Posts

Seaside Gardens in Santa Barbara: Succulent Garden

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In my previous post , I showed you what was in bloom in the South African Garden when I visited Seaside Gardens Nursery on my recent Santa Barbara trip . This post focuses on the Succulent Garden, another of the 12 vignettes in the nursery’s fantastic demonstration garden. The Succulent Garden was originally designed by Mary Pat Moloney and Donna and Bill Baker. Bill Baker, who died far too young in 2009, was a renowned plantsman widely credited with popularizing Aloidendron ‘Hercules’ ( see story here ). Much of the plant material in this area comes from the Bakers’ garden, including several ‘Hercules’ which have now reached stately proportions. Winter is a great time to visit because the aloes are in full bloom – as you can see below, they put on quite a show. When I arrived at Seaside Gardens, the fog hadn’t burned off quite yet, softening the contrast and intensifying the colors. Aloidendron barberae (left), Aloe ferox (center) The Succulent Garden is anchored by two types of t

Seaside Gardens in Santa Barbara: South African Garden

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Seaside Gardens is a retail nursery in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. I’d first visited in 2015 , and I took the opportunity to go back when I was in Santa Barbara this January . What makes Seaside Gardens so special is its 3-acre demonstration garden. It’s subdivided into 12 vignettes created by local landscape designers. Each one showcases a different type of garden ranging from Asian, Australian and South African to Californian, Mediterranean, Grassland and Cottage. Because of the time of year, most of them weren’t at their best, but there were two notable exceptions: the South African Garden and the Succulent Garden. They were arguably at their peak. This post is about the South African Garden; I’ll have a second post about the Succulent Garden (think aloes in full flower). To get to the South African Garden, I walked through the Asian Garden designed by Pat Brodie: At this of year, the Asian Garden is a quiet study of greens – quite different from what you’re about to

Victoria in late winter: who needs the sun?

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We just got back from a week in Victoria , British Columbia to visit our daughter. Daytime highs were in the 40s, nighttime lows in the mid-30s. And except for our last day, we never really saw the sun, just caught brief glimpses. But when you’re surrounded by so much natural beauty, who needs the sun? In fact, brooding skies with towering clouds amp up the drama. We spent a couple of days on Pender Island , and on the ferry ride there and back, the spectacle was positively operatic. Victoria is only 75 miles from Seattle, and the flight is so short that there’s no beverage service on the plane. You’re in the air for just 30 minutes, but the views are spectacular. You can see the San Juan Islands , the Olympic Mountains in Washington, and of course Vancouver Island : View of the eastern shore of Vancouver Island as we’re descending into Victoria International Airport Victoria is spectacular place to live, and real estate is pricy, with houses right on the water costing many millions: