Winter Fragrance at Elizabeth Gamble Garden

The Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto, California is a historic urban estate built near Stanford University in 1902. It is now the home of a nonprofit horticultural foundation, and its mature woodland, formal and working gardens provide education and beauty to the community.

The Association of Professional Landscape Designers meets regularly at Gamble, so I've been able to visit in all seasons. (I was actually married there once, but that's a different story!) Today it was particularly beautiful, as winter-blooming shrubs are luxuriating in our recent warm spell. This hedge of camellias was screaming for attention, so my camera and I excused ourselves for a moment...

Isn't it stunning? Camellia japonica are one of our earliest bloomers, often starting right after Christmas. Carefully maintained by staff and volunteers, these hedges are light and yet covered with bloom for weeks.

And the fragrance! The warmth of the day brought out scents from all over the garden, including this Magnolia soulangiana in full bloom.

Oh, Daphne! So finicky, but when you're happy, everybody's happy...

The most fragrant thing around, however, was this Mahonia siamensis...yum!

The bees agreed!

This patch of Kniphofia offered an unexpected touch of warmth...

While a large clump of Elegia capensis cooled things down again.

Beautiful Leucadendron towers overhead.

We have time for one, sweet whiff of Sarcococca as the meeting is about to start; what a glossy beauty this is.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, treat yourself to a visit to this lovely garden. Their Spring Tour (April 29-30) explores the diverse gardens of the Palo Alto area, and is enjoyed each year by thousands of Bay Area gardeners. Add it to your spring calendar if you can!

Wordless Wednesday: UC Santa Cruz Arboretum

What a gorgeous place to visit in December! The UCSC Arboretum features Mediterranean-climate plants from all over the world, many of which are at their gorgeous best in winter. Enjoy!

EnSeven Heaven: My New Garden Takes Shape

It is done. Two weeks, one jeans size, and countless loads of STUFF sent in all directions, and my move from a 3-bedroom house (with several thousand square feet of gardens) to a 2-bedroom apartment (with sixty square foot balcony) is complete. This would not have been possible without the help of my family and friends, to whom I am unbelievably grateful. And I will go on record here and now to say that I will NEVER have that much CRAP again! Dissembling the garage about did me in...

As I wrote before, creating my new balcony garden was high on my list of priorities. It was a huge relief when the Maple and Fatsia pots made it up the stairs (I simply couldn't look) and were settled in their respective corners with no casualties. I ended up using about a dozen good-sized plants and another dozen small ones (succulents mostly) and they have filled the space quite nicely. Their previous home (a north-facing courtyard) got no sun in winter, so their airy new south-facing digs are suiting them VERY well.

I particularly love these beautiful dwarf Nandinas, which along with a foxtail asparagus fern on a stand surround the bubbling water pot. Additional sun has brightened their colors considerably; even on overcast days they glow.

One piece of advice I give to small-space gardeners is to lift things up and make use of their "middle ground." Using taller plants, and raising shorter ones (like this lush Dianella which sits on an up-ended pot) gives you natural nooks in which to tuck smaller plants, as well as more privacy. An old tile-top table built by my father for my grandparents years ago has become my new potting bench/Buddha shelter. The jute carpet remains one of my favorite parts of the garden; absolutely everything here I already had; the old becomes new again.

The decision to use just one seating piece (my old garden loveseat) and to angle it toward the house turned out to be a really good one. I can curl up like a cat in the sun, surrounded by plants, in complete privacy. From my perch it's fun to listen to my neighbor's comments ("Wow, look at that, and she only JUST moved in!")

Fun details like the birdhouse (hanging from a sturdy beam) and a string of lights add warmth and charm. I was delighted to find that the ivy in the Fatsia and Maple pots had grown many streamers, some several feet long, which I've started twining along the top of the railing. It's like they have been preparing all along to be here. It already feels like home.

Thanks for all the good wishes as I've been making this transition; I look forward to sharing my new little space from time to time. Oh, and "EnSeven" comes from my apartment number (N7).

Happy Holidays everyone!

Bloom Day - February 2010

Spring is in the air for Bloom Day! A warm February weekend in Northern California meant the Hardenbergia vine was humming with honeybees... ~click pictures to enlarge~

The front porch Lantana is rallying, better cut it back soon or I'll be so, so sorry!

The lovely Loropetalum just keeps it coming; I love the way the green and purple leaves compliment the fringy flowers.

Oxalis is a major winter weed in California; it's everywhere. I have a few patches in my garden, and enjoy their seasonal contribution of fresh green-and-yellowness, for little awhile anyway. Its leaves make a juicy contribution to the compost bin later on!

I figure if I take the shot reeeaaally close, you won't notice that I'm posting yet ANOTHER Cerinthe picture. You like her, admit it...

Gaaah! The Daffodils are simply screaming out in the park strip! For me the sight of them is the official "all clear" for spring...

This little wild geranium is a common weed around here, and I let it grow for a while too (ladybugs seem to like it particularly.)

This cracks me up. My up-close vision is very poor; I had no idea that these beautiful Bronze Fennel fronds were generously sprinkled with aphids until I cropped the photo! What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't feel, as my grandmother used to say.

Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' is living up to its name. When backlit like this it fairly glows.

My friend Ivette recently described Grevillea blossoms as a cross between a shrimp and a toothbrush (or something like that) so of course, that is forevermore what I'll see!

Another Hardenbergia shot; I so love this vine. It grows on the fence opposite my bedroom window, and is right up there with Daffodils and Oxalis in the 'Spring is Coming' department.

This Begonia bud looks like Little Shop of Horrors meets Transformers...

OK, not technically a flower, but what a work of art is a succulent...

Pink flamingo tutus, that's what Fuchsia thymifolia flowers remind me of. The kind that really bounce up and down.

Now there's a sight, this year's blueberries, getting ready to bloom.

The whole time I was taking these pictures, our neighborhood mockingbird was singing up a storm, yet another spring sound. This is his mate, keeping watch over our garden. Maybe they'll nest in one of the trees this year...

...but somebody else already has dibs on the Bamboo! Unfortunately this nest is about head high, right next to the path from the patio to the Red Umbrella. I foresee much anxious hovering in my future!

Thanks, as always, to Carol from May Dreams Gardens for being the heart of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Visit her site for links to Bloom Day posts from all over the world.

"We can have flowers nearly every month of the year."
Elizabeth Lawrence