Our club president recently had the chance to see the Butchart Gardens and loved it. British Columbia may be a very different climate to San Diego but seeing a garden vision come to life is motivating for all gardeners.
Set on and in 55 acres of an abandoned quarry it is restorative living art.
The Butchart Gardens – Over 100 Years in Bloom – Victoria, Canada
This fine specimen (Platycerium sp.) belonging to a club member began as single frond in a small hanging basket. It has never been transplanted and thirty years later has a leaf span over 6 feet and a rhizome over 3 feet in diameter. The small basket is still in there – somewhere.
The hot summer days are starting to stress hydrangeas that get near full sun but they are still a wonderful eye full. If you desire fewer, but larger, blooms the secret is to remove all but one or two buds from each stem in the springtime. The available energy for blooms will be concentrated on these fewer outgrowths.
A home in my 92131 neighborhood has this beautiful herb lawn. If you know the species please email us. It does attract a lot of bees and so I am not sure you would want to walk across barefoot.
An old Bourbon rose propagated in France and named for Queen Victoria. Original Bourbon roses derive from planned and spontaneous hybridization of roses on Reunion Island, known then as, Isle de Bourbon.
Photo from R. Gale