Outside the Zone

See what our editors have to say about topics not directly related to climate zone 4

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

Mon, 05/30/2011 - 10:28

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is located a short drive south of Austin, Texas.

We’re not in the zone anymore, but outside Austin, Texas, visiting the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Founded in 1982 by the former First Lady and actress Helen Hayes, The Wildflower Center is now an Organized Research Unit of the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Walking toward the entrance, underneath the aqueduct that is part of the 17,000 square foot water collection system, you might feel like Dorothy dropping into another land. To one side of the walkway is a stand of live oaks and to the other is a vast meadow full of flowers—not poppies—but wildflowers native to this Texas Hill Country: plains fleabane (Erigeron modestus), catclaw acacia (Acacia greggii), and Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana), among many others.

 

Passing through the limestone gateway into the courtyard the first thing you see is the Courtyard Spring with clear blue water rising up from the aquifer below. Deeper into The Wildflower Center are 23 demonstration gardens representing the natural landscape of South and West Texas. And there’s much more: trails, inspiration gardens, classrooms, gift shop, ponds, and research facilities. Indeed, it is a leading research institution for the advocacy of native plants.

 

Every First Lady traditionally adopts a favorite cause to advance while her husband is in office: Lady Bird Johnson chose to beautify our roadways by preventing litter (hence the slogan, “Don’t Mess With Texas”), and planting wildflowers. What a lovely, enduring legacy!

         To learn more, visit www.wildflower.org.

danspurr

The Huntington

Mon, 04/05/2010 - 13:00

Bird of ParadiseDuring a recent trip to Los Angeles a friend introduced me to The Huntington library, art collections, and botanical gardens. Built by railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington starting in 1902, the 207-acre estate is now a private non-profit organization, open to the public.

A square bed of blooms in the center of an enclosed bonsai collection.If you can tear yourself away from the rare book collection, which includes the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a Gutenberg Bible on vellum, the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon's Bird's of America, and early editions of Shakespeare's work; and then Gainsborough's Blue Boy and Edward Hopper's The Long Leg in the Art Gallery, you'll eventually want to see the Botanical Gardens that cover an astonishing 107 acres.

During my visit in mid-March there were not a lot of blooms, yet there was still much to admire, especially the Japanese Garden with drum bridge and furnished house, and the Chinese Garden of Flowing Fragrance, with lake, tea house, and pavilions, which incorporate few flowers anyway. They seem almost austere compared to Western traditions, yet there is much to draw the eye, like the bonsai trees, rocks, and other carefully placed features.

The Desert GardenOther gardens include the Subtropical, Herb, Jungle, and Palm gardens, where you'll find few plants able to grow in the Rocky Mountain region.

On this day, my favorite was the spectacular Desert Garden with dozens and dozens of mature cacti and other succulents.

The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, California 9108. Telephone 626-405-2100. On the Web at www.huntington.org.

danspurr

Miami Beach Botanical Gardens

Sun, 10/25/2009 - 13:00

Miami Beach Botanical GardensYou’d be hard pressed to find two more different places in the United States than Miami Beach and, say, Riverton, Wyoming, or Salida, Colorado. Well, or just about any place in the Rocky Mountains. You won't find Carharts or North Face on this Florida beach. Too hot. Temps in the low 90s the first week of October, and humid. Beachgoers move slow in light cotton clothes. Bikinis and thong suits standard.

Miami Beach Botanical GardensOne day while attending a trade show at the Miami Beach Convention Center, I spied a sign across the street, over a narrow entryway in the Vine Collection border that said: Miami Beach Botanical Garden. Naturally curious, I grabbed my camera and took a break from the show.

Within its 4.5 acres are a number of discrete areas: The Palm Grove, Bromeliad Garden, Heliconia Garden, South Florida Native Garden, a Japanese Garden with pond, Butterfly Garden, and the Great Lawn, now host to a 10' x 15' sculpture made from 18 pieces of Guadua bamboo, fanned skyward. But my favorite was the mighty Banyan Tree. There are a variety of pretty palms, too, but they are common throughout South Florida.

Well-concealed buildings include an auditorium for programs, offices and meeting rooms, an orchid nursery, and a small shop that sells plants.

Miami Beach Botanical Gardens In bloom this day were more than a half-dozen flowers, including Firebush (Hamelia patens), Silver vase (Aechmea fasciata), Dwarf pomegranate (Punica granatum), and Red ginger (Alpinia purpurea).Well-concealed buildings include an auditorium for programs, offices and meeting rooms, an orchid nursery, and a small shop that sells plants.

Admission is free. Learn more at www.mbgarden.org

danspurr

Butchart Gardens

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 14:00

Last summer Andra and I took our annual boat cruise through the San Juan Islands of Puget Sound, Washington. This year our primary destination was Victoria, British Columbia, at the south end of Vancouver Island. Our purpose: to see the famous Butchart Gardens a 13-mile bus ride from downtown.

Butchart GardensThe 55-acre grounds were originally a limestone quarry for a Portland cement plant, owned by Robert and Jennie Butchart. Beginning right after the turn of the 20th century, Jennie and laborers from the cement plant transformed the hole in the ground into what is now called the Sunken Garden. Over the years they added the Rose Garden, Japanese Garden, Star Pond, Italian Garden, Mediterranean Garden, and other attractions. Now it’s a full-fledged tourist attraction, with restaurant and, of course, a gift shop.

The hundreds of flowers and plant species are not identified by markers in the ground, as is often seen. Apparently the thought is these would detract from the visual impact of the gardens. Instead, you’re given a small booklet with the most popular and common species pictured, so as you walk through the various gardens you find yourself flipping its pages to identify what you’re looking at.

Coming from zone 4 in the Rocky Mountains, the profusion of color—red, pink, and yellow—was at first breathtaking, but after an hour, it was almost too much. The rain forest and the desert are different aesthetics, and while it’s fun to travel and experience other climates, you just might come away appreciating my home plantings all the more.
Designated as a National Historic Site of Canada, you can learn more at www.butchartgardens.com.

danspurr

Pelindaba Lavender

Mon, 09/07/2009 - 13:00

Fields of lavenderIf you’ve visited San Juan Island in recent years, you may well have stumbled across an unusual store downtown, called Pelindaba Lavender. You won’t have easily forgotten it, because everything in the store is made from lavender, distilled from plants grown on a 20-acre farm north of Friday Harbor.

Started 10 years ago by South African-born Stephen Robins, more than 25,000 plants grow in neat rows on gentle valley slopes, with a pretty lake at the bottom. The harvest is protracted from July to September; some is bundled and hung in the Drying Barn, the rest is distilled for essential oils and turned into a wide variety of products that include skin care, bath, candles, lemonade, dog biscuits, and a whole lot more. What wasn’t made from real lavender is still about lavender: photographs, paintings, and jewelry. On the farm and inside the stores (there’s one at the farm, too, and another in downtown Seattle), everything is the color of lavender.

The name? Pelindaba is the Zulu word for “Place of Great Gatherings.” www.pelindabalavender.com.

danspurr