Edgy Style, Soft Message: Urban Habitat Garden at the SF Flower and Garden Show

I've been wondering over the past few weeks how to encourage the younger hipper set to get into native plants. Since seeing so many younger folk enjoying the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair, in fact.

So I was very happy indeed to see this garden at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show.

The "Urban Habitat" garden - a pocket park, with natives

This garden was designed by students of the Academy of Art University of San Francisco. It combines art and California native plants in a "pocket park" themed display. Above, Ms Town Mouse is taking a photo of the lovely young blue blossom trees, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus, growing above a mixture of native perennials. (See the Town Mouse garden show post here!)

The smooth grey pebbles underfoot, like those zones where runaway trucks can grind to a stop, say, "Slow down. Relax. You have plenty of time."

All along the park bench is what you might call young urban Zen calligraphy.

It's a quote from John Muir - helpfully typed up nearby:

Ah! I think John Muir is the next writer I'll pick up. To see the world in a grain of sand - or in a dew drop! To see the stars all singing and shining together -  in one small urban pocket park! A storm of beauty! What a great conception! I'm inspired! Let me add a few more exclamation points - !!!!. Way to go, students of Academy of Art!

I enjoyed the art a lot. I could imagine sitting in this pocket park. It's lively...

And also restful..

I particularly loved the idea of the pocket park as a space for people to participate actively - to do some gardening, paint on the walls and bench, and so on. From the blurb:

“Urban Habitat” is a dual-use parklet that is designed to provide a public place for citizens to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the city around them, while allowing for participation in activities such as gardening. This parklet embraces the recycle and reuse of urban elements such as “dumpsters” to provide planting areas, seating, while also acting as “urban art” canvases for graffiti artists.

I could end in cynicism, saying that of course in reality, kids would throw those nice chunky pebbles through windows, the graffiti would become nasty, and the garden trashed. But I'd rather support the students' idea that you can in fact plant a seed of community that would actually grow and flourish as a place for people to come together -- all singing and shining as one.

2012 Garden Show - Best Booth Ever!

T. Mouse: I'm back, I'm back from the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show! And this year, the California Native Plant Society had the best booth ever!

 We arrived early and were just so impressed. Posters, lots of plants, little garden ornaments, small tables with more plants, and of course, a lot of great information. With our 10-12 shift, we had lots of opportunity to meet people, and everyone liked our display and took a few handouts.

Mr. Mouse: I see. Well, you certainly seemed enthusiastic and excited when you left.

T. Mouse: Yes, and it really was a fun event all around! After 2 hours of volunteering, we were looking forward to a nice little lunch. This year, the show was featuring Chefs at the Show on one of the stages, so we had high hopes for a nice lunch with fresh vegetables, maybe a little artisan cheese and some fresh bread... But alas, just like last year, we were in Americana Food Stand Land. Garlic Fries, BarBQ sausage, BarBQ tri-tip, BarBQ ribs, and...

Mr. Mouse: Wait, that sounds delicious!

T. Mouse: Oh Mr. Mouse, a mouse should not devour our fellow creatures. A mouse eats cheese, grains, maybe the odd vegetable.

Mr. Mouse: Not me! And besides, there were those garlic fries.

T. Mouse: Oh, never mind. Having to pass on the meatball soup and the chili, we finally settled on a fairly expensive falafel wrap. It was quite palatable and fortified us for the important part of our visit.

Mr. Mouse: Shopping, I expect.

T. Mouse: Oh, how could you say that. Of course we visited the gardens first. And there was much to admire. We enjoyed Urban Habitat, above, which feature colorful graffity, a tumbled glass "stream" with artful little fish, and a mix of native and other drought tolerant plants including tree ceanothus.

Natives were used in a lot of spaces, including La Vie en Vert, which featured a huge golden current (Ribes Aureum)

And "Dynamic Reflections," which included interesting stacked stone walls that surrounded urns and other art, and a wildflower meadow.

Mr. Mouse: So, you liked the gardens?

T. Mouse: Interesting question. Generally, I think the garden show at its best is like a fashion show. Trendy. Breathtaking. A little over the top. Some years, I feel like:"What do these gardens have to do with my life? I won't have an outdoor kitchen with a pizza oven, or a 30 foot succulent square." But this year, it was almost the opposite. The gardens were a little too nice, maybe.

It's like when the clothes you see are too wearable. They were a little boring. Nice, but mostly a little to staid.

Mr. Mouse: Yeah, I know you like weird.

T. Mouse: Indeed I do, and we were not completely disappointed. The Darjit garden, which featured a Dragon, a green wall, a climbable tree-house thing. Here's the dragon.

I thought the garden had a lot of fun ideas for kids, and this Darjit stuff seemed to do things that Hypertufa doesn't do.

Mr. Mouse: Still looks fairly conventional to me.

T. Mouse: You are right. The one garden that was truly over the top, both literally and metaphorically, was Savannah!, designed and implemented by John Greenlee & Associated and implemented with the help of Suncrest Nurseries, a sound designer, a sculptor, and a lighting artist.

It consisted of about thirty different grasses and several different bamboos and several palms quite a few of them about 20 feet tall. You walked along a path to be greeted by strange sounds while completely enveloped by the grasses. Then you came across ...

Snakes? Plants? No, these were wooden sculptures by Marcia Donahue. Totally amazing.

I loved the richness of the textures, the colors of this garden, and the creative use of plants from different part of the world.

And would you believe it, they were raffling of that garden. All the plants, and the design services to make it fit the winner's garden space.

Mr. Mouse: Oh no, you didn't!

T. Mouse: You are right. I just couldn't imagine this rather free interpretation of the savannah concept under out redwoods, so I did not enter the raffle. Probably would have been that one time where I would have won.

Instead, I used all that money I saved on raffle tickets to go shopping with Ms. Country Mouse.

Mr. Mouse: Mmmm. Do tell. You saved a lot of money?

T. Mouse: Yes! I saved a lot of money at Annie's Annuals, and then I spent some of the money I saved at Gold Rush Nursery. We had a little trouble getting it all back to the car, but we managed. And everything we bought easily fit into the car.

Mr. Mouse: Well, I'm happy you had a nice time. Now let's hope next weekend you'll find some time cleaning up the garden at home. Less than a month until Going Native Garden Tour!

Green Wall, Revisited

In early January, I reported on my green wall project in this post. I had asked for a green wall frame for Christmas and I then embarked on the project of planting it with succulents. Unfortunately, when I hung up the finished project, the plants at the top fell out. I had to allow some time for settling ad rooting. A few days ago, I finally hung up the finished project without mishap. Now I can view the piece from the kitchen window. I'll be curious to see how the plants will fare - the lack of drainage disturbs me, but so far, the plants look happy enough, some of them are even starting to bloom.

I'm looking forward to watching the experiment as it continues. A surprise in the garden every day....

Nifty Nodding Needlegrass in the Mist

I didn't really get a nice shot of the nice panicles of nodding needlegrass (Stipa cernua) in the last post (this is just a follow up post to that one).

Here are some nodding needlegrasses currently blooming and nodding in my garden.

Pretty! I hope sometime to have a nice plant that is standing on its own to show - these are growing amid other things and harder to see the pretty fountaining form of the grass. Always something to aim for!

Throwing Needles - well needle grasses - at the Garden.

A couple years ago I had the idea it would be fun to create a "river of grass" flowing down the chaparral slope to the road below, using a needlegrass. But nary a river nor even a trickle was to be. Maybe the topsoil layer there was too thin, or the slope too exposed and difficult to irrigate. This year I'm trying to grow needlegrasses in other locations, to learn where it is happy.

I have learned since trying the river of grass that two kinds of needlegrasses grow wild here: nodding needlegrass, Stipa cernua, and foothill needlegrass, Stipa lepida.

The needlegrasses were until recently known as part of the Nassella genus. The Latin name nassa means "wicker basket" or "net" But now Jepson has lumped them back into Stipa, whence they emerged some years back. Stipa is from the Greek for fibre.

I like the look of  nodding needlegrass a little better because it has longer awns - awns being the long "needles" on the seeds that give needlegrasses their name. So pretty how it catches the light.

 Foothill needlegrass awns are about an inch to an inch and a half and don't weigh the panicle down.

And maybe foothill needlegrass can take more shade and is more adaptable. I see it for sale more, and I think I've seen more of it on our property. There is some on all the east and south east slopes where there is a additional shade from nearby trees at some time of the day, but some hours of mid-morning through early afternoon sunlight.

Las Pilitas Nursery has a useful page on Stipa cernua (and a very similar one on S. lepida)  There I read this tip:

I think in many of their habitats they regenerate only when there are ideal conditions that may occur only every 60-130 years. The Stipas occur throughout California in many plant communities. They do not form large solid stands except in 20-50 ft. clumps near seeps, but in most areas they stand as locus individuals.

For the bunch grasses to be stable long-term plant the Stipas at 3 ft. intervals with at least some of the wildflowers from the native community between the Stipa. If you can plant a perennial for every 5-10 Stipas all should be happy. If you want to plant an oak woodland with Stipas, plant them in the open areas between the evergreen oaks, and under the deciduous oaks.

So maybe one reason my river of grasses failed was the lack of  interplanted perennials?

To avoid confusion as much as anything, I've focused this year on growing  just the noddling needlegrass. Overall, both these grasses behave and look quite similar to each other, with nodding needlegrass preferring more sun.

Both germinate very readily. This year I have about six flats of seedlings to dispose of! On the native plant network, I read some quite complex propagation protocols involving stratification and so on - but I haven't had to do anything other than stick em in liners and water and wait a few weeks.

Both  are cool season grasses, so I sow in early fall, for bloom time around March and April, and on into early summer. When it's hot they do tend to dry out till the rains return. I think I'll try giving some of my test plants summer water to see if they stay a little greener.

This month, with all the lovely rain we've been having, I've been basically throwing needlegrass at the garden to see where it will stick, like a horticultural Jackson Pollock. It's fun to experiment, and see for myself what conditions they thrive in.

I've put some at the top of the north garden slope, in a fairly shady area. I've put it outside the greenhouse in full sun, between some deergrass I've got growing there (and late daffodils I planted just today!),

and in the bed opposite, near a coffeeberry that gives it a little shade, and in the succulent bed, next to the house.

I also tucked a few among the rocks on hummingbird hill, a south east facing slope that gets some shade from a nearby oak in front, and from my dad's cottage above. Also I'm scooping out little holes in containers and tucking some in along with monkeyflower and other things.

Basically, wherever there is a place a grass might go. And I'm not done yet. It will be nice if it grows on slopes, because it has deep and fibrous roots, good for erosion control.

I'm also saving some to share with friends, and I'm donating a flat of them to the Santa Cruz CNPS plant sale, April 21. But I'll be planting more out next weekend to be sure.

Rabbits have munched quite a few of them down to about two inches. But the ones protected behind rabbit fences are doing fine.

The native purple chalice clarkia, Clarkia purpurea, is another local native I've started a lot of and am also popping them in the ground here there and everywhere. I'm hoping it will like to grow among the needlegrass - that would be pretty.
When I was looking for some ethnobotanical info, the only info I found was on the site of the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station, in Hawaii. I find it ironic that our native needlegrass has been introduced as an exotic in Hawaii:

Stipa cernua, an introduced grass native to California, can be found growing around the Visitor Information Station (VIS) on Mauna Kea. Stipa cernua is a very drought tolerant grass, used by some landscapers on the Mainland in xeriscape installations. It is said that Native Americans in California used to burn Stipa cernua in the mountains to facilitate its regrowth of tender young shoots which they then harvested and ate.

I'm sure somewhere on my property, nodding needlegrass will take hold and live for its reputed 100 year lifespan (so I read somewhere). And then I will know something, and I'll be very happy -- and I'll turn my attention to learning where foothill needlegrass likes to dwell.

Bouquets to Art, Part 2

In yesterday's blog about Bouquets to Art, the amazing event at the de Young I visited on Thursday, I showed bouquets to sculpture and paintings on the second floor. Today, I'll show a few bouquets from the first flow. Let's start with the walkway to the de Young elevator to the tower, which is described on the deYoung website like this:.

The magnificent Hamon Observation Tower provides unparalleled panoramic views of San Francisco, the Pacific Ocean, Marin headlands and the lovely landscape of Golden Gate Park. The Tower is the perfect space for a cocktail hour to kick off your reception, or for an intimate wedding and reception.

When there isn't a wedding reception, the public can ride the elevator up to the tower and enjoy the views. On Thursday, the views were somewhat foggy, but the beautiful bouquet that mirrors the view of the tree fern in the garden (above) was quite breathtaking.

If you have a chance to go, you'll find that the waiting area for the elevator includes intriguing wire sculptures -- and on Thursday, several bouquets mirrored the sculptures.

 
Only now, looking at the photo, do I wonder whether the red flowers mirror the fire alarm or whatever red contraption is visible on the wall in the back.

Because, this must be said, many of the bouquets were a little tongue in cheek. Here's a bouquet that's a riff on a photo.

And here's the photo.

So, you wonder what says "Fresh" better, the photo or the glorious orchids? I'll leave it to you to decide.

Other bouquets were true reflections, thoughtfully composed, holding the spirit of the photo and making it three dimensional.

I was particularly impressed by the bouquet to the Rothko painting below. It's one of those paintings where, forgive me for saying this, I wonder whether I couldn't do this myself. A few squares of color. Nice, but...

But I know I couldn't do the bouquet.  I mean, just look at it. Clever in its three-dimensionality, great use of color.

 

I mean, just look at it! And yet, so soon gone...

And that's the essence of what makes this event so special in my mind. It is glorious, exciting, and so soon gone. I so enjoyed watching the many women (OK, maybe there were 10% men there that day) walking around laughing, pointing, clearly excited by it all. It wasn't what you usually find in a museum, where voices are subdued, kids are told to hush, and the mood is somber.

And yet, look at these mesoamerican terracotta pieces. Lovely, colorful, around for many centuries.

Then look at the bouquet, one of my favorites. The chalky surface of the succulents mirrors the sculptures, the colors are a perfect mirror. The shapes resonate with each other. One will be here for centuries more, we would hope. The other will be dismantled tomorrow. But how sweet to have seen it!

Bouquets to Art

We're interrupting our regular program of exciting news about native plants in our gardens (and elsewhere) for a brief sojourn into the world of art. Yes, dear friends, I had the great pleasure yesterday of visiting the deYoung museum's annual Bouquets to Art event, and it was totally spectacular. Over 150 floral designers present a bouquet to a piece of art, matching the mood, the colors, the shape, or all of that. Above, one of the bouquets that did have a California native included (California buckeye branches, just leafing out).

And here the painting that inspired the bouquet. I loved the play on shape and colors!

Even more surprising was this painting.

Being a lover of strong color and decisive shapes, I would have walked right by this. But look at the bouquet that captures the wintery mood.

 

And just look at the close-up, the amazing attention to detail, the play on white a gray, with just a little green. 

Equally intriguing were some bouquets offered to pieces of sculpture. The puma bronze in the upstairs hallway is beautiful, but I'm not sure I would have stopped in my tracks to admire it.

This bouquet, however, certainly did. The floral artist talked in here description about the black cat seducing the puma. And yes, black (or close to black) flowers created a mysterious place for the cat to lie in wait, with a small bouquet of red roses as an offer to the puma.

I especially liked bouquets like this one, where the floral artist did not just follow the lead of the art, but added a totally new dimension. And can you believe that face (made from plant materials, of course)?

Black flowers were also central to this painting, which was close to the two beautiful cats.

 See how the shades of green and maroon echo the painting? How the corkscrew shapes in the bouquet are following the shapes on the canvas?

 

Some bouquets were amazingly simple, like this bouquet to a painting of Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son.  In the painting, a scene of desolation with two large gray stones on which the sacrifice is to be performed (the painting is much longer than high), the photo mainly misses the upper frame. The bouquet uses dried tree mushrooms in desert-like shades of ochre, with two offset spindly succulents, the color of the stones in the painting but off center instead.

 The final bouquet from the upstairs gallery  was another clever riff on a sculpture. The sculture, with its sexy neckline and jaunty hips was so enjoyable.

But even better the bouquet, using primarily calla lillies and some hydrangeas in those little bulgy places.

Tomorrow, I'll do a second post with a few bouquets  from the downstairs galleries. I'm sorry the photos aren't more artistic. My friend and I first spent more than two hours just enjoying and admiring the bouquets, camera in pocket. Then, after a cup of tea, we spent maybe 20 minutes trying for a few unobtrusive photos. I do believe that seeing the art, getting close, using your eyes, not the camera, is essential. Then, maybe, a few photos to share. Enjoy!