campanula latifolia), meadowsweet (Filipendula purpurea), summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata and L. clethroides)

Fall:  ‘Autumn’s Touch’ and ‘Opopeo’ amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus), ‘Lemon Queen’ sunflower (Helianthus annuus), ‘Zimbelstern’ sneezeweed (Helenium), ‘Little Carlow’ aster (Aster cordifolius), bishop’s flower (Ammi majus), Formosa lily (Lilium formosanum), toad lily (Tricyrtis), St. John’s wort (Hypericum androsaemum)

Winter:  pink-flowered currant (Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum), blue honeywort (Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’), kerria (Kerria japonica), tulip (Tulipa), blue poppy (Meconopsis), and flowering fruit trees

This new hedgerow at Sonoma State University will grow four to six feet tall to hide the parking lot from the adjacent grape arbor, and provide nectar and pollen for beneficial insects. Photos: Frederique Lavoipierre

A broad bed planted with shrubs, perennials and a twining vine, edges the small orchard in the Sonoma State University (SSU) Garden Classroom. A tree, underplanted with native grasses, bulbs, and flowering annuals, anchors the corner of the undulating border. Butterflies float about the shrubs and, near one end, a hummingbird enjoys a late breakfast. A covey of quail scurries under the tangle of berries edging the nearby creek. This vision was the inspiration for a dedicated group of volunteers.

Along the western edge of the parking lot, near the food production garden, a long-abandoned, bare, and hard-baked earthen berm is being transformed on a misty winter day. Students, staff and faculty gathered, undeterred by the drizzle, to plant and mulch a 150-foot-long hedgerow to provide wildlife habitat and please the eye as well. Because an abundance of quail frequents the Sonoma State University garden, many plants were specifically chosen to provide food and cover for these cheery little birds.

A backdrop of native trees and shrubs frames this pool at the Melissa Garden in Healdsburg, California. Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre

A hedgerow is a more or less linear row of trees and shrubs, often interplanted with annuals, perennials, and grasses. Look no further than the shrub border along the typical suburban backyard fence to spot what is essentially a hedgerow. A simple definition of “hedgerow” is a shrub border with benefits. Historically, hedgerows were planted in agricultural landscapes, and served multiple functions: providing firewood, berries, and other fruits; basketry materials; protection from wind and erosion; barriers to keep livestock penned in (and exclude predators); and habitat for small game. Hedgerows were often planted on top of an earthen berm to increase their usefulness as barriers.

Most commonly associated with the European countryside, hedgerows may also be found in Canada, Argentina, Australia, the Philippines, Mexico, and the United States. In Europe, where ancient hedgerows were razed during World War II and others lost to development, there is a growing recognition of their value in the landscape, and hedgerows are now being replanted and restored.

Laying hedgerows is a technique for managing single-species hedgerows to provide an impervious barrier. Tall growth, cut partway through and “laid over” horizontally, produces vertical shoots; the procedure is repeated over time, creating an increasingly dense living wall. Today, borders containing an informal mix of shrubs, perennials, and grasses are a more common solution rather than the labor-intensive, laid-over hedgerow.

Garden hedgerows are only limited by your imagination, as demonstrated by this exuberant wall of flowering plants, designed by Kate Frey for Lynmar Winery. Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre

In addition to being physical barriers, contemporary hedgerows provide habitat for birds and other wildlife and attract beneficial insects, pollinators, and insects that prey on pests. With a bit of cooperation, hedgerows can connect wild landscapes, providing important corridors along which wildlife can move through neighborhoods. With a slight zig and a zag, birds, insects, and other wildlife can move along the plantings into the heart of the campus. The hedgerows—there are now two at SSU’s Garden Classroom—connect to Copeland Creek. From its headwaters at nearby Fairfield Osborn Preserve, the creek provides an essential riparian corridor through the campus and the nearby community of Rohnert Park before it empties into the Laguna de Santa Rosa, a critical wetland habitat. A short way along the creek-side path, the long-established Butterfly Garden and Ken Stocking Native Plant Garden provide additional connections for wildlife that frequent the campus, which butts against nearby Sonoma Mountain.

Butterfly rose (Rosa</> xodorata ‘Mutabilis’) is a vigorous grower with supple canes and single blossoms that open yellow, changing through range to a deep crimson pink. Photo: Frederique Lavoipiere

Hedgerows may range in size from grand designs that include trees, to smaller scale plantings suitable for a typical residential fence line, or even sidewalk edges. For a border closely packed with plants or confined to a narrow space such as the edge of a driveway, look for plants tolerant of crowding and pruning, and resistant to disease. If the aim is a loose assemblage with room for plants to grow to their full size, choices are less limited.

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) flowering in the San Diego Zoo landscape. Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre

The hedgerows at SSU are composed entirely of plants native to the region, but many hedgerows are a mixture of native and exotic plants. Hedgerows designed for wildlife habitat should be planted with at least 50 percent native plants. Native shrubs that are attractive to both wildlife and gardeners include toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), California lilac (Ceanothus), manzanita (Arctostaphylos), snowberry (Symphoricarpos), and coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica). A beautiful but little-known shrub, the silk tassel (Garrya elliptica), is a striking addition to a hedgerow, especially in winter when long catkins dangle from the branches. Twinberry (Lonicera involucrata) is a shrubby native honeysuckle beloved by hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees. The often unfairly maligned coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis) provides important resources for wildlife includingwinter nectar and pollen for beneficial insects. Several compact, named varieties of coyote brush may be found at native plant nurseries. Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus), an erect, shrubby berry that is much loved by quail, forms small thickets after only a few seasons.

Silver bush lupine (Lupinus albifrons) Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre

To weave together the larger elements in a hedgerow, include perennials and grasses at edges or tucked between newly planted shrubs. Annual wildflowers are decorative, provide habitat, and will quickly alleviate the raw look of a new planting. Yarrows (Achillea millefolium) are an ideal addition, both for their ferny, fresh green foliage and the flowers that provide a valuable resource for beneficial insects. Many beard-tongues (Penstemon) are sturdy, spreading perennials that attract an abundance of hummingbirds and bees. Both yarrow and beard-tongue are available in a variety of flower colors, especially if the gardener doesn’t mind the occasional non-native hedgerow plant. Penstemon can be found in an accommodating range of sizes, from small-flowered groundcovers, to small shrubs with elegant, long-stemmed wands of flowers. Several native lupines (Lupinus spp.) provide valuable forage for quail, which first seek out the lush foliage, then later, the nutritious seeds.

Flowering buckwheat (Eriogonum fasiculatum) in a hedgerow bordering the vineyards at Frog’s Leap Winery in Napa Valley. Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre

If attracting beneficial insects is high on the priority list, no hedgerow is complete without buckwheat. California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum) may be without peer in attracting great numbers of beneficial insects, pollinators, and predators of numerous pests. San Miguel Island buckwheat (Eriogonum grande rubescens) is a spectacular addition to hedgerows, or experiment with some of the other wonderful buckwheats found at local native plant nurseries. Native asters are also a sure bet for attracting beneficial insects, and can provide nectar and pollen for many months, extending far into the fall.

When planning a hedgerow to attract wildlife by providing forage and shelter, be sure to consider and plant for resources throughout the year. When choosing plants for butterflies, remember to include host plants for caterpillars. Plants to support both honey bees and native bees are easily included in a hedgerow. Large hedgerows with naturally damp soil can support one of the native willows (Salix), whose catkins provide a valuable early spring resource for beneficial insects at a time when little else is in bloom; quail also relish the catkins, as well as the galls that grow so profusely on willows.

Invite the beautiful cedar waxwing to the garden with Pacific wax myrtle (Myrica californica). The vigorous fuchsia-flowered gooseberry (Ribes speciosum) provides wonderfully thorny nesting cover for a variety of birds as well as early nectar for hummingbirds. Thickets of native roses and berries provide protection from predators for ground-nesting quail and other birds. Quail also appreciate a bit of bare earth in which to take dust baths, easily provided for in most gardens.

Once your hedgerow is established, all that is needed is a bench, tucked into a discreet corner, from which to enjoy watching the wildlife in your own backyard.

A bench at the Rose and Thorn in Sebastapol, California, provides a quiet spot to watch wildlife in the hedgerow. Photo: Frederique Lavoipierre