The Dry Garden: Best dressed list
Posted on | February 11, 2011 | No Comments
If the view from your front window is a hedge so maimed by years of buzzing that the only option is to buzz it some more, and if you have better things to do with your money than pay yard crews to torture shrubbery, it may be time to dig out that green wall and start over.
But before sharpening the pickax, dream. Dream aloud. There is no better time than February to view California’s native lilac, lemonade berry, coffeeberry, gooseberry and barberry plants, most of which are in full flower at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden.
A tour of Southern California’s best native garden in midwinter reveals these shrubs dripping with gold, white, pink and blue flowers. Although the blossoms are admittedly fleeting accessories, they are succeeded by berries.
Apologies for language that sounds like red carpet commentary. It’s unfair to the plants. Click here to keep reading this week’s ‘The Dry Garden’ column in the Los Angeles Times.
For those of you who missed the previous item about a questionnaire being circulated by the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden, please take five minutes to complete it. Los Angeles has the best climate for gardening in the country. It should have the best public garden, one that recognizes the imperative to change the way we manage our landscape in the face of water shortages and climate change. The Arb should be progressive, not a sleepy foothill enclave run by a weary county establishment and shadowy board reportable to pretty much no one. Help it, help the new CEO drag it into the 21st century. Fill out the form!
Half of February, all of March
Posted on | February 10, 2011 | No Comments
The bad news is that almost half of February is missing from the newly updated Dry Garden Events. I was busy and compiling is time-consuming. The good news is what remains of this short month is there. So is March. The programs are first class. If you have an event that is not included that you would like to be noted, do leave a message in the comment box or send details by e-mail to: emily.green [@] mac.com.
Yikes
Posted on | February 9, 2011 | 1 Comment
After finding something presentable to wear and taking heavy sedation I will be appearing as part of a panel on urban homesteading tomorrow (Thursday) night at the Santa Monica Public Library, 601 Santa Monica Boulevard at 7pm. Growing food at my old garden in central Los Angeles became less of a priority after most of my “free” time was taken up by a local school project. But count me an expert on what food crops survive 1,400 pairs of feet in an unfenced elementary school courtyard. Latterly, a serious return to growing salads, winter greens, stone fruit and citrus at home has come with a move to a house whose garden is a nice slice of an old fruit farm in the San Gabriel foothills. The challenge here is incorporating those crops in a larger garden that is either un-irrigated or strategically hand watered. Other, far more distinguished panelists include Phil McGrath of McGrath Family Farms, Ray Garcia of Fig Restaurant and the wondrous Evan Kleiman of KCRW’s “Good Food.” Double click on the poster to enlarge it.
Arboretum to public: Grade me
Posted on | February 8, 2011 | No Comments
The Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, which was given a hard time in these pages, has called in experts to help canvas those who use the garden on what they think are its strengths and weaknesses. To that end, the consultants would like anyone interested to complete the following questionnaire. I strongly urge anyone who cares about horticulture in Southern California to take five minutes to do it.
Of course, the design of the questionnaire may not ultimately drive at the reason there is invariable sprinkler run-off coursing down Baldwin Avenue from the Arboretum, even after rains. The Arboretum is jointly run by the County of Los Angeles and a foundation that keeps a lower profile than a gopher in Antarctica. Missing from the questionnaire is any inquiry about the efficacy of this split leadership. Who among us has even heard of the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation, Inc.? Who are the trustees? Where and when and how often does the board meet? Are the meetings open to the public? Are the agendas posted? Are the minutes published? What authority does it have? How much do trustees give in cash or time? If it’s time they’re donating, who’s putting the value on that? Do trustees or businesses that they are associated with receive contracts from the Arboretum?
It’s impolite to suggest that anyone who is all about flowers and sunshine might be incompetent, or worse, but it’s fair to ask that the Trustees be daylighted and that their meetings should be open to the public and minutes published. Even the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power does that.
Masonic tendencies aside, it’s still a good sign that the Arb wants to know what we think of its classes, its collection, its lunchroom, its relevance, the cuteness of its peafowl etc, good and bad. I, for one, believe that the new head is seriously aiming to make it into a world-class garden and I want him to succeed.
UPDATES: A correspondent asks by e-mail: “Do the board members raise money? Are they committed and obligated to do so?” Good questions. Another correspondent sent this list of trustees, which appears on the stationery, but nowhere online.
The Dry Garden: A three-acre labor of love called Arlington
Posted on | February 4, 2011 | 2 Comments
As beautiful as private landscapes can be, and they can be stunning, none can match the poetry, joy and solace of a public garden done right. As proof, look no further than Arlington Garden in Pasadena. Here, since breaking ground on the 3-acre site five years ago, neighbor Betty McKenney has seen just about every kind of human interaction.
“We have people who meditate and pray,” said McKenney, left. “We have counselors and young people from a local clinic, some of whom are pretty troubled. Certainly there are schools and Scout programs. People bring their computers, or they read. They walk dogs. We see engaged couples getting photographed. Other photographers work on catalogs with their models. Last time it was a little bit risque. Some of those girls had really long legs. We see couples — 70, 80 years old — holding hands walking through the garden. I saw a mom one afternoon sitting with her little boy. He was eating a pomegranate and they were talking about birds. Then teenagers come in at night. We have it all.”
And that’s even before arriving at the plants, a mix of carefully selected, drought-tolerant California natives and Mediterranean climate zone imports, assembled in a public space that is first-class wildlife habitat and model of water conservation. Click here to continue reading about Arlington Garden in this week’s ‘The Dry Garden’ in the Los Angeles Times.
The Times has an extensive photo-gallery of Arlington. For a full set of shots taken for the assignment on Flickr, click here.
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