March 14

Just back from the San Francisco Flower Show where I spoke on low water gardening (very important here in the arid west) and on wonderful garden plants from Mexico and the Southwest deserts. The flower show had about 20 interesting and innovative display gardens.

Two other highlights of my trip: A visit to Western Hills Nursery in Occidental, California (www.westerhillsnursery.com, a nursery/botanic garden was planted in the 1950s and 60s. The current owners toured a gaggle of garden writers (five of us) through the 3-acre garden, a landscape where the Pacific Northwest meets California Mediterranean. There were dogwoods and forsythia in bloom along with enormous old Australian Grevillea and Echium, also known as “pride of Madeira” (both very low water Mediterranean climate plants). I of course brought home some gems from the nursery.

The other highlight was an early morning garden tour of Alcatraz Island. “The Rock” sits in the San Francisco Bay. It’s as difficult to garden there as it was to escape—there’s a constant, cold wind, no fresh water, and thin soil.  Still, it has a long and colorful history.  Prisoners and employees created gardens on the island’s sloping hillsides and terraces. The entire island is just 12 acres, and the gardens were (and are) extensive.
The prison and its gardens were abandoned in 1963. Today, it is part of the National Park Service and the Garden Conservancy (www.gardenconservancy.org) has stepped in to reclaim the gardens. Head gardener Shelagh Fritz and a crew of volunteers are recreating the look and feel of Alcatraz gardens in the mid 1900s. I was amazed to see what has survived with no care and no irrigation. The island is covered in feral bear’s breech (Acanthus mollis), calla, geraniums, fuchsias, Chasmanthe, aeoniums, a giant New Zealand Christmas Tree (Metrosideros) and more.