Seeds to Dye For: July Check In

 Three months a ago I sowed the seeds for a few dye plants in our Oakland garden (see Seeds to Dye For). So far the calendula seeds (Calendula officinalis) are showing the most promise. Our weather here in the San Francisco Bay Area has been ideal for them, since they bloom best in cool weather, and our temperature has been in the low to mid-70s all summer.

Calendula officinalis

I planted Orange & Lemon Twist (Butterfly Calendula Mix) and Flashback Calendula (Butterfly Mix), and the flowers are cheery shades of yellow and orange. According to Mother Earth News, calendula flowers produce light, lemon yellows, olive-browns, and light browns, depending on the fabric and mordant used.

Orange & Lemon Twist (left container) and Flashback Calendula (right container)

The plants are really packed in their containers, since I failed to thin the seedlings as recommended. They get a good supply of water applied to the soil, and not splashed on the  leaves, to reduce the chance of mildew. The lower leaves are showing signs of yellowing and wilt so I may be overwatering them (I am notorious for killing plants with kindness).

Yellow calendula

Following recommendations on the web, I've started gathering flowers, just as they pass their prime. Most information say to dry the flowers, but my method of freezing flowers has worked on other projects. With a second sowing possible in late summer, I should be able to gather enough petals with which to experiment! Stay tuned!

Orange calendula

Summer Movies 2021: Around the World in 80 Gardens – India

For my final journey with Monty Don this summer, we're heading to India to visit gardens, and see famous movie star plants in their native environment. In this episode Monty explores historical gardens influenced by Hindu Maharajahs, Mughal emperors, and the British empire. One of his favorite gardens turns out to be a modern garden in the jungle, made with found and recycled objects. Grab your sunglasses, hat, and water jug for our final summer destination!

Agra, Deeg, Jaipur, Kochi, and New Delhi (2008, Episode 3)

Monty kicks off his first trip to India with a dawn visit to the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra. The white marble tomb was built by the Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, in the mid-1600s for his wife. The design is based on a description of heaven in the Koran; it is meant to be a paradise garden - heaven on earth. An hour away Monty visits another Mughal-inspired tomb - Akbar's Tomb. It was built of red sandstone in the early 1600s. The Mughals were conquerors from Afghanistan, establishing their empire in 1526. Their garden designs were based on the Islamic idea of paradise on earth, filled with animals, nature, and water. Before the Mughal empire, India was a series of Hindu states, each with it own Raj. Their gardens were devoted to pleasure, not Allah.

Next Monty visits Deeg Palace in Rajasthan, built in late-1700s. Of special interest is Keshav Bhawan, the monsoon pavillion. During the monsoon, water was harvested and stored in large tanks, then during the dry season used to simulate a monsoon storm in a grand spectacle for the king and his court. The technology for collecting and using the water is interesting and ingenious. Deeg is set in a very dry place. The spectacle is a thing of the past, and the tanks are now used for laundry and bathing.  

In nearby Jaipur, the red city, Monty visits Jal Mahal, a water palace and garden that is being restored. When the monsoons come, water forms a lake around the building. Visitors arrive by boat and disembark on the flooded lower floors. Also in Jaipur, Monty visits a small Hindu Temple Garden, to enjoy the beauty of the small. His tour guide describes the plants that are grown for offerings (banana, jasmine, ficus, basil, and more), all of which are auspicious.

Then to the south of India to Kochi, formerly the British port of Cochin. where evidence of spice merchants, Chinese fishing nets, Portuguese churches, Dutch streets, and English culture converge. Nearby, Monty visits Mr. Abraham's Spice Garden, drives through the Kannan Devan Hills Plantation (KDHP) tea farm, and takes tea with Mrs. Abbas in the British-style Old Railway Garden that is maintained by KDHP. All their teas come from camellias that originated in China (Camellia sinensis), and are handpicked.  

Then north again to New Delhi, the ambitious capital designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens (a British architect and landscape architect, who worked with Gertrude Jekyll) and built in the early 1900s. Lutyens mixed British pomp with Mughal and Maharajah elements, and incorporated parks and tree-lined avenues to lower the temperature by 7 degrees. New Delhi is a grand show of imperial power, which started to fade within 10-15 years. 

Finally Monty heads to The Rock Garden of Chandigarh, close to the Himalayas. Nek Chand started the garden in the jungle in the 1950s, using rocks and castoffs. It was discovered in the 1970s and almost bulldozed, but then saved and turned into a tourist destination. The garden has a maze-like structure, with water works, stone paths, and delights everywhere. It is a modern garden that looks to the future, recycling castoffs and rubbish to make art. Monty loves the garden, and leaves India energized and full of hope. Thank you for joining me on this final leg of our summer tour!

Summer Movies 2021: Around the World in 80 Gardens – The Med

My next journey with Monty Don is to the Mediterranean to visit gardens and meet movie star plants (OK, I can't stay completely away from the Mediterranean climate)! On this trip Monty travels through the cradle of European civilization visiting gardens in Spain, Morocco, and Italy. He studies the elaborate Renaissance gardens that influenced western garden design, and the artistic achievements of the Moorish culture that influenced gardens in Spain and around the world. So grab your camera and join us for more summer travelling!

Spain, Morocco, Italy (2008, Episode 7)

Monty's first stop is Tivoli, Italy, just outside of Rome and a popular summer residence since ancient Roman times due to its altitude and cooler temperatures. He visits several gardens in the area including the Renaissance-era Villa d'Este, which was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d'Este (1509–1572). Water is the main theme of the garden. Water features are incorporated into the design to delight and surprise its visitors, including fountains, water sprays, a grotto, and a water organ. 

He visits nearby Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa, built in the second century). Its design implements hydro technology, which was revived centuries later in gardens including Villa d'Este. Monty marvels at the size of the garden and the engineering involved, and notes that the grand garden was left to deteriorate as Europe headed into the Dark Ages. Monty heads for a modern vineyard in the same area, where they grow organic fruits and veggies, including a variety of grapes that originated from Villa d'Este. 

Next stop is Villa Lante in Bagnaia, which represents the perfect Renaissance garden for Monty. The villa isn't just a retreat, but a statement of power. The garden is designed around a central axis, with a clipped and controlled formal garden and a backdrop of parkland. A 50-foot long stone table features an icy-cold canal running down its center, in which cold drinks and dishes would float by its diners, perfect for outdoor entertaining. The garden design may have inspired English gardening 200 years later.

From Italy, Monty travels to Marrakech, Morocco to explore the Islamic influence on gardens. He visits Aguedal, one of the oldest continuous gardens in the world, with water brought in from the Atlas mountains 1000 miles away. It is part orchard, part farm, and part garden. Everything in the garden has both usefulness and beauty. Monty interviews Professor Mohammed El Faiz about the garden to learn more, and finds his views on gardens challenged.

In Marrakesh, many homes are based on traditional Islamic design, where the house is built around a courtyard garden. The buildings appear modest from the outside, but the courtyard gardens are lush and lavish, and provide an outdoor space in which to cook, eat, and grow food. Monty also visits the French-inspired Jardin Majorelle, dating from the 1920's and 30's, and featuring Art Deco, Berber, and Islamic influences.   

From Marrakech, Monty travels to Spain via train and hydrofoil. He visits The Alhambra in Granada, the oldest surviving palace garden. Its elements are based on Islamic design, which seeks to represent paradise on earth. On the island of Cordoba, Monty enjoys the annual festival of patio gardens, where thousands of courtyard and patio gardens are opened up for visitors. In these gardens, people eat, drink, party, and work, which Monty has come to see as the definition of a garden.

Monty ends his tour in Madrid, at Casa Caruncho, a cloister garden that opens out to nature. He interviews its designer, Fernando Caruncho, and learns the importance of light in the garden (direct, reflected, and shaded) for the Spanish psyche. In the garden you are transported outside of yourself, like a mini-pilgrimage.

Monty ends the tour pondering how Mediterranean gardens reflect the strength of two different cultures, the classical and Islamic. The two have enriched and informed each other from very early times, synthesizing the physical and the spiritual from both cultures. Hope you've enjoyed traveling with Monty to see the beautiful ancient and modern Mediterranean gardens, which continue to influence garden design today.   

Summer Movies 2021: Around the World in 80 Gardens – South East Asia

 This summer I'm heading to the movies to enjoy some of the world's most beautiful gardens. My travel partner and guide is British garden guru, Monty Don, and the movies are his horticultural travelogues from the BBC series "Around the World in 80 Gardens". Recall we traveled with Monty several years ago (see Summer Movies 2016: Australia and New Zealand). Then, we explored locations with a Mediterranean climate; this year we're broadening our horizons to several exotic locations (blame it on the pandemic)! I'm hoping to have some fun, and learn more about movie star plants and gardens from these different locations. Grab your sunscreen and a hat, and join us for some summer travelling!

Bangkok, Singapore, and Bali (2008, Episode 10)

Today we head for Southeast Asia, where Monty's quest is to find the perfect tropical jungle garden that has served as a model for Western gardeners, since the nineteenth century. He starts in Bangkok, Thailand by visiting Jim Thompson's Garden (an American entrepreneur who thrived in the Thai silk industry, and then disappeared into the jungle in 1967). He built an estate and tropical garden in the heart of Bangkok using palms, gingers, lotus, water features, and Thai hardscape. It was his vision of what a jungle could be, but not necessarily an indigenous Thai garden.

Next Monty visits the Thai Grand Palace Garden, where he is surprised by lots of topiary, and then the Chitralada Royal Villa, where the king uses the grounds to experiment with sustainable food production for his subjects, growing different crops such as mung beans, peanuts, and rice. Monty notes that the garden focuses completely on the practical and not on aesthetics. Its lab studies how to preserve Thai's indigenous plants (in the past, you would not cultivate a jungle, rather try to fight it back). 

Finally he visits the Khlong Gardens along the canals and waterways of Bangkok. Plants are everywhere, including those used to flavor food. His guide, actress Patravadi Mejudhon, informs him that people want the plants, but don't necessarily want to garden - it's too hot! Monty reflects over stir fry in the evening that the exotic may be what we can't grow, more of a state of mind than a garden style. In Bangkok, gardens grow so fast that that there isn't really a style - it is just whatever grows!

Next, Monty travels by train south to Singapore. Forty-plus years ago Singapore started a campaign for the greening of the city. Singapore had grown so fast, it had become a "gray jungle" of concrete. The goal was to turn the city into a garden. Gardens, parks, and recreational spaces were developed on a large scale, and citizens were encouraged to garden. Monty interviews Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Dr. Lawrence Leong Chee Chien, both influential in the movement to green Singapore. He also interviews blogger and activist, Wilson Wong, who promotes Community Gardens for growing food. Monty leaves Singapore without finding his model tropical jungle garden, and a little depressed by all the orchids in the Singapore airport (we may part company here).

Monty flies to Bali to continue his quest for a local jungle garden. The predominate religion is a version of Hinduism that reveres nature. He visits a temple garden first, in which every plant and flower has meaning and is used in temple offerings. Monty is overwhelmed with the peace and serenity of the place. Later, in the night market, Monty sees flowers and petals for sale (the ingredients for making offerings), and notes how the spiritual is intertwined with commerce. Monty visits the garden of a mutli-family compound, and observes this same intertwining of the useful and the spiritual. He ponders whether this is really a garden.

Monty visits an estate garden, right on the beach, and concludes it fulfills all the fantasies of what Westerners want in a jungle paradise (sanitized, without any chickens wandering around). He ends his tour in the garden of Made Wijaya, a landscape architect and designer from Sydney, Australia. He specializes in tropical gardens, and blends the ancient and modern in what could be called, the Bali style. He uses color, plants, shrines, and history in his designs, to create beautiful and distinctive gardens. Monty concludes the tour with the idea that tropical jungles may be a figment of our imagination and a vacation fantasy. Mankind will always be in search of Shangri-La, but it exists only within ourselves.

I really enjoyed seeing the lush gardens of Bangkok, Singapore, and Bali, whether or not they are authentic, indigenous, or a true garden. Maybe that's the result of gardening in a dry climate, on the brink of another drought cycle. The green exotic plants and abundant water do seem like Shangri-La!

Dye Project: French Broom

Back again with another dye project, using dye sources from our residential lot here in Oakland, California. This year we're going "back to the land" to discover what resources are available to us from our own place. Last time we dyed with Tulip Tree flower petals, which produced a lovely lemony-yellow dye (see Dye Project: Tulip Tree).

Today I'm dyeing with French Broom (Genista monspessulana). French Broom is a woody shrub that is native to the Mediterranean region. Broom is a nitrogen fixer that does well in poor soil, and is a prolific seed producer.

  

 

The flowers are an intense yellow, and quite beautiful, but French Broom is highly invasive in the United States. The shrub can quickly overrun native vegetation, providing little benefit for the local wildlife. 

French Broom (Genista monspessulana)
Kohler - public domain

My research on this species of Broom indicates that leaves yield a green dye, but I found little about the flowers, or a combination of leaves and flowers. Other research indicates that Scotch broom yields pale yellow or beige, but Dyer’s broom yields brilliant yellows and yellow greens. We have a self-seeded French Broom bush at the edge of our property. I have started to eradicate it, but decided to experiment dyeing with the flowers that I removed.

Self-seeded French Broom

For this project I used basic dye equipment, and a well-ventilated workspace. I used a soaking pot, a dye pot, a heat source, and a candy thermometer to keep the dye bath at a consistent temperature. I also used a strainer and cheese cloth to remove the petals and leaves from the dye bath.

Outdoor studio and basic equipment

Prepared fabric

The Weight of Fabric was about 11 ounces (312 grams), which includes:

• 2 dish towels - 154 g (4.9 ounces) 
• 2 napkins - 50 g (1.76 ounces)
• 2 large handkerchiefs - 35 g (1.2 ounces)
• 2 small handkerchiefs - 20 g (.7 ounces)
• 1 dish cloth - 57 g (2 ounces)

French Broom blossoms and stems

The fabric was scoured and mordanted. I used a gallnut mordant, followed by a bath of 20% WOF alum and 8% soda ash as a brightener. This differs from our usual values of 15% alum and 2% soda ash. I collected about 12 ounces of French Broom flowers and leaves, so, the WOF% for 11 ounces of fabric was about 109%. I gathered the flowers, and froze them to preserve the color until I was ready to dye.

Frozen blossoms help preserve color

The supplies for dyeing include:

• 12 ounces French Broom flowers
• 1/2 lemon (juice and rind)
• A gallon of water (plus more as needed)
• 11 ounces prepared cotton fabric 

NOTE: For safety, use a face mask and rubber gloves.

Extract Dye

First, extract the dye, using our basic process:

1. Add petals and lemon to the pot.
2. Simmer for an hour.
3. Soak petals.
4. Strain them.

Rinse the petals to remove dust and insects, and then add the petals to a gallon of water in a stainless-steel pot. Stir in the juice of 1/2 lemon and its rind. Bring the temperature to 160 degrees, and simmer for an hour. Note that my equipment isn’t that controllable, so I typically cook between 180 - 200 degrees. Your color results may differ if you are able to maintain a lower temperature. 

Stir lemon juice and rind into petals

Soak for three days

Soak petals and lemon rind for three days to extract all the color possible. Strain petals out of the dye bath using cheesecloth. Return the dye bath to the stainless-steel pot. The resulting liquor is pale yellow or amber, depending on the light, and has a noxious smell. A face mask and rubber gloves are recommended. I tested the pH to learn more. It registers at 3, which is quite acidic (and may be from the lemon).

Strain the petals out of the dye bath

Pale yellow or amber dye bath

Dye Fabric

Dye the fabric using our basic process:

1. Add wet fabric to dye bath.
2. Heat the dye bath and simmer for an hour.
3. Soak fabric in the dye bath.
4. Rinse and hang to dry.

Add wet, prepared fabric to the stainless steel pot, and simmer for an hour, keeping the temperature between 180 - 200 degrees. Stir periodically to make sure dye is distributed as evenly as possible. If necessary, add more water to cover the fabric. The color from this French Broom species is not very strong or dramatic. Let soak for an hour or overnight. In pursuit of saturated color, I let it soak for three days.

Simmer fabric in the dye bath

Rinse fabric in cool water

Squeeze out excess dye from the fabric. Rinse the fabric in cool water until the water runs clear. Run the fabric through the washing machine’s rinse and spin cycles, using cold water. Let the towels air dry. Two weeks later, wash the towels in pH neutral soap, like Synthrapol, and hang to dry. The resulting color is a very pale yellow. 

Hang fabric to air dry

Very pale yellow dye results (with some imagination)

The results are a little disappointing, but maybe it is for the best. I have no incentive to retain the French Broom plant, and can eradicate it without hesitation!

Learn More:

• A Lesson About Dye Plants: Broom. Blog article by Catharine Ellis.  (https://blog.ellistextiles.com/2015/05/14/a-lesson-about-dye-plants-broom/)

• Botanical Colors – Dye Flower Instructions: Creating and Using a Dyebath. (https://botanicalcolors.com/dye-flower-instructions/#:~:text=Start%20heating%20the%20flowers%2C%20bringing,don't%20let%20it%20boil).

• Weed Control Handbook, French Broom Weed Report, by L.A.S. Johnson. (https://wric.ucdavis.edu/information/natural%20areas/wr_G/Genista.pdf).

Plant Aquarium: Liquidambar

 The Liquidambar is thriving in the lower yard here in the East Bay. Its leaves are shaped almost like a maple leaf, and the leaves sometimes quake like an aspen leaf because of their long petioles. The tree is bare from January to late April (we often wonder whether it has died), and then puts forth it beautiful fresh leaves in May. In fall, the leaves turn red, providing wonderful fall color.

Liquidambar

Liquidambar (Liquidambar styraciflua) is a long-lived, deciduous tree that grows to 50 to 150 feet (15-45 m) tall at maturity. It is also known as American sweetgum, and is native to the southeastern United States, and regions of Mexico and Central America. It is not native to California, but grows well as an ornamental plant. It is a nitrogen fixer and can tolerate various types of soil, including our clay soil.

Liquidambar in early summer

Liquidambar leaves are star-shaped with five long-pointed, saw-toothed lobes and long petioles. The brown bark is deeply furrowed into narrow scaley plates or ridges.  Young trees have long, conical crowns; while mature trees have round, spreading crowns. Liquidambar is monoecious with the male flowers in several clusters and the female flowers hanging at the end of the same stalk. The tree begins to produce seed when 20 to 30 years. The ball-shaped fruits contain many individual seed-bearing sections. So far our tree does not produce seeds that I can tell, which means it is still young or I have not identified the tree correctly.

Liquidambar in fall

I value our liquidambar tree for its lovely green leaves, lacy shade pattern, and fall interest. Learning that it can grow up to 150 feet tall, live for 400 years, and be a fire danger when planted less than 15 feet from a structure does give me pause. I'll definitely confer with our arborist for recommendations about shaping the tree and possibly lowering the crown. In the meantime, we can enjoy its loveliness in the landscape.

Learn more:

• Wikipedia
• Jepson Herbarium
• U.S. Department of Agriculture
• U.S. Forest Service