It’s been many a month since I’ve sent a newsletter. Life got busier in so many ways and I came to the bay area to help family, so this unfortunate view has been part of my reality for almost two months.
An incredible garden to walk by in North Berkeley on Tulare St.
I had fully intended to send a December newsletter to acknowledge you for supporting the many artists at our Winter Arts and Crafts Market. A very belated thanks for your support of our small local business, and the many artists that participate. It was a delightful time and we all felt renewed being able to see friends, share our wares and connect in these disjointed times.
We will be starting classes again beginning on April 2 with Birds, Ducks & Forest Restoration taught by Dr Sievert Rohwer and Dr Frank Rohwer. They first taught this popular class in 2019.
The price remains the same but this year you will bring your own lunch and we will provide wonderful desserts ( including gluten free options ) as well as hot beverages. The class was so loved by those that came 3 years ago we thought a repeat would be good, plus we will be outside The combined knowledge of these two scientist, so respected in their fields, offers a unique time to learn from some of the best in both ornothology and waterfowl biology.
When Sievert joined the UW as a professor and Curator of Birds at the Burke Museum in 1971 the bird collection was tiny and scarcely useful for anything more than a teaching tool for regional birds.
Our other class that is listed now is a two day Indigo Gathering Weekend with Elin Noble on July 9 & 10. Sold out last summer, Elin is back by request with a 2 day class. 15% of this class fees will be donated to Whidbey Island Nourishes as a way to support our local community.
One of the great benefits of being in the Bay area is getting to take walks and see so many incredible plants which we just can’t grow in the same way.
The aloes, agaves, yuccas, aeoniums and echeverias are in bliss here.
Aeoniums flourish in so many colors and getting to see how they reproduce is delightful. Once they flower that individual plant dies but not before leaving behind many tiny little starts as seen in the shoot to the right.
Featherhead, Phylica pubescens, is an evergreen shrub from South Africa hardy to 25 degrees. It’s ever so tempting to try out in the PNW, however with that severe short cold snap in late December it would have been toast.
Another thing about all the drought tolerant plants is they really thrive on the many sunny days the bay area gets. Although we are having more dry conditions in the summer we still have so much more rain, which just isn’t optimum.
A rather hidden treasure in Kensington (just north of Berkeley) is Blake Gardens, now owned by UCB. Developed by a plant avid couple in 1922 on 10.2 acres, they created the gardens before building the house. Priorities for sure. Having no children and running out of money they decided the best way to preserve their work was to donate it to UCB. There are currently three full time gardeners employed, one of which told me this history of how it came to be owned by UCB.
Its a treasure of incredible old plants, including many from the Canary Islands. It’s clearly a very personal garden which makes it a bit more charming to visit then a tight botanical garden.
This stunning, rangy, tall growing rosebud salvia is being propagated by one of the gardeners at Blake Gardens, where she plans to make a flower tunnel for people to walk under.
This is the beginning of the flower tunnel.
This Paperbark tree – Melaleuca linariifolia – was an especially fabulous sight with it’s thick layers of soft bark which peel off in long strips taking my imagination to the many crafts that it could be incorporated into – ramilletes among other things.
An errand for the familly took me on a jaunt to Mill Valley and up Mt Tamalpias overlooking Muir Woods. It’s amazing that this very populated area has stretches of woods and rolling hills that are a haven for getting away.
A wildflower I’ve not yet identified growing tight to the ground in the sun drenched hills.
It was a treat to see in bloom this native plant I’d only read about. Western Houndstongue, Cynoglossum grande, grows in the shade of the tall trees and shrubs in an open understory. It’s very tall stems and larger forget-me-not like flowers are just stunning, with the leaves being a very dark green and large like a dogs tonque.
I’m looking forward to being back in the cool, gray, rainy NW soon and planning more classes for spring and summer.
We will also be hosting a Summer Arts & Crafts Market on July 30 & 31 so hold those dates for the ever growing and super fun market with so many different artists and craftspeople.
Greetings from the sunny Bay Area!
Mary Fisher
Cultus Bay Gardens
7568 Cultus Bay Rd
Whidbey Island
Clinton WA