San Francisco Garden Show Highlights – 2012

I was pleased to see several Landscape Architecture schools exhibiting in this year’s San Francisco Garden Show, including University of California, Berkeley, Academy of Art, West Valley College, and Arizona State University. I loved seeing the fresh, innovative ideas presented alongside the ideas of experienced professionals.

I was especially drawn to the ASU exhibit—PLAnTFORM—which incorporated a series of raised beds in its design. According to their display description, the raised beds provide additional planting areas, and capitalize on “the function and science of roof gardens.” The plant choices are water-wise, and the raised beds themselves are beautiful and modern looking. I love that their plants were identified with botanical and names (evidence of fellow plant nerds).

Sleek, modern raised beds in ASU's PLAnTFORM design

 My aunt remarked that after two knee surgeries, waist-high raised beds would be ideal for her. She could stand comfortably and tend her plants. This is a great idea for a niche market – creating beautiful planters for standing gardeners. I’ve been brainstorming design ideas for wheelchair gardens; waist-high raised beds would be a great companion idea.

San Francisco Garden Show 2012

My aunt and I made our annual trek to the San Francisco Garden Show at the San Mateo Event Center. This year the focus was on earth-friendly gardening practices.

We both enjoy the cooking exhibitions, which emphasize healthy, organic ingredients. The demonstrations are always well attended, but the chefs and their crews manage to serve a sample to everyone. This year we tasted a salad of asparagus and beets with a light vinaigrette, and toast with a spreadable cheese from Bellwether Farms in Sonoma, which was like goat-cheese, “without the goatiness.” Yum.

Rock garden detail from one of the exhibition gardens.

This year we spent more time looking at the landscape exhibits, the Market Place, and Bonsai than attending the seminars. Some years we do just the opposite. We both like looking for beautiful plants, good ideas, and creative solutions. I purchased three organic tomato plants to kick off spring planting!

Spring

Spring does not come all at once in the San Francisco Bay Area; instead it comes in a long procession, with something new blooming every week. We’ve been studying flowering trees in my Tree ID class at Merritt College, taught by Dr. Lawrence Lee.

Samples of Pyrus calleryana 'Aristocrat'
(Aristocrat Pear) for the Tree ID class
at Merritt College

Here is a week-by-week account of some of these trees we have seen as they come into bloom – mostly Acacia, Prunus (cherry), Pyrus (pear), Magnolia, and Eucalyptus. Many of these trees can be seen in the Montclair Hills in Oakland, others are found throughout neighborhoods in Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro, Hayward, and Orinda.

Week	Latin Name
February 1	Acacia baileyana Prunus cerasifera Prunus dulcis
February 8	Magnolia grandiflora Prunus cerasifera 'Atropurpurea' Pyrus taiwanensis
February 15	Acacia melanoxylon Magnolia x soulangeana Magnolia stellata Prunus x blirieana
February 22	Acacia cognata Rhaphiolepsis 'Majestic Beauty'
February 29	Acacia longifolia Acer rubrum Cercis canadensis Eucalyptus globulus Eucalyptus sideroxylon 'Rosea'
March 7	Prunus laurocerasus Eucalyptus ficifolia
March 14	Acacia dealbata Malus x floribunda Photinia serratifolia Pyrus calleryana 'Aristocrat'

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Studying and understanding this progression of blooming is useful for envisioning trees and plants in the garden, and planning a garden with progressive blooming throughout the year. With our mild climate and microclimates, these dates and the progression may vary by location, and vary from year to year.

Elements of the Chinese Garden

While researching Chinese garden history, I learned that the essential elements of Chinese gardens include rocks, water, plants, and structure. The arts—including poetry, landscape painting, and calligraphy, and wine with friends are also important factors. According to Thacker in The History of Gardens, “It is difficult to draw a line between the landscape garden in China and the landscape”. Chinese gardens are abstracted in that elements have symbolic meaning; for example, bamboo symbolizes resilience, the crane longevity, and the plum tree endurance.

• Rocks – water-worn rocks with clefts and fissures are highly desired. They evoke the mist-shrouded mountain ranges of the larger landscape.

• Water – water in the garden symbolizes tranquility. The water surface reflects the surrounding garden; green water is more effective for reflection than clear water.
• Plants – plants are selected for their symbolism, and foliage is valued as much as flowers. The basic palate of plants includes pine, cypress, maple, bamboo, winter-flowering plum, rhododendron, and chrysanthemum.
• Structure – buildings and courtyards for gathering, and paths and corridors for exploring the landscape are essential. Walls for capturing shadows and displaying poetry are important. Windows and frames for viewing and meditating on the landscape are used. Panels depicting landscape scenes are equivalent to landscape in nature.

To see many of these elements, check online for videos about the Suzhou Garden in China.

Garden History – Chinese Gardens

Back to Thacker and Rogers for more garden history – this time looking at Chinese garden history. Again I’m using Christopher Thacker’s The History of Gardens as my guide, and reading selections from Elizabeth Barlow Rogers’ Landscape Design - A Cultural and Architectural History. Chinese culture and garden history dates back thousands of years, so I will barely scratch the surface in a few blog posts. But Chinese gardening ideas have strongly influenced Japanese and Western gardening, including the San Francisco Bay Area, so I hope to explore significant themes and influences.

I was interested to learn that Chinese garden history shares similar roots with general garden history – the ideas of sacred groves; royal gardens with roots in hunting parks; natural places being attributed with a distinct spirit or energy; and the influences of nature-oriented religions, like Daoism.

This beautiful photograph, taken at the Yuyan Gardens in Shanghai in 2009,
shows the basic elements of the Chinese garden - rocks, water, plants, and structures.
Photo by Jakub Hałun, and used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.

I was surprised to learn that despite a large Chinese population in the San Francisco Bay Area, we do not have a public garden that distinctly represents Chinese gardening style (we do have public gardens that represent Japanese gardening style). I did find three important examples on the west coast, all of which are on my list of gardens to visit:

• Overfelt Chinese Cultural Garden in San Jose, California
• Huntington Gardens in Pasadena, California
• Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon

Filoli’s Use of Hardscape

Filoli makes great use of hardscaping–those landscaping elements such as paths, walls, hedges, structures, allées, and arbors–in its garden design. I noticed they have a theme of arched windows that is repeated all through the house, the outdoor structures, and even the passages through walls and hedges. They use a variety of “walls” in their theme of garden rooms, ranging from brick walls to deciduous or evergreen hedges to formal box hedges. Their paths are constructed with different materials, as well, and always look inviting.

A beckoning path through the dappled light of an olive grove.

Deciduous and evergreen hedges serve as garden "walls".

Brick garden wall with arched passage, and
pathway to the Garden House.

One of my favorite hardscape items at Filoli is the Garden House, a single-room structure overlooking the Sunken Garden. The structure was built as a light airy space for the family to gather out of the wind. It has marble floors, arched windows, and grand views of the garden. My aunt and I enjoyed the winter light streaming through the windows, the container plantings, and grand floral arrangement created from garden plants. Who wouldn’t enjoy gathering in the Garden House for a spirited game of cards, or a leisurely breakfast buffet with the newspaper?



Exterior of the small Garden House.

Interior of the Garden House with afternoon
winter light and container plants.

Filoli uses hardscaping and gardening on a grand scale, but there are many ideas that can be implemented on a small scale.

 Cracked cement planter with succulents.

 Charming white flowers between pavers.

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Filoli in Winter

On our visit to Filoli, winter was most evident in the soft bare branches of the deciduous trees, vines, and shrubs. But I was on the lookout for anything that contributed to the “winter look” in the garden, especially if I found it attractive or interesting. Here are some of the items I enjoyed seeing .

Bare architecture of a wisteria vine agaist bricks.

Unobscured view of the house.



Winter sillouhette of a weeping form deciduous tree.

Part of the appeal of the deciduous hedge
is the rustling leaves.



Dried hydrangea with the
hint of new buds and leaves.


I realize that the items that I find attractive in the winter garden may not appeal to others, but there are many forms of beauty and interest in the winter garden.

Filoli Gardens

My aunt and I visited Filoli in Woodside, CA, about 30 miles south of San Francisco, on a bracing weekend in February. She had visited Filoli several years before, in its spring time splendor and loved it, I had never visited. I’m interested in how gardens and plants appear throughout the seasons, so I thought a winter visit would be a good introduction to Filoli. We took a docent-lead tour of the grounds and the house.

View of the house across the western terrace.



Magnolia tree in bloom in February.

Filoli is a country estate built between 1915 and 1917 for William Bowers Bourn, a San Franciscan who made his fortune in a hard-rock gold mine, and his family. As many estates of its day, it was modeled after the estate gardens in Europe. The 36,000 square-foot house is a modified Georgian design, with separate service and living wings, and the 16,000 square-foot garden is an English Renaissance design. The house and grounds are designed as complementary units, and are situated on a gently sloping 654-acre property, with views of the Santa Cruz mountains and a nearby preserve. The garden is a series of “rooms,” each with a theme such as Dutch garden, sunken garden, woodland garden, knot garden, and rose garden. There are several terraces, an orchard, a bowling green, and a swimming pool.

Sunken garden with the hills behind as a "borrowed view".

Swimming pool with view of the clock tower.

I enjoyed seeing “the bones” of the garden – bare branches of deciduous trees, the walls and planting structures, the architecture of the house and terraces. And it is wonderful to see trees with plenty of room to grow. We did see flowers, even in February. The magnolia trees were in full bloom, as were narcissus, daffodils, and miniature irises. Now that we have seen the garden in winter, we look forward to returning to see how the garden changes throughout the seasons.

Yew allee with a view toward Crystal Springs.

Courtyard and entrance to the Filoli mansion.

During the tour we learned that "Filoli" is an acronym for "Fight, Love, Live" (Fight for a just cause, Love your fellow man, and Live a good life).