Age in a garden is a wonderful thing – worthy of celebrating. Age in a gardening publication in my mind is to be celebrated equally because it is through gardening publications that the ephemera of gardens and gardeners live on in perpetuity. Pacific Horticulture, one of the preeminent publications for gardeners in the West Coast states, turns 35 this year. And as with good gardens and gardeners generally, this gardening publication just gets better with age. Photo: Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ on the cover of the first 2010 issue of Pacific Horticulture, which sports the magazine’s bold new type face.
(more…)

Wow – How about that rain and snow? And more is on the way. Which is wonderful for our plants, soils and watersheds, but when it comes in long stretches of gray days, it can play havoc with my mood (and the power in much of our region). Even a few minutes of fresh air and weak sunshine does me a world of good. You don’t want to walk on planted ground when it is very wet if you can help it, because you will compact the soil to the point of harming its structure. But you can get out and walk on unplanted ground – such as paths. I got so stir crazy in the latest long gray stretch that in the pouring rain I rebuilt my whole compost system and weeded all my pathways. Weeds come out of wet soil so nicely – slick as snot as my father likes to say. Photo: Gray skies hand low and tulle fog fills in the valleys looking southwest from Mt. Shasta in January. (more…)

Camellias - also known as the Queen of Winter Flowers because almost all varieties of the genus bloom from late fall through late spring - are for many gardeners synonymous with history, beauty and refinement. These flowering evergreen shrubs or small trees, idealized in Chinese and Japanese art and literature for centuries, are indigenous in much of Asia. Camellias have been treasured in Europe since first being introduced there in the mid- 1700s, and specimens were first brought to the United States in the very late 1800s. Thriving in the American Southeast and along the American West Coast, the camellia genus is comprised of many species - including Camellia sinensis, from which black and green tea is made from the young leaves - and thousands of named varieties, cultivars and hybrids. Interest in camellias reached fervent levels early in the 20th century when Western plant hunters scoured the globe for new plants to record, collect, propagate and eventually hybridize. It was at this time that individuals and botanical organizations began collections of the prized plants. Photo: As winter bloomers, camellias provide valuable nectar and food for pollinators during the colder months. (more…)

On October 3rd, the Red Bluff Garden Club Annual Floral Design Luncheon will be held at the Rolling Hills Casino from 8:30 am to 2:00 pm. This year entitled: “Garden Splendor - a Luncheon and More,” the design program will be led by nationally acclaimed floral designer Lorna Bonham, who will provide simple but unique floral designs that anyone can create. If you have never attemped a floral arrangment in your life or you’re an experienced designer, you will go home with new ideas. Come early to look over the raffle, amazing silent and live auction items as well as check out all the vendors: The Plant Barn and Gift Shop, Gourds Galore, Jenny’s Jewelry, Birdhouse and Crafts, The Gifted Garden, Graceful Charm Jewelry, A Stitch in Time, Natural Soy Candles, At Two Foxes and Photos by Megan! Tickets are available from Red Bluff Garden Club members and in Red Bluff from California Kitchen and Red Bluff Garden Center; in Corning from Interland Business; in Los Molinos from Latimers Pharmacy; in Chico from the Plant Barn, Little Red Hen Nursery, and Little Red Hen Gift Shop; in Redding, from Wild Thymes Nursery. For more Info: 530-529-2306 or 530-824-5661 or www.redbluffgardenclub.com. Photo: Flowers on the front page of the Red Bluff Garden Club’s very good website: www.redbluffgardenclub.com - check it out - you’ll love the music and butterflies entering to join in the fun.

Below is an profile about the Red Bluff Garden Club and their history and on-going work in our region, and which was published early this year.

Until I moved to the North State, I had never belonged to a garden club. My mother was never in a garden club, nor was my father, for that matter. I am not sure why, but in my own mind garden clubs were – well – ‘clubby’, sort of stuffy and a bit exclusive and not my cup of tea. But I had aunties – and not stuffy ones – who were very involved in their local garden clubs. My aunt in Virginia was one of these. When my cousins, her daughters, were married (at different times), the garden club ladies who had been long-time friends with my aunt came out in force - dressed in dirty jeans and muddy shoes, with their clippers and their beat-up cars full of garden stuff. They picked masses of flowers from their own gardens and spent the better part of the day before each of the weddings arranging. Finally, they arrived at each of the weddings cleaned up and flower-proud. This was not stuffy or clubby – this was a sisterhood of good gardeners doing good things. Photo: The new Cone & Kimball Plaza Clock Tower on the same corner in downtown Red Bluff where the historic clock tower stood.

Lorna Bonham, a retired educator, and Cathy Wilson, a retired nurse, are just such garden club ladies. Both are members of the Red Bluff Garden Club, a very active garden club dating back to the 1950s. Lorna’s mother was a charter member and her father was a well-known regional horticulturist. Cathy on the other hand has lived and gardened throughout the west and was a Master Gardener in the Yuba City area before moving to Red Bluff fairly recently. She has been a member of the Red Bluff Garden Club for a little over a year. But lifelong member or new member notwithstanding, Lorna and Cathy are both excellent examples of what garden club members for the most part actually are: good gardeners doing good things. Photo: Cathy Wilson (left) and Lorna Bonham (right), are members of the Red Bluff Garden Club and instrumental in the club’s part in the Cone & Kimball Plaza restoration project.

My copyright 1936 Taylor’s Encyclopedia of Gardening has this to say about garden clubs: “Second only to the experiment stations, the garden clubs are the greatest single agency of the advancement of gardening in America. Their lectures, test gardens and influence for better standards of the art of horticulture are of incalculable value.” According to the National Garden Clubs (once known as the Federated Garden Clubs), Inc website: “The first garden club in America was founded in January 1891 by The Ladies Garden Club of Athens (Georgia).” Originally garden clubs were often Ladies clubs or Men’s clubs, but in this day and age, they are men and women, young and old. Here and now, the North State is a region of active and dedicated garden clubs, the Red Bluff Garden Club being just one. See below for contact information on other garden clubs in our region.

One of the many good things that the Red Bluff Garden Club has taken on in the past few years is being a part of the community-based committee overseeing the restoration of the historic Cone & Kimball Plaza in downtown Red Bluff. As part of this committee, the garden club is working on the planting and garden aspect of the restoration and Lorna and Cathy have been instrumental on this front. I met with them one crisp morning last November to tour and to talk about the project. Photo: The raised planters have a vibrant combination of burnt-red Nandina ‘Firepower’ and Gaillardia ‘Little Goblin’ among other plants.

Here’s some background: The Cone & Kimball Building, with its 100-foot ornate Victorian clock tower, was originally built in 1886 and became “one of the most photographed buildings of the region.” It was often referred to as the “heart of Red Bluff” and was a regional icon. People driving across the North State often gauged where they were in their progress by how far they had to go to or how far they had come from the Red Bluff clock tower – which was visible for miles in all directions. On April 30, 1984 – at 98 years old - the building and its tower burned down. The resulting empty lot was fenced and lay barren for nearly 14 years. In 1997, the Red Bluff Rotary purchased the derelict lot and from there, formed a committee of community members and organizations, eventually including the Historical Red Bluff Association, city personnel, concerned individuals and the Red Bluff Garden Club. Together these groups hoped to “return the spot to a source of pride for the residents of Tehama County.” Photo: Vintage photo of the historic Cone & Kimball building in downtown Red Bluff. The building was often called the “heart of Red Bluff.”

According to grant applications written in 2001, “the plans for the Cone & Kimball Plaza included a replica of the tower on the corner where it originally stood, a small outdoor covered stage area, and a water feature along with benches and trees and shrubs to provide lots of shade and a restful downtown park…that will eventually become a part of the city park system.” The Red Bluff Garden Club took on the assignment of securing the funds and materials for the plantings as designed by the consulting landscape architect, Patrick Sullivan. The idea behind the design being to “select trees and shrubs and particular cultivars that suited to the area and will add color and/or a green background throughout the year.” Photo: Plans for the restoration of the Cone & Kimball site.

Ultimately, George Winter of Wyntour Gardens Nursery in Redding and the Red Bluff Garden Center in Red Bluff, agreed to provide many of the plants for the first stages of the plantings in 2001, including the seven prominent ornamental pears that form the backbone of the new plaza’s canopy. In the years since then, and under the direction of the Cone & Kimball committee, the new clock tower, the covered gazebo, the benches and walkways have all been completed.

In terms of the plantings, the sod is laid, the pear trees are maturing nicely, the planter boxes are filled with colorful and easy care perennials that can stand up to Central Valley heat. The raised planters have a vibrant combination of burnt-red Nandina ‘Firepower’ and the wide-leafed and wooly-textured silver sage, Salvia argentea. “Embracing” and “framing” the covered gazebo in fairly shady, far-back corner of the plaza are beds planted with the plump and welcoming shapes of Alberta Spruce (Picea) as well as the bright-yellow, strappy leaves of Acorus gramineus, and Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Goshiki’, with its holly-like texture and its multi-colored, variegated leaves. Daffodil bulbs and Gaillardia ‘Little Goblin’ are planted throughout many of the beds to round out the early spring and late fall flowers. Photo: Burnt-red Nandina ‘Firepower’ and the wide-leafed and wooly-textured silver sage, Salvia argentea.

A mural on a wall adjacent to the plaza depicts a Victorian era park and avenue, complete with a Victorian couple strolling the boulevard. Working with that, the garden club planted an “avenue” of ‘Little Ollie’ Dwarf Standard Olive trees, under planted with purple-leafed Loropetalum chinense, or ‘Fringe Flower’. “We wanted to complement the mural, and with it to refer back to the Victorian history of the area as well as the importance of the Olive farms to the region,” Cathy explained to me. Paying homage to the history, pride and value of the heart of Red Bluff is clearly central to what this garden club project is about. Club members, currently overseen by President, Sharon Kessey, provide a good portion of the maintenance to the plantings throughout the year. Photo: The garden club planted an “avenue” of ‘Little Ollie’ Dwarf Standard Olive trees, under planted with purple-leafed Loropetalum chinense, or ‘Fringe Flower’.

The final phase of the total restoration project, and fund-raising for it, are well under-way. The restoration committee has still to choose, purchase and install a water-feature of some kind against the last remaining empty wall of the plaza. The Red Bluff Garden Club hopes, with the approval of the committee, to back the feature with a hedge of Camellia bushes, varieties of which they are researching as I write. The final touches are being placed on the walk-ways, including the laying of commemorative bricks edging main walkways to recognize the many people who have supported the overall project these many years. Donations are of course still being taken to finish the project – which the entire Cone & Kimball restoration committee hopes will be this year.

And you can still buy a brick with your name on it. How simple a gesture is that to help mend a broken heart? More information about the Red Bluff Garden Club and their monthly programs and community outreach projects, including their part in the Cone & Kimball Plaza restoration, can be found at: www.redbluffgardenclub.com

National and State Garden Club Organizations:

www.gcamerica.org
www.gardenclub.org/home.aspx
www.californiagardenclubs.com

For Regional Garden Clubs:

Anderson Valley Garden Club - President: Sue Anderson, Redding
email: anne-c@sbcglobal.net
YAC: Anne Capes, Anderson, CA

Cottonwood Garden Club- President: LaSaine Ware, Cottonwood, CA
YAC: Alice Spinks, Cottonwood, CA



Lake California Garden Club- President: Genevieve Leigh, Cottonwood, CA
email: gleigh@charter.net

Lewiston Garden Club - 
President: Barbara Bailey, Weaverville, CA
email: bbpatch@jett.net
YAC: Jenni Brookins, Weaverville, CA

Redding Wonderland Garden Club - President: Pat Malotte, Redding, CA
email: malottepat@wmconnect.com

Lake Shasta Garden Project - President: Lynni Miller, Shasta Lake, CA
email: lynni@thegrid.net



Trinity Garden Club- 
President: Rusty Lester, Weaverville, CA
email: wruetta@aol.com

Chico Horticulture Society -
Co-Presidents: Anna LaRossa, ajnrj@sbcglobal.net; Chico, CA
Emilie White, mleblanca@aol.com Chico, CA

Friendly Garden Club, Orland - President: Jo Wigdahl, Orland, CA
email: gerrywigdahl@thegrid.net



Garden Club of Colusa County- President: Cynthia D. White, Colusa, CA
email: jimncyn@frontiernet.net

Lake Oroville Area Garden Club - President: Joyce Rivera, Oroville, CA
email: joycie2u@sbcglobal.net

Magalia Beautification Association - President: Linda Weeks, Magala, CA
email: 2redhds@sbcglobal.net

Paradise Garden Club, Inc. - President: Donna Beronda, Paradise, CA
email: beronda@sbcglobal.net
web site: http://www.geocities.com/scpd730/PGCI.html

Sutter Buttes Garden Club - President: Kay Cockrell, Yuba City, CA Bev Foss 530-673-4565

In a North State Garden is an outreach program of the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State, based in Chico, CA. In a North State Garden is radio and web-based and celebrates the art, craft and science of home gardening in California’s North State region. It is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In A North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio KCHO/KFPR radio, Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is positively North State.

Have you noticed how the concept of beauty evolves as you grow older or as you garden longer? Just ten years ago, if you had told me that I would consider a bouquet of carnivorous plants as lovely a sight as I had ever seen, I would have replied (politely, I hope) that I was really more of a pansy, peony or poppy girl. So no-one was more surprised than I was when I recently encountered a bouquet of carnivorous plant spent flower heads and traps and I thought to myself that they were some of the most strikingly lovely plants I’d ever seen. It’s not that I have forsaken peonies, not at all. Rather, I can happily attest that one of the benefits of growing older as a gardener (and as a person) is that your concept of beauty deepens and widens to include all manner of beauty. Photo: A sample of David and Cathy Walther’s carnivorous plant collection, including the double-flowered, speckled white trapped Sarracenia leucophylla ‘Tarnok’.

David Walther, co-owner with his wife Cathy of Spring Fever Nursery in Yankee Hill, has been intrigued by carnivorous plants and been growing them in his home garden for close to 10 years. His collection currently includes many plants comprising multiple varieties of half a dozen or so species. I first saw David’s collection in mid-spring, when a handful were beginning to bloom. I visited them again in late-summer and their dramatic colors, structures and over-all interest were still going strong. While many carnivorous plants have very attractive and showy flowers, it is the traps and the spent seed heads that persist and that, in my opinion, hold multi-season interest for the gardener. Photo: Sarracenia flava, the tall plant with dangling yellow flower petals, in bloom and Sarracenia leucophylla x. willisii ‘Dana’s Delight’ in bud.
(more…)

Sometimes I stand at that magic circle near the center of my garden and admire the complex perennial borders overflowing with colorful, the glistening fruit and vegetables resplendent on their vines, and cooling sight of a lush well-managed lawn: I think to myself with pride - now this is a fine garden.

Of course - this grandiose moment of smug self-satisfaction lasts just a little longer than 30 seconds. It does not, I repeat: does not, take place anytime from 11 am to 5 pm any day in July or August. If it happens at all - which is a stretch of the imagination - it occurs fleetingly in the forgiving light of early May or possibly during an afternoon in mid-November. It certainly was not my sensation on returning to my garden after two weeks away in mid-July. Rather there I stood - feeling fairly defeated, surveying the damage wondering does a gardener live here??? I tried to remember the advice of a friend’s father: In the hot months you just have to hold on for dear life - the heat will subside and reasonable hope for easier gardening will return. Until then, water and wait. Photo: Vitex agnus-castus, or chaste tree, loves the heat.

Some bright spots exist: Black-eyed susans and crepe myrtles love this time of year, my cucumbers, tomatoes and basil all taste good, even if the plants themselves are not going to win any beauty contests, and the mid- to late-summer blooming bulbs – lilies and tuberoses – are coming on.

Few dedicated gardeners looking at their gardens in the harsh light of mid-day in August, feel confident they are doing everything right. The searing heat bleaches all color and vigor from us and our many of our plants. In this yearly crisis of confidence I think to myself: I should know so much more. Photo: Fragrant herbs such as these scented geraniums, like regular water but love the heat.

Maybe if I became a real Master Gardener I would know more? The good news is that despite a fear that the Shasta College Master Gardener Program was in danger of being cut due to the budget crisis, the program will run as usual this fall. Furthermore, the Butte County Master Gardener program is now accepting applications for their next training session. Call 530-538-7201 for an application package. Applications are due by mid-September, candidates will be chosen by mid-October and classes will begin Thursdays in January of 2010. Photo: Tuberose buds about to open into very fragrant blooms.

If you can’t commit to an entire Master Gardener Training program - we are a region blessed by botanic gardens, garden clubs, plant societies and good nurseries who do all they can to help us the home gardener continue to learn more about gardening. While many of these groups take a hiatus from regular meetings in mid-summer, they are all gearing back up and have great fall programs planned.

On August 15th the UC Davis Arboretum has a guided tour of California Native Plants for the garden, on August 22 The McConnell Arboretum and Gardens at Turtle Bay has a talk on drought resistant plantings with Horticulture Manager Lisa Endicott; The Red Bluff Garden Club resumes regular meetings on August 25th as does the Butte Rose Society. PLEASE NOTE: due to ongoing budget cuts, take careful note of where your gardening or plant groups are meeting in the coming months. I know for instance that both the Chico Horticulture Society and the Butte Rose Society have made changes to their meeting locations or times. Photo: Most succulents love the heat.

More details and many more gardening related events around the region can be found at the Monthly Calendar of Regional Gardening Events. If you have an event you’d like to see posted: send me an email Jennifer @jewellgarden.com.

In a North State Garden is a radio- and web-based outreach program of the Gateway Science Museum - Exploring the Natural History of the North State, based in Chico, CA. In a North State Garden celebrates the art, craft and science of home gardening in California’s North State region, and is conceived, written, photographed and hosted by Jennifer Jewell - all rights reserved jewellgarden.com. In A North State Garden airs on Northstate Public Radio KCHO/KFPR radio, Saturday mornings at 7:34 AM Pacific time and Sunday morning at 8:34 AM Pacific time. Podcasts of past shows are available here. Weekly essays are also posted on anewscafe.com a regional news source that is positively North State.

Like gardening itself, the field of Botanical Illustration dates back to ancient times and is a combination of both art and science. Surviving examples of ancient botanical drawings include detailed sketches of plants dating to 1500 BCE found on Egyptian temple walls. Until the advent of the camera, microscope and other instruments used for copying and storing information, botanical drawings served all manner of purpose for the fields of Botany, Medicine, Pathology and Geography among others. Early botanical drawings served as teaching tools for students of these fields and drawings were often compiled into “herbals” or collections cataloguing the medicinal uses of plants. Today, Botanical Illustration continues as marriage between art and science and is becoming increasingly interesting to gardeners. Classes in Botanical Illustration specifically for gardeners are offered at display and botanic gardens, nurseries, and herbaria around the region. Photo: Susan Bazell in her studio.

Susan Bazell is a Botanical Illustrator who lives and works in Paradise. While she says she is not a “professional botanical artist,” Susan’s work can be seen in several books, including the newly released Cacti, Agaves and Yuccas of California and Nevada (Stephen Ingram, Cachuma Press, 2008), Conifers of California (Ronald M. Lanner, Cachuma Press, 2002), and The Life of an Oak (Glenn Keator, Heyday Books, 1998), among others. Photo: Books in which the work of Susan Bazell appears.
(more…)

Several weeks ago, when I wrote “Let the show begin!,” I certainly did not intend to invite the aphids. Nevertheless, the show has begun and the aphids are here to enjoy it along with us. So are the weeds. I am not much of a believer in death-by-chemical, and so I am once again enjoying my spring morning ritual of pulling a few weeds and squashing as many aphids as I can. The aphids are mostly clustered along the stems and young flower buds of my clematis vines and rose bushes, so I am able to squash quite a group with one gesture. Soon enough the beneficial bugs (Aphid wasps, assassin bugs, lacewings, ladybugs,praying mantis, etc.) and who feed on the aphids will be along to help me in my work and until then the morning squashing is oddly satisfying. If I lose my zeal for squashing, I can always pull out the hose and give the plants a strong spraying,w which helps to dislodge a large portion of the aphids as well. Photo: Aphids very happily covering a clematis stem and bud.

To escape our spring gardening reality of aphids and weeds, (and other gardeners’ reality of late-winter snow and frost), we have spring Flower & Garden Show season followed closely by Early Summer Garden Tour season. Unlike aphids, garden shows and garden tours at their best are all about fantasy and possibility. They are - dare I say it - sexy and seductive with the garden temptations and promise they hold out to us.

In the past two weeks I have attended two good garden shows: The world-class San Francisco Flower & Garden show this year was in its new location at the San Mateo Events Center. I was duly impressed with the display gardens and duly overwhelmed with the plant and garden vendor booths (every garden thing you can think of from books to orchids to garlic presses) and next year I hope to go for two days so that I can take advantage of some of the speakers and seminars offered. The Soroptimists Home, Garden & Antique show in Chico last weekend had some nice floral competition displays and several very good plant vendors sales and demonstrations - regional plant groups including the Iris Society, the California Native Plant Society, the Orchid Society the Bonsai Society, the Audubon Society and Chico Horticultural Society were there with displays, information and even plants for sale. Several other regional Home & Garden shows and the first of the regional garden tours are coming up in the next few weeks. Photo: while my home garden does not have space for a fountain quite like this one - I so admired the design of it, I had to take a picture for my files.
(more…)

Every year – about this time in the North Valley - the big spring bloom begins. And every year I think – it’s even more miraculous – even more lovely this year. Narcissus, hellebores, daphnes, camellias, magnolias, the first of the fruit trees – the beauty is abundant. And now that we’ve had some real rain and snow, I can actually enjoy the bloom with less worry. Close to 11 inches of rain – that’s how much rain I measured in my home garden in the month of February. The rain was so inspiring to me that some days I had to go check my rain gauge 2 or 3 times. I then ran inside, reported the newest numbers to my family and rushed to record the numbers in my journal. I know one good month of rain and snow will not reverse the past seasons’ unusually low precipitation. I know we are still in a drought – but this one good month sure doesn’t hurt. And when the March mountains are decked with snow and the valley is greening and damp, life in my garden feels just right. Photo: White Hellebores.

Although the first official day of spring is March 20th – hurray! - average last frost dates are still a ways away for most of us (early-April for the earliest of us) so don’t get too excited too quickly. Now is a great time for continuing to sow cold hardy vegetable seeds or planting out cold hardy perennials and shrubs to begin establishing before true spring. Now is also the time for feeding a balanced fertilizer to your trees, shrubs and lawns that are starting to show signs of growth. March 1st is a traditional date on which to feed citrus trees. And don’t forget that March 8th, we spring our clocks forward one hour. Photo: Looking across snow covered mountains from Mt. Shasta in mid- February.
(more…)

Diane Stout loves Prickly Pear (Opuntia spp.) cactus - all kinds of them. She likes them in artwork, she likes them in pots, she likes them in all shapes and sizes all around her Orland garden. She likes them so much she named her nursery in Orland after the plants. The home garden that she shares with her husband Dave is home to nearly 40 individual Opuntia plants, comprising 16 different species or varieties. Opuntias are quite hardy, very low-maintenance and, extremely drought tolerant. In general, they prefer full sun, lean rocky soil with sharp drainage, and once established, they need almost no supplemental water.Photo: Diane began her colllection in earnest by asking for cuttings from mature stands of Opuntias in the area, for instance from old farmsteads or churches. Here an established stand of Prickly Pears complement the side of an old industrial metal quonset hut in Los Molinos.

Opuntia is a genus of close to 200 species of cacti originating to North, Central and South America and the West Indies. The genus can be divided into what some people call the Prickly Pear cacti – with round but flatter pads, and the Cholla or Teddy Bear cacti – with heavily spined, oblong sausage-shaped pads. California beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris), Teddy Bear Cholla (O. bigelovii), Pancake or Dollar Joint Prickly Pear (O. chlorotica), Silver or Golden Cholla (O. echinocarpa), Old Man Prickly Pear (O. erinacea), and Buckhorn Cholla (O. acanthocarpa), are all considered native to California – mostly to the desert scrub and desert woodland regions of the state. Photo: A purple-fruited Opuntia.
(more…)