Madonna Inn Gardens

On our recent jaunt to San Luis Obispo (SLO), we stayed at the Madonna Inn and Spa. Each of the 110 rooms is decorated with a different theme (caves, waterfalls, natural stone walls, wild colors, etc.). We stayed in the Tack Room, with its red walls and ceiling, red plaid couch, red leather bedspreads, lacquered red shutters, Lucky 7 stained glass window, and equine-themed decorations. The common areas are unique as well, including the Copper Café, Gold Rush Steak House (lavishly decorated in the trademark Madonna Inn Pink), and the Silver Bar. (I heard about the waterfall urinal in the men’s room)!

Madonna Inn architecture

Alex Madonna's Gold Rush Steak House

The Madonna Inn opened in 1958 with 12 rooms; additional rooms and public areas were added over time to meet the growing demand. The overall architecture is “Gingerbread- and Heidi-inspired” (reminiscent of Disneyland in Anaheim), set in the golden rolling hills of San Luis Obispo. I found some lovely cottage gardens on premise, which fit the architecture and the Madonna Inn Pink theme. The pink roses seemed especially fragrant.

HTML Tables

I also came upon a wonderful kitchen garden, which is used by the restaurants; and a wide variety of beckoning paths, “secret gardens,” and garden rooms. The Spa is lovely with its waterfall, gazebo, candy-colored chairs, pool, and gardens.

Kitchen garden, where beans, tomatoes, mint, and a variety of lettuces are harvested

The Spa gazebo and waterfall

The Inn is set on 2,200 acres of open land, some of which is available to guests. Horse and bike trails provide guests ample room to roam. I took an early morning walk up the golden hill, admiring the nearby ranches, vistas, and local flora.

Open land for riding and walking

 

Central Coast

We are just back from a long weekend at the Central California Coast, staying at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo (SLO for short), and visiting Hearst Castle in San Simeon. I visited Hearst Castle with my folks, brother, and sister as a teenager many years ago, on a road trip down the coast from Seattle to Southern California; my husband and son had never been. The Madonna Inn was a first for all of us, though we had heard about its legendary style from friends!

Golden hills surrounding San Luis Obispo

We traveled from the San Francisco Bay Area on Highway 101, through the fertile Salinas Valley. What a pleasure to see the productive farms and ranches all along Highway 101, and the golden, rolling hills in the distance. According to Sunset, the Salinas Valley is mostly Climate Zone 14, where “marine air moderates parts of Zone 14 that otherwise would be colder in winter and hotter in summer”. Here, fruits that need winter chill do well, as do shrubs that need winter heat. We were grateful for our air conditioned car, but experienced the full force of the 97 degree temperature during several rest stops.

View of the Central Coast and distant fog bank near San Simeon

As we approached San Luis Obispo, the temperature dropped fairly quickly to 77 degrees as we came under the cooling marine influence of Climate Zone 15. Here the heat is tempered with refreshing offshore breezes, fog, and refreshing moist air. According to Sunset, an afternoon wind is prevalent in summer, which can be mitigated in the garden by planting a windbreak on the windward side of the garden. The heat of the Salinas Valley and the cooling breezes off the Pacific Ocean stirred up many happy memories of living near Southern California beaches.

Summer Movies 2013: Marie Antoinette

Our final movie for the summer, where historical fiction sets the stage for historical gardens, is Marie Antoinette (2005). Sophia Coppola’s modern telling of the French queen’s story is based on the book Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser. The movie is set between 1768 and 1789, and tells the story of the Austrian princess’s journey from betrothal to Louis Auguste of France at age 14, the trip from Austria to Versailles in France, life at court lived on full public display, becoming queen at age 19, frustrated attempts to produce a male heir, her rebellion against protocol and retreat from her duties in Petite Trianon, and motherhood. The movie ends with Marie and Louis fleeing an angry mob in Versailles, and heading for Paris as the events of the French Revolution unfold.

Woven throughout the film (and many scenes of shopping, shoes, gowns, fans, hats, wigs, parties, gambling, champagne, and fabulous food) are glimpses of French gardens. The movie was filmed on location in France—primarily at Châteaux de Versailles, where the court lived, and Châteaux de Chantilly—so views of formal gardens, hunting parks, and the naturalistic gardens of Petite Trianon are evident. The movie takes place in the 1700s, but the gardens of Versailles were planned and built in the 1600s, following the Renaissance. These gardens were built on a grand scale, to display power and order as much as beauty; and consumed vast resources to produce and maintain. (Hence, some of the public unrest, that lead to the Revolution). In future posts we will take a closer look at how Renaissance gardens and formal gardens evolved in France and England.

Following are a few gardening-related items I noticed in the movie. Marie’s private rooms at Versailles overlook the Orangery, with its formal and symmetrical paths, parterres, and topiary trees. Gardens are used by the court to host parties, and to put on extravagant shows and spectacles (such as the staged battle in the fountain, using scaled ships and fireworks). The overall garden design is frequently laid out on an axis, or an axis with a series of perpendicular intersecting axes, following principles rediscovered from the ancient world. Fountains, statues, and grand planters abound. Interestingly, Marie Antoinette favors a more naturalistic approach at her private estate, Petite Trianon. This represents her breaking away from the protocol of court, but also anticipates the breaking away from formal gardens, to a more naturalist style of gardening to come. Take a look at the trailer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422720/

Sudden Oak Death

The plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, commonly called Sudden Oak Death (or SOD), is a water mold in the Oomycota class. I reported on Sudden Oak Death a couple of years ago as part of a series on oak trees. Most Phytophthora species are soil-dwelling, root pathogens, but P. ramorum is a leaf pathogen. Spores from the leaves and twigs of infected trees spread to an oak through water, wind-driven rain, plant material, or human activity. Once the spores are on the oak, microbes use natural openings to access bark tissues. The microbes kill cells, causing bark cankers, clogged water and transport systems, leaf die-off, and ultimately death of the tree. Take a look at SOD zoospores: http://youtu.be/rTo6UwnZiQg

Fascinating to me is that P. ramorum has a wide host range (including tanoaks, and non-oaks, such as California bay laurel, Rhododendron, and Camellia), but these hosts are not killed by the pathogen. Oaks, on the other hand, are considered terminal hosts; when they encounter the pathogen, they may become infected very quickly in the right conditions. According to the IPM, the best predictor of the disease is the presence of a California bay laurel.

Since there is no cure, prevention is the best way to manage Sudden Oak Death. Purchase non-infested nursery plants from a reputable dealer; remove infected oaks following local ordinances; remove non-oak hosts (such as California bay laurel); and dispose of infected plant debris properly (leave on the property as mulch or compost). The IPM website lists using phosphonate fungicide treatments (Agri-Fos) as a preventative measure. The treatment must be made on healthy trees, and repeated every year or two, so it is recommended for high-value trees.

Summer Movies 2013: Vatel

Our next movie for the summer, where historical fiction sets the stage for historical gardens, is Vatel (2000). It is based on the 17^th century historical figure, François Vatel (1631 – 4/24/1671). Though of low birth, he is highly sought because of his skills as a majordomo and party planner extraordinaire. The movie is set over a weekend at Vaux le Vicomte, a chateau in Chantilly near Paris, France in 1671. Vatel’s employer, Nicolas Fouquet, is attempting to wrangle a high military position from King Louis XIV, which will improve his finances, so puts on a lavish weekend party for the King and his Court at the chateau, planned and executed by Vatel (on a shoestring budget).

 

The movie follows Vatel through the highs and lows of food and spectacle wizardry, and a brief love affair with a favorite courtesan of King Louis. Vatel handles everything from menial tasks for Fouquet, to creating spun sugar confections, to overseeing fireworks and follies in the garden, all the while overseeing the preparation and presentation of food fit for a king. Delivery of the fish order is delayed, causing much angst, and Fouquet loses Vatel in a high stakes card game to King Louis, who plans to employ him at Versailles. Vatel impales himself on a sword, and is discovered by an employee, who has come to inform Vatel that the fish order has arrived. The traditional explanation is that Vatel committed suicide over the late fish order; the movie proposes that Vatel despairs that he is a mere commodity to be traded in a poker game.

Amidst all this high drama and frenetic activity to put on a grand party for a decadent court, are glimpse of the grand gardens at Chateau de Chantilly, where the movie was filmed. The original 20,000 acre estate was designed in 1560 by architect Jean Bullat. A 270 acre portion was later designed by André de Nôrtre in the mid-1600s (he was later the landscape architect for Versailles). The landscape is laid out on a grand axis, and includes waterways, lakes, fountains (using water on site), grand avenues and walking paths, statues, and flower parterres – all elements of Renaissance gardens. Many of the parties, spectacles, and events in the movie take place with the landscape as the background. Take a look at the trailer (select Watch Trailer): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190861/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Downy Mildew

Downy mildews are water molds in the Oomycota class that affect foliage. Downy mildew appears on the upper leaf as a yellow, discolored section between veins, and on the lower leaf as white or purple-brown mold. (Downy mildew is not the same as Powdery mildew, which is a fungus that appears on the upper leaf as a white powder). Downy mildews flourish in moist conditions, between 40 – 60 degrees F, so are prevalent in some areas of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Downy mildew microbes are obligate parasites, meaning that they need a living host, so their strategy is to feed, but not kill, the host plant. Frequent hosts include grape, cucurbits (pumpkin, cucumber, etc.), and impatiens.

Powdery mildew sporulation on alfalfa leaves.
Photo by Gerald Holmes. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.

The Downy mildews require water for infection, and at last 90% humidity for sporulation. The pathogen exists as an oospore in leaf debris or soil between growing seasons. When conditions are right, the spores germinate and produce sporangia (tree-like structures), which in turn produce zoospores (swimmers with flagellum, capable of motility in water). The sporangia and zoospores are airborne, or splashed onto lower leaves. The spores enter stomata or damaged tissue on the underside of the leaf, and infect the leaf (generally within 8 – 12 hours). Additional waves of sporangia and zoospores follow during the growing season as a secondary inoculation. The mold that you see on the underside of the leaf is the sporulation, or collection of spores. At the end of the season, sexual reproduction produces oospores that can survive without a host until the next growing season.

Downy mildews are typically host specific, meaning that a particular pathogen attacks a specific host (if your pumpkin exhibits Downy mildew, you do not need to worry that it will jump to your grapes; however, the same environmental conditions may exist, making your grapes susceptible to their own Downy mildew pathogen). For management tips, see the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) site, and search for a specific host. In general, recommendations include planting disease-resistant seeds and plants; rotating crops with plants that are not susceptible to the pathogen; and using practices to minimize leaf wetness. Chemical control methods are also available; consult the IPM for recommendations about your particular host.

Summer Movies 2013: The Agony and the Ecstasy

Summer is in full swing, and life is good. Our son is home from college for five weeks (his lovely girlfriend, E.J., is in Shanghai with her family), and we’re enjoying lazy days and summer block buster movies. I am also watching movies of another kind – those in which plants are the movie stars. The theme of this year's summer movies is historical fiction that sets the stage for historical gardens. You may not see gardens or plants, but you experience the zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, in which the gardens were set.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

The 1965 movie, The Agony and the Ecstasy, is the biography of Michelangelo based on Irving Stone’s book of the same name. The movie is set between 1508 and 1512, during which Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Pope Julius II commissions Michelangelo to “decorate” the massive ceiling at the Vatican, despite Michelangelo’s strong protest that he is “a sculptor, not a painter.” The movie focuses on the strong personalities of Michelangelo and his patron, the Pope. The two clash regularly, but inspire each other to greatness in their respective endeavors.

 

There is only one “garden scene” that I could see. A large banquet is set in a garden – with long tables and milling guests. In the scene, Michelangelo has come to turn down the Pope’s commission because he is accepting one from the Sultan of Turkey to work on a bridge. Contessina de’ Medici, herself a patron of the arts, intervenes – warning Michelangelo that he will not be able to return to Italy if he does so, and challenging him that he is simply afraid. The garden looks like a stage set, but, to the watchful gardener, several elements of the Renaissance garden can be seen. Large yew trees screen the garden, a fountain bubbles in its center,  and many sculptures depict the human form and the forms of ancient gods.

Though lacking gardens and plants, the movie shows the Renaissance in motion. Sculptures have moved out of the churches and into the garden or public places, and their themes harken back to ancient Roman times. Buildings, art, and landscape are emerging, and often used to convey order and power. Beauty and art flourish as wealthy patrons, like the Pope and the Medici’s, enable artists to pursue their talents and vision. Out of this exciting and tumultuous period come beautiful gardens, many of which are still maintained, or have inspired gardens around the world. Take a look at the trailer (select Watch Trailer): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058886/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

 

 

 

Plant Diseases - Water Molds

For our next group of diseases that attack plants, I’m reporting on Protoctistas, or “water molds”. They are in the Eukarya Super Group, and the Oomycota classification. For references, I am using Five Kingdoms, Essential Plant Pathology, and information from my plant diseases course at Merritt College taught by Dr. Ann Northrup in Fall 2012.

Oomycetes were classified as fungi, but later reclassified as Protoctista, since they are more closely related to brown algae. Oomycetes do resemble fungi in that they have filamentous hyphae used for feeding. However, at a cellular level, they do not have cross walls between nuclei; they are composed of cellulous; and their nuclei are diploid (two sets of chromosomes). In contrast, fungi have cross walls between nuclei; are composed of chitin (similar to crabs); and their nuclei are haploid (one set of chromosomes). Water molds are very primitive, and require moist conditions for reproduction. The asexual spores, called zoospores, have flagella and are motile, enabling them to move through moist conditions to a target such as a root. Take a look: http://youtu.be/jQXO4P8cpQQ
  

Two types of Oomycetes are found, both of which affect plants in the San Francisco Bay Area:

• Root affecting – water molds that live in garden soils, ponds, and streams
• Foliage affecting – water molds that live above ground, and are adapted for air dispersal (but still require moist conditions)

A water mold disease caused the Irish potato famine in 1845 – 1852. Closer to home, a water mold is behind Sudden Oak Death in the San Francisco Bay Area. Other water molds cause downy mildews and white blister rusts.
 

Trellis Spotting in Oakland

Back in the San Francisco Bay Area, I found a great trellis at the recently-constructed Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland. From the street, the large-scale trellis provides an attractive screen for the parking garage. It is fabricated with heavy industrial wire, and provides a frame for climbing plants.

Backside of a trellis in Oakland

I was intrigued to study the double-wire construction and the drip-irrigated planting boxes from the parking-garage side.

Double-wire trellis provides a sturdy frame

This is a great idea, and helps soften and humanize a very busy section of Oakland, both from the street and from the parking garage (as you walk to or return from the doctor or lab). It may help relieve stress on both sides of the trellis. I have reported on Kaiser before, and applaud their innovative landscaping (See Kaiser Meditation Garden in Pleasanton).