Trees of Lakeside Park

On a recent field trip to the Gardens at Lake Merritt, we discovered a wonderful collection of mature, established trees at Lakeside Park. Most of the tees have ample room in which to grow, so they have been able to spread out and grow naturally. Trees add so much to the environment, so their presence is pleasure enough. But to the gardener, this is a wonderful resource for viewing the natural form of a tree, its true size in its later years, and its transformation throughout seasonal cycles.

When planting a tree from a five gallon bucket, it is easy to be enamored with its physical qualities as seen in close up photographs of bark and flower, but much more difficult to envision how tall a 60-80 feet tree really is! Seeing trees in situ can help when you’re selecting a tree for your yard, or envisioning how your current landscape may change over the next decade or two.

Cork Oak	Bonsai
Dawn Redwood (deciduous)	 Monkey Puzzle Tree
 Wine Palm	Young Olive

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Many of the trees are not native to the Bay Area, but they are beautiful trees worthy of study and appreciation. Many of us have some of these trees in our yards, or access to them in parks, so it helps to see good, healthy specimens. For trees like the Wine Palm, which has been over harvested, parks like this help preserve tree specimens until they can be restored in the wild. For  trees like the Monkey Puzzle tree, which was greatly coveted during the plant collection frenzy of the Victorian era, parks provide a glimpse into the past. I recommend a stroll through Lakeside Park to see its trees in any season.
 

The Gardens at Lake Merritt

I heard about the Gardens at Lake Merritt last year from a Tree ID classmate while attending Lake Merritt College. My fellow student raved about all the gardens located close to Fairyland by Lake Merritt. I’ve been around Lake Merritt a few times, and thought I had seen the Gardens, but my gardening buddy, Ruth, and I decided to see if we had missed something. Recall that we are visiting Bay Area gardens to study their design, plantings, infrastructure, and winter charms. Turns out, there is a gem of a garden complex at 666 Bellevue Avenue in Oakland.

Instead of a single garden, we discovered a series of gardens, almost like the garden rooms we read about from garden history. We only had a couple of hours, so we tried to see as much as we could in a quick survey. Some high-lights include a tiny, serene Japanese garden, and an extensive Bonsai collection (most of the deciduous trees were without leaves, so you could appreciate their foundational forms, but one apricot was already in bloom). We enjoyed the Rhododendron collection from all over the world, and the subtropical Vireya Garden (Vireyas are a kind of Rhododendron, from the mountains and jungles of Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and New Guinea). The Palmetum is a wonderful collection of unique palm trees, ferns, and cycads. The succulent collection near the Easterbrook Fountain has many fine examples of succulents, and cacti. There is a Bay Friendly garden, a community garden for children, an Edible garden, a Pollinator garden, and a Sensory garden, all worthy of more exploration.

  Palmetum

 Japanese Garden

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Golden State Bonsai Collection

Vireya Garden

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The gardens are being restored, and always in need of volunteers. The Lake Merritt Pruning Club, among other groups, helps with the trees. The day we visited, a team of volunteers was adding organic matter to the beds near the Easterbrook Fountain. This is a great local treasure to visit, or help tend! I’m looking forward to returning in the spring when blossoms emerge, and in the fall to see the leaves turn color. Learn more: https://gardensatlakemerritt.org/