Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix

This year we're exploring the Fungi kingdom, and learning about mushrooms in the garden, great outdoors, kitchen, and dye pot. Our next book is Mushrooms for Dyes, Paper, Pigments & Myco-Stix™, written by Miriam C. Rice (1918-2010) and illustrated by Dorothy M. Beebee. This book was published by Mushrooms for Color Press, Forestville, CA (2007). The book is the culmination of their research and experimentation over the decades—information has been updated, streamlined, and consolidated. They have added new sections that describe how to make paper with mushrooms, and how to extract pigment from mushrooms. They also made a valiant effort to update the mushroom binomial names (species and family), which changes often to keep pace with research and new discoveries.

In the preface, Rice acknowledges all the individuals and groups who have contributed to the work over the years. The body of the book is divided into five major sections. "Part 1: About Mushrooms", provides a brief history and basic information about mushrooms and mushroom dyeing. An introduction describes the main mushroom groups, and illustrations show mushroom parts. In "Part II: Dyes", color photos identify the main dye mushrooms, organized by the color they produce (yellow, orange, red, blue, brown, and so forth). The sections about dyes and mordants, working with protein fiber, the dye process, and the chemistry of mushroom dyes provide succinct basic information for the dyer.

In "Part III: Paper", Rice adds new information about making paper with mushrooms, especially from woody polypores. The section identifies good mushrooms for papermaking, provides procedures for making paper, and includes photos of hand crafted paper objects. In "Part IV, Pigments & Myco-Stix", Rice describes how to extract pigments from mushrooms and reports on her experiments to make crayons (Myco-Stix) and paints with the pigment. The section provides examples of drawings and paintings made with the pigment. In "Part V: The Future", Rice casts vision for a future where mushrooms are cultivated for dyeing and pigments, replacing toxic products and processes that are destructive to our planet. The backmatter includes photo credits, a comprehensive bibliography, and an index.

This is a wonderful update to Mushrooms for Color, incorporating decades of experience and research, and distilling it to what works. I especially appreciated the updated and simplified section, "The Chemistry of Mushroom Dyes", by Dr. Eric Sundstrom, PhD. I don't have a strong chemistry background, but the description about why mushroom dyes react better with protein-based fabric than cellulose made sense. I was also inspired by the new section on papermaking. Long ago, before we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, I experimented with papermaking using recycled paper and fibers from palm fronds and other plants. Life got busy so I put it aside, but I've always wanted to get back to it. Rice has inspired me to dust off the beautiful wooden deckles that my Dad made for me, and resume my papermaking experiments. Perhaps in 2027!

The Rainbow Beneath My Feet

This year we're learning about mushrooms – in the garden, great outdoors, kitchen, and dye pot. This time our book is The Rainbow Beneath My Feet: A Mushroom Dyer's Field Guide, by Arleen Rainis Bessette and Alan E. Bessette, both mycologists and authors. The book was published by Syracuse University Press (2001), and is dedicated to Miriam C. Rice for her pioneering work using mushrooms for dyes, and to Susan Hopkins for her expertise in mycology and fabric dyeing. The stated objective of the book is to provide a comprehensive reference and field guide to some of the more common and best color-producing dye mushrooms of North America.

The first part of the book provides an introduction to the whole subject of dyeing with mushrooms. The parts of a mushroom are described and accompanied with a clear and comprehensive illustration by Sam Norris (shown below). It includes more details than previous drawings that I've seen, while remaining at the summary level. Information is provided for collecting and preserving mushrooms (dehydration is best), and creating a spore print. A summary of dyeing with mushrooms includes information about equipment, preparing fabric for dyeing, preparing the dye bath, and dyeing wool (silk is mentioned, but only in passing).

The bulk of the book describes how to identify mushrooms, using identification keys and an excellent color key to the major groups of dye mushrooms. The book focuses on the more common and best color-producing dye mushrooms of North America. Detailed descriptions and colored photos are provided for these mushrooms, as well as detailed mordant and dye notes. I was pleased to see the three mushrooms that I'm dyeing with this year described—Boletes edulis (King Bolete), Omphalotus olivascens (Western Jack O Lantern), and Phaeolus schweinitzii (Dyer's Polypore).

The back matter provides notes about color, a mushroom species dye color list, and a list of dye duds. A list of illustrations and and an index, as well as cross referencing between the mushroom descriptions and photos, makes it easy to navigate around the guide and find the information you want.

Parts of the Mushroom (illustration by Sam Norris, page 6)

This is another wonderful reference book for mushroom dyers. I appreciate that the book describes the best dye mushrooms found in the United States, including the West, Pacific Northwest, and Northern California, and even lists many that produce no dye color. The mushroom descriptions, color photos, and dye notes are so useful. I highly recommend this book as a resource for anyone wanting to learn more about dyeing with mushrooms.

Mushrooms for Color

This year we're exploring the Fungi kingdom, and learning about mushrooms in the garden, great outdoors, kitchen, and dye pot. Our first book is Mushrooms for Color, by Miriam C. Rice (1918-2010) and Dorothy M. Beebee. This book was published by Mad River Press, Inc. (Eureka, California, 1980). Rice was an artist-in-residence at the Mendocino Art Center and became fascinated with dyeing fibers with mushrooms. Beebee is an illustrator and artist, and collaborated with Rice. Together they developed a full-spectrum color wheel of mushroom dyes, including yellows, blues, and reds. They both worked with mycologists, scientists, and enthusiasts from around the world, and became experts themselves, delivering presentations at conferences and leading workshops.

The section on Mushroom Dyes provides basic information about mushrooms, mordants, color, and color fastness, dyeing, and the use of protein fibers (especially wool and silk). The section on Color Index describes the colors that mushrooms produce using different mordants, provides a color index of mushroom dye colors, and documents formulas and dye experiments. The section called Identifying and Classifying Mushrooms for Color was written by mycologist Dr. Susan D. Libonati-Barnes, and provides scientific information about fungi, how to identify mushroom types, parts, and species, how to classify mushrooms, and how to collect them.

The sections Identifying and Classifying Mushrooms for Color and Drawings and Descriptions of Dye mushrooms were written and illustrated by Dorothy M. Beebee, and provide information about the mushrooms and dye results, with notes about the mordants, mushroom parts, and processes used. Beebee uses the knot format that Rice developed as a shorthand to quickly convey this information (for example, no knot means no mordant, one knot means alum mordant, and five knots means iron mordant). The backmatter provides an appendix about Chemistry of Mushroom Dyeing by Erick Sundstrom of Sweden; a Mushroom Index that focuses on dye mushrooms in Northern California; and a bibliography of related publications.

Charming illustration by Beebee, showing mushroom morphology (page 66) 

This is a wonderful reference book for mushroom dyers. It's also conveys how interest in mushroom dyeing started, grew, and spread around the world, all within the last 50 years. Rice and Beebee were passionate about finding out what dye colors mushrooms could produce. They kept records, worked with mycologists and scientists, and shared information. I especially appreciate that the book describes the dye mushrooms found in Northern California, such as Agaricus, Boletus, Cortinarious, Omphalotus, and Polyporus species. The book documents dye outcomes using chrome, tin, and copper as mordants, but informs the reader how poisonous they can be and recommends using salts, alum, cream of tarter, and iron instead. The color photos of dye colors and the detailed mushroom drawings add so much. I highly recommend this book as a resource.

Learn More

Recall that we watched the documentary, Mushrooms for Color, about Rice and her pioneering work extracting dyes from fungi (see Winter Movie 2026).

For information about Beebee and Rice, see the documentary, Try It and See: The story behind the discovery of mushroom dyes.

Ethnobotany and Dyeing with Plants: Wrap Up

For this year's "Ethnobotany" theme, I delved into the plants that indigenous people groups use for dyeing fabric. To narrow the scope, I decided to focus on three specific people groups—Tlingit and Chimmesyan/Tsimshian (Alaska coast and Canada interior), Ohlone/Costanoan (Northern California), and Polynesian/Pacific Islander (Hawaii); and to carry out my research at the survey level rather than the detailed level.

I quickly realized that I had to expand my vision from dyeing fabric with plants, to dyeing and decorating fabric, baskets, and other objects. I also realized that previously my perspective has been on the plant explorers who were learning about dye plants, rather than on the people who were already using them! I thoroughly enjoyed the research and learned so much!

A year full of life!

Ethnobotany

The Learn More sections provide links to additional information, YouTube videos, and other resources.

Ethnobotany and Dyeing With Plants

Ethnobotany: Tlingit's and Dyeing with Plants

Ethnobotany: Muwekma Ohlone Basketry

Ethnobotany: Kanaka Maoli Kapa

Outings in Alaska

I spent six weeks in Alaska with my parents, brother, and a few childhood friends, and enjoyed the beautiful "Great Land". My sister and Aunt Char also travelled to Alaska to visit this beautiful place. Some topics appear in Field Notes. 

Death with Dessert, Mendenhall Glacier, and the Boy Scout Trail (Field Notes for April 2025)

Spring in Southeast Alaska

Audubon Cruise in Southeast Alaska

Jazz and Classics, Toads and Bears, Hikes and Drives, Jensen-Olson Garden, Capital Killers, and TrollFest (Field Notes for May 2025)

Fond Memories of Alaska

More Fond Memories of Alaska

Mom and Marianne at the Glacier and Eagle Beach, and More Family Outings in Juneau (Field Notes for August 2025)

Mom and Aunt Char with Dave at The Hangar (Field Notes for September 2025)

Outings Closer to Home

Visited some diverse gardens here in the Bay Area, and pitched in to help out at the food bank.

Mountain View Cemetery

The Gardens at Lake Merritt (Field Notes for July 2025)

Salesforce Rooftop Garden

Alameda County Community Food Bank

Landscaping

Celebrated our new landscape, learned more about its plants, developed a maintenance schedule, and enjoyed the pollinators and birds that visit the space. 

Great Backyard Bird Count 2025

Bringing Back the Natives 2025

Bird Buddy

Mushrooms (Field Notes for January 2025)

Landscaping: One Year Report

Salamander, Heucheras, and California Poppies (Field Notes for April 2025)

Flowers, Weeding, and Birds (Field Notes for June 2025)

Shadow Play

Cicadas and More Weeding (Field Notes for July 2025)

Summer Flowers (Field Notes for August 2025)

🌷Spring Watch  🌞Summer Watch  🍂Fall Watch  ⛅Winter Watch

Hikes with OTHG (and good places for lunch)

Mari, Gaymond and I explored regional parks all over the Bay Area with the Over-the-Hills-Gang (including cookies at the half-way point—especially the crispy ginger and lemon cookies—but we're not too picky)! The only thing better than hiking with friends, is following it up with lunch and good conversation. Whenever possible, Mari, Gaymond and I tried to find a good place for lunch after our hike. 

Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park (Sparky's Giant Burgers)

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline (Richmond Kebab and Gyros)

Wildcat Regional Park

Briones Regional Park

Ted and Radke Martinez Regional Shoreline Park (Slow Hand BBQ)

Sobrante Ridge Botanical Regional Preserve (The Noodle House)

Contra Loma Regional Park

Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve (Taqueria Las Compadres)

Knox Miller Regional Shore

Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve (TGI Oni Sushi)

Marina Bay Richmond

Pinole Shores (Yo Sushi)

Dotson Family Marsh Richmond (Modu Hawaiian BBQ)

Carquinez Strait (Crocket Cocina)

MLK Shoreline (Dragon Rouge Bistro Alameda)

Tilden Park (potluck)

Road Trip to Mesa Verde

My husband and I always enjoy a good road trip. This time we travelled to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.

Not Quite the North Rim

Mesa Verde National Park

Kicks on Route 66

Field Notes 2025

Continued reporting observations and experiences throughout the month. Most entries are about gardens, plants, and nature, but some are about all the life that happens around that.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Plant Hunters

On a quest to learn more about plant hunters in the Americas, this time in the Western United States.

Edith Van Allen Murphy (California and the Great Basin)

Isabella Aiona Abbott (Hawaii)

Movies

Went to the movies to learn about embroidery (to enhance our understanding of dyeing with plants) and got some ideas for keeping a dye journal for our projects.

Through the Eye of a Needle: Stories from An Indian Desert

Keeping A Dye Journal

Books

Read a few good books to learn more about plant hunters and historical gardening.

Imaginative Small Gardens

Indian Uses of Native Plants

Plants of Old Hawaii

Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants

Plant Hunters: Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott

Another plant hunter - this time collecting plants of the sea! This report is about ethnobotanist Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (1919 - 2010), affectionately nicknamed "First Lady of Limu". Limu is the Polynesian term for edible plants living underwater, such as seaweed, or plants living near the water, like algae. Isabella's love of botany, including limu, started when she was a child, learning at her mother's side. I first learned about Isabella through an article on women botanists of California that was published by the East Bay Regional Parks (unfortunately, the link is no longer active). Regardless, the article captured my attention about her life and work, and I wanted to know more.  

Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott
(photo is in the public domain)

Isabella Kauakea Yau Yung Aiona (a.k.a., "Izzie") was born in Hāna on Maui, Hawaii to a Chinese father and Kanaka Maoli mother. Her father had come to Hawaii to work on a plantation, and then opened a general store once he had completed his contract. The family moved to Honolulu for educational opportunities, but returned to Maui during summer vacations. They stayed with her maternal grandmother and spent time at the beach, where her mother taught Izzie and her brother the names of edible limu and their uses.

Maui coast and limu-covered rocks at low tide
(photo by Starr Environmental, Creative Commons)

Isabella graduated from Kamehameha School for Girls, and then earned a bachelor’s degree in botany at University of Hawaii Mānoa in 1941. While at the University, she met zoology major, Donald P. Abbott, and they married in 1943. Isabell earned a master’s degree in botany from the University of Michigan in 1942; and a doctorate in algal taxonomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. She was the first Kanaka Maoli woman to receive a Ph.D. in science.

Dr. Donald P. Abbott became a zoologist at Stanford University, and the couple made California their home. In 1960 Isabella began teaching at Hopkins Marine Station at Stanford (the first Kanaka Maoli faculty member at Stanford), and in 1972 she became a full professor in Stanford University’s biology department. She published her book Marine Algae of California in 1976 with George J. Hollenberg (earning her the nickname of "First Lady of Limu").

Dr. Abbott collecting limu
(photo source unknown; possibly Celia M. Smith, Stanford)

After retiring from Stanford in 1982, the Abbotts returned to Hawaii where Isabella began teaching botany at University of Hawaii. She later taught Hawaiian ethnobotany at the University, incorporating what she had learned about traditional Hawaiian foods and the Hawaiian language from her mother. She worked to create an ethnobotany major to help advance Hawaiian knowledge. Her efforts contributed to the Hawaiian Renaissance that had started in the 1970s.

Dr. Abbott describes edible limu species (screen shot from
An Introduction to Ethnobotany, ~marker 5:07) 

During the course of her career Isabella studied and cataloged limu, coral reefs, and medical plants. She wrote over 150 articles and eight books, and discovered over 200 species of limu. She was know as a warm person and wonderful cook, often experimenting with culinary uses of limu (including a seaweed cake that was featured in Gourmet magazine in 1987). She collected oral histories and combed through archival material to understand Kanaka Maoli culture and cuisine, and published her book Lāʻau Hawai‘i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants in 1992. I recommend watching several of the YouTube videos listed below, to experience this pioneering ethnobotanist.

Learn More

• Edible Limu...Gifts from the Sea (https://www.hawaii.edu/reefalgae/publications/ediblelimu/index.htm). Poster based upon the book Limu: An Ethnobotanical Study of Some Hawaiian Seaweeds, by I.A. Abbott. National Tropical Botanical Garden, Kauai, Hawaii, 1984. Useful visual presentation of important Hawaiian seaweed species.

• Ethnobotany of Limu (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeWi1PlaaLI). 73rdStProductions, "Introduction to Ethnobotany" series, Video 14, May 17, 2012. Presented by Isabella Aiona Abbott. This episode discusses some of the species of algae that are eaten in Hawaii, and the life experiences of Isabella Abbott as a native Hawaiian scientist.

• Isabella Abbott. Wikipedia article on Dr. I.A. Abbott (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_Abbott). Good summary of Dr. Abbott's life and career, with a comprehensive list of publications.

• Isabella Aiona Abbott. Long Story Short, interview with Leslie Wilcox (https://youtu.be/4qvIXFS5k-k). PBS Hawaii, 2017 (original air date 2008). This interview really captures Dr. I.A. Abbott's personality and presence, as well as her accomplishments.

• Isabella Aiona Abbott - Seaweed Lady, by Heather Irvine, Medical Plants Educator (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/isabella-aiona-abbott-seaweed-lady-heather-irvine/). Linked In, March 29, 2023. This article provides an interesting biography of Dr. I.A. Abbott.

• Lāʻau Hawai‘i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants, by Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (https://bishopmuseumpress.org/products/laau-hawaii). Bishop Museum Honolulu, 1992. This book provides a detailed description of the Polynesian canoe and Hawaiian native plants that are important for Hawaiian culture.

• Limu: An Ethnobotanical Study of Some Hawaiian Seaweeds, by Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (https://www.nativebookshawaii.org/products/limu-an-ethnobotanical-study-of-some-hawaiian-seaweeds). National Tropical Botanical Garden, 1984. This book describes fourteen species of limu that are food sources for Hawaiians.

• Pioneering Professor is First Lady of Limu, by Jennifer Crites (https://www.hawaii.edu/malamalama/2010/10/isabella-abbott/). Malamalama: The Light of Knowledge: The magazine of the University of Hawaii, October 21, 2010. This article provides a biography of Dr. I.A. Abbott and her career.

• Seaweed Wiz, by Louis Bergeron (https://stanfordmag.org/contents/seaweed-wiz). Stanford Magazine, March/April 2011. This article provides a brief biography of "Izzie" Abbott.

Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants

To continue this year's exploration into ethnobotany (or, "the study of how people use plants in different cultures, regions, and time periods"), our next book is Lāʻau Hawai‘i: Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants, by Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (Bishop Museum Honolulu, 1992). The book provides a detailed description of the Polynesian canoe and Hawaiian native plants that are most important for Hawaiian culture. Before its publication, such a a general text on the traditional cultural uses of plants did not exist. [Although Plants of Old Hawai'i, by educator Lois Lucas (Bess Press, Honolulu, 1982) provided us with a wonderful high-level introduction to canoe plants.]

Dr. Isabella Aiona Abbott (1919-2010) earned her doctorate degree in algal taxonomy from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950. In 1972 she became a full professor in Stanford University’s biology department, and published her definitive book Marine Algae of California in 1976 with George J. Hollenberg (earning her the nickname of "First Lady of Limu"). She later taught Hawaiian ethnobotany at the University of Hawaii. She learned about traditional Hawaiian foods and the Hawaiian language from her mother. Dr. Abbott chose to emphasize the ethnobotany and cultural aspects of Hawaii's plants in this book, rather than focusing on the plants themselves.

The Preface and Introduction set the context for the book and how it came to be. Chapter 1 describes the first Hawaiians—their origins from the maritime Lapita people (later the Polynesians), the migration routes from Polynesia to the Hawaiian islands, and the plants they brought with them. Chapter 2 describes the evolution of Hawaiian culture and its relationship to the land and crops, using a framework of development periods—First Settlements and the Development Period, the Expansion Period, and the Historic Period. Chapter 3 describes the religious dimensions of Hawaiian agriculture, which included sustainable practices of caring for the land to ensure ongoing productivity.

Chapters 4 - 17 describe important canoe and native Hawaiian plants that provided sustenance and met every need of cultural life, including food, housing, transportation, ritual, healing, warfare, music, and leisure. Woven throughout the chapters is information about "Kapu", the ancient Hawaiian laws, rules, and taboos that governed all aspects of life, including social interactions, gender roles, religious practices, and food preparation. As an example of kapu, taro was a forbidden food for women and limu was forbidden for men (in this example, women became the cultural experts on seaweed as a food source and knew the names of Hawaii's limu species, while men did not). The Afterward describes changes in society and plant use after first contact with European culture in 1820. The backmatter includes an appendix of flowering plant and fern names, chapter notes, a bibliography of citations, and an index.

My husband and I are planning a trip to several of the Hawaiian islands in the next year or two, so I  especially appreciated reading about the migration from Polynesia to Hawaii, the developmental phases of Hawaiian culture, the impact on Hawaiian culture after first contact, and the renaissance of Hawaiian culture in the 1970s. I also appreciated learning more about canoe and native plants, the reliance on plants for all aspects of Hawaiian life (ethnobotany), the deep respect for the land; and the dedication to its stewardship. I was also interested to learn about making kapa, cordage, war regalia, and houses, from plants and other natural materials. The chapter on war regalia includes a photo showing the netting to which bundles of feathers were attached to construct the helmets and cloaks worn by Hawaiian nobility. I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the people of Hawaii and Hawaiian ethnobotany.

Plants of Old Hawai'i

This year we're learning more about ethnobotany, or "the study of how people use plants in different cultures, regions, and time periods", with special focus on plants that are used for dyeing and embellishing fabric and basketry. This time our book is Plants of Old Hawai'i, by educator Lois Lucas (Bess Press, Honolulu, 1982). The book describes the twenty major plants that the original Hawaiians brought with them from the South Pacific, when they settled in the Hawaiian Islands around 450 CE.  

Plants of Old Hawai'i grew out of Lucas's many years of teaching Hawaiian culture, history, and botany to elementary school children, and her experience planning and cultivating native plants at the Hawaiian Garden at Punahou. Fellow educators also contributed to the book—Joan Fleming provided illustrations of the plants, proverbs, and legends associated with the plants,  and Julie Williams provided poems that incorporate factual information. The book is easy to read, since it is pitched for middle-elementary school children, but I found it a charming and informative introduction to the non-native plants that we now associate with Hawai'i. 

The introduction provides context for the topic, describing that the book is to teach the science of botany, but also to introduce the student to Hawaiian culture. The bulk of the book is devoted to chapters for each of the twenty plants presented in alphabetical order, such as Arrowroot, Banana, Coconut, Sugar Cane, and Taro. The typical chapter provides the common and Hawaiian names, habitat, description, poem, a line drawing of the plant (and its stem, leaves, flowers, seeds, and roots), uses, and legends, proverbs, and riddles. The back matter includes sections on Resources for Teachers, Resources for Children, Diacritical Markings, and a Glossary. An index is not provided.

I am especially interested in Hawaiian plants that can be used for dyeing, basketry, and kapa (bark cloth) making. (After some preliminary research, I'm adding kapa to my list)! Dye plants include Candlenut, Indian Mulberry, True Kou, Milo, and Turmeric. Basketry plants include Coconut, Bottle Gourd, Hau, and Paper Mulberry (fibers may be used for creating rope, strainers, nets, containers, and so forth). Kapa-making and decorating-related plants include Bamboo, Banana, Hau, and Paper Mulberry. I found this book to be a great kick-off to my next Ethnobotany project, Kanaka Maoli/Polynesian plants. I recommend the book for kids and adults alike!

Imaginative Small Gardens

Time for another antique gardening book review, this time Imaginative Small Gardens by Nancy Grasby (Hearthside Press, New York, 1963). Grasby (1900-1990) was born in Australia, moved to the United States to study landscape design at University of California, set up a landscape architect firm in New York, and published Imaginative Small Gardens from her experience. My copy of the book was previously owned by two gardening sisters, Martha Fuller and Irene (Fuller) Baird, and left for us when we bought their house in Southern California. Martha and Irene were childhood friends of my Grandma Char and her three sisters (Mary Bina, Rachel, and Blessing) when they all lived in South Dakota. Later they continued the friendship after everyone moved to Southern California. Our last antique gardening book was The Complete Book of Garden Magic.

The Introduction indicates that the book is for beginners, and focuses on properties up to 100 x 75 feet, of which the garden is a smaller part. Grasby dedicated the book to Lester Rowntree, which immediately captured my interest (recall Plant Hunters: Lester Rowntree). Part I of the book provides information about planning, construction, drainage, soil, and hardscape, and includes multiple planting plans. Glossy black and white plates give examples of landscaping treatments, and drawings illustrate the various plans. The book also provides a list of design principles for working with a smaller lot, such as:

• A long narrow strip of land can be made to seem shorter by breaking it into smaller areas or by introducing different levels.
• A small property can be made to look larger by running a diagonal axis from one corner to another.
• The garden plan should take into account the approach from the street, as well as the view from inside the house.
• Path widths should be in scale with the property. Four feet wide is the ideal for main paths, with a three feet minimum for any path.
• Plantings should be in scale with the house.
• A formal arrangement of plants and paths can work well in a small garden, with the right scale of plants.

Part II of the book describes how to select plant material for color, fragrance, foliage, and durability. Grasby recommends some plants in various categories, such as trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, and flowers/bulbs. She provides both common and species names, and indicates they are only examples, with many more species available for specific climates and planting conditions. The book focuses on plants for Midwestern, Southern, and East Coast gardens, but Grasby makes a point to include plants for California and the West Coast as well.

Sample garden plan for a long, narrow Brownstone backyard
(This book is in the public domain in the United States of America)

The garden plans and their explanations were especially interesting, describing goals, challenges to overcome, and design principles to follow. My favorite plan is for a square garden, which can be planted in several ways (such as for flowers, herbs, or fruits and vegetables). A portion of the planting area is positioned on an axis, which does seem to make the garden look larger. Click on the photos to better see the detail.

Square garden designed for flowers

Square garden designed for herbs

Square garden designed for fruits and vegetables

The back matter includes a reference section and a comprehensive index. Library recommendations include Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston Mass.), which is now published in separate volumes by category. Other titles include the Sunset Western Garden Book (Lane Book Co., Menlo Park, CA); Garden Design by Sylvia Crowe (Hearthside Press, Inc.); and T. H. Everett's Lawns and Landscaping Handbook (Everett Book No. 302, Fawcett Publications Inc., Greenwich (Conn.).

I recommend this book for anyone interested in small garden design, garden history, and women landscapers. The design information is current and relevant (Grasby refers to Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, and recommends plants that are in keeping with the garden's region and climate for best results). In closing, I learned that in 1938, Grasby was an apprentice to Lester Rowntree on a plant collection trip to Mexico (which satisfied my curiosity about why Grasby dedicating the book to Rowntree)!

Plant Hunters: Edith Van Allen Murphey

More plant hunters! This year I'm focusing on women collectors in the Western United States. Our first report is about the self-taught ethnobotanist, Edith Van Allen Murphy (1879-1968), who worked in the Intermountain National Forest lands within Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, and southern Idaho; and later in California. I first learned about Ms. Murphey while reading Lester Rountree's Hardy Californians (see Plant Hunters: Lester Rountree). In the forward, Judith Larner Lowry describes Murphey as a seed-gathering woman who was contemporaneous with Rowntree, and collected in Mendocino County in California.

Edith Van Allen-Murphey (Sojourn Magazine Winter 96-97)

Edith Van Allen was born in 1879 in New York state. She attended Melvil Dewey's library school at Albany, New York (Dewey invented the Dewey Decimal system of library classification). In 1902 she was recruited to catalog rare books for the University of California at Berkeley and moved across country. In around 1903, failing eyesight prevented her from continuing the work. She moved to the redwoods near Sherwood, just north of Willits, to homestead. She married a neighboring homesteader but divorced two years later. During this time she learned how to live off the land from nearby Pomo natives.

Over the next 25 years, she married two more ranchers, Sanford Lee Redwine of Round Valley and then Will Murphey of Covelo. Both marriages were happy, but left her a widow. While living on these primitive California ranches, she fell in love with Mendocino and developed a passion for rare native flowers. Between chores, she collected specimens, and corresponded with botanist Carl Purdy (1861-1945) of Ukiah, sending them to him for identification and learning from his responses. In 1906, Mrs. Phoebe Hearst commissioned her to collect the best of Northern California Indian basketry for the University of California. In 1925 her third husband, Will Murphey, died and Murphey sold their ranch.

Sam Young (Hayfork Wintu), Edith Van Allen Murphey, and Lucy Young (Lassik)

Murphey realized she was free to follow her passion for plants. From 1925 to 1935 she worked for United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their primary interest was to identify and eliminate stock-poisoning plants on Indian cattle and sheep ranges. During this time she lived and worked with eleven Indian tribes gathering data, as the United States Indian Service's only range botanist. The contacts that Ms. Murphey made during her research for the BIA, enabled her to document plant use by indigenous people groups throughout the Intermountain region and the West, and to publish Indian Uses of Native Plants. 

Detail from the Mendocino County History Mural, painted by Judy Pruden
Left to right: Carl Purdy, Sam Young, Edith Murphey, and Lucy Young

In 1927, at the age of 48, she headed to the Mendocino high country in hopes of being a plant collector for John Purdy, who collected and sold California seeds and bulbs all over the world. He refused to hire a woman as a plant collector, but hired her as a cook instead. She was still able to collect plant specimens from spring through fall, and met many visiting botanists during her time with Purdy. From 1935 until her death in 1968, she spent her days in Covelo, California advocating for both native Americans and the amazing biodiversity of California's plants. Artist Judy Pruden included Carl Purdy, Sam Young, Edith Van Allen Murphey, and Lucy Young as botanists on the Mendocino County History Mural, in Ukiah, California.

Learn More

• Edith Van Allen Murphey, Sojourn Magazine Premier Issue, Winter 1996-1997. Written by Liz Helenchild, using original wording by Ms. Murphey where possible. https://creation-designs.com/gracemillennium/sojourn/premiere/html/ed_murphey.html

• Edith Van Allen Murphey Papers, University of Nevada, Reno (microfilm; the originals are in Covelo, California). https://archive.library.unr.edu/public/repositories/2/resources/139
• Indian Uses of Native Plants. Edith Van Allen Murphey (Meyerbooks, Illinois, 1990; and Mendocino County Historical Society, 1958, 1987). Ethnobotanical uses of native plants by indigenous people of the Intermountain area. https://www.amazon.com/Indian-Native-Plants-Edith-Murphey/dp/0916638154

• Hardy Californians, Lester Rowntree (University of California Press, Berkeley, 2006). The forward includes the article, "Lester Rowntree's Horticultural Legacy", by Judith Lowry. On page lxvii, Lowry writes that plant collecting contemporaries Rowntree, Edith Van Allen Murphey, and Willis Linn Jepson loved the freedom and adventure of the automobile while plant collecting. She also notes that Murphey longed to meet Rowntree. https://www.amazon.com/Hardy-Californians-Womans-Native-Plants/dp/0520250516/

• The Lily Man of Ukiah, NYBG LuEsther T. Mertz Library, Plant & Research Guides, Nursery and Seed Catalogs: Carl Purdy and the Bulbs and Wild Flowers of California. Explores the nursery catalogs and professional career of Carl Purdy, who saw and understood the flora of California with an unmatched acuity. Edith Van Allen Murphey served as apprentice and cook for Purdy. https://libguides.nybg.org/c.php?g=655017&p=4597876

Note: search this article for "Edith Murphey: A disciple of Carl Purdy". The side bar article provides more information about Ms. Murphey and her life experiences.

• Lucy Young, Round Valley, podcast: Parts 1 - 7. KZYX Mendocino County Remembered, read by Linda Pack. The saga of a 10-year old Wailaki Indian girl in 1862 who fled from soldiers and from white men who trafficked in Indian children. In 1939, when Lucy was in her 90s, she told her story to her friend and neighbor in Covelo, the ethnobotanist Edith Van Allen Murphey. Lucy Young wanted the truth to be told. https://feeds.transistor.fm/kzyx-mendocino-county-remembered (search for "Lucy Young").

• Mendocino County Historical Mural, painted by Judy Pruden. This mural runs the length of an entire city block on the north wall of the Ukiah Valley Conference Center in downtown Ukiah, California. Panel 25 is devoted to Ukiah botanist and horticulturist Carl Purdy, Covelo ethnobotanist Edith Van Allen Murphey, and Native botanical experts Lucy Young (Lassik) and her husband Sam Young (Hayfork Wintu). https://historymural.com/sections/six/remembrance/#botanists

Indian Uses of Native Plants

This year we're diving into ethnobotany, or "the study of how people use plants in different cultures, regions, and time periods", with special focus on plants that are used for dyeing or decorating fabric or objects. Our first book is Indian Uses of Native Plants, by Edith Van Allen Murphey (1879-1968). The book was published by Meyerbooks, Illinois, 1990; and Mendocino County Historical Society, 1958, 1987. Ms. Murphey served for ten years in the Inter-Mountain area for United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. Their primary interest was to identify and eliminate stock-poisoning plants on Indian cattle and sheep ranges.

The Inter-Mountain area encompasses National Forest System lands within Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, southern Idaho, and a small portion of California. Four geographic areas come together  in the area—the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Middle Rocky Mountains, and Northern Rocky Mountains—which are rich with native and endemic species. The contacts that Ms. Murphey made during her research for the BIA, enabled her to gather data on plant uses by various indigenous people groups throughout the region. Ms. Murphey describes that at first the indigenous groups were reluctant to come forward with information, but after learning that the purpose was to document the knowledge so it would not be lost, they came forward willingly and proudly.

The Preface, Forward, and Introduction provide information and context for the book. The bulk of the content is organized into 19 categories, such as Indian Foods, Famine Foods, Feasts, The Salt Journey, Medicinal Plants, Ceremonials and Magic, Bows and Arrows, and Tepees. Each category includes information about plants and their uses, and provides Common Names, Botanical Names, and indigenous names. Some uses are cosmopolitan (shared across tribes), others are unique to specific tribes (often based on the what is available in specific regions). Also included are interesting details, such as how a medicine was prepared, how infants were cared for, and how some of the old methods have evolved in modern times. The backmatter includes Dictionary of Plant Names (Common, Indian, and Botanical), Index of Scientific Names, and Index of Common Names. The scientific names are typically updated with each printing.

Indian Uses of Native Plants is full of information, processes, methods, and lore. My favorite categories include Basketry, Dye Plants, and Tanning Hides. I had assumed that most dyes would be used for fabric and wool, but found they are more often used for basketry and for coloring hides and feathers. Surprisingly, fibers from various plants are woven into a basket to provide color, rather than the basket material being dyed. Alum is a frequent mordant (obtained from plant roots, or from minerals in the desert). Some dye material is naturally high in tannin, so no additional mordant is required (such as Wolf Moss or rock lichens). This book is a gem for anyone interested in ethnobotany in the Inter-Mountain area.

Sabbatical, Seasons, and Seasons of Life: Wrap Up

For this year's "Sabbatical, Seasons, and Seasons of Life" theme, we pushed the pause button on everyday life. Time to slow down, consider what is important, keep what works, and move on from what doesn't. In May, I entered a new season of life when I accepted early retirement from a career that I loved.

Family members in Juneau, Alaska were facing their own new seasons of life, so I spent most of May through September in Alaska. It was a time of some hard changes, and we faced them together. I missed my family, home and garden back in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, I was grateful to have the time that retirement provides to pitch in, to spend time with my family in Alaska, and to immerse myself in the beautiful place where I was born and raised. Incidentally, I found the transition to retirement easy and liberating (obviously it was time for a new season of life)! 

Retirement and new frontiers!

 Seasons and Seasons of Life

I launched into a new season of life as a retired person, and am loving it! More time to enjoy life and the beauty of the everyday.

Sabbatical, Seasons, and Seasons of Life

A New Season of Life

Counting Birds for the GBBC

Bringing Back the Natives

Bird Buddy

Shadow Play

🌷Spring Watch   🌞Summer Watch   🍂Fall Watch   ⛅Winter Watch

Outings in Alaska

I spent four months in Alaska with my parents, aunt, siblings, and a few childhood friends; and enjoyed the beautiful "Great Land" in the process.

Mendenhall Glacier and More

North Douglas, the Chilkats, and More

Summer in Alaska

Blue Ice

Summer Outing

Cruise Ship Spotting

Three Seasons of Sunsets in Juneau Alaska

Fall Outing

Remembering Three Seasons in Alaska

Landscaping

We completed a major landscaping project at our home in the Bay Area using a local company that specializes in native and sustainable gardens, and then delved into learning about the plants.

Site Visit (2022)

Site Survey (2023)

The Plan

Demolition

Progress (see Field Notes for March)

Finished

Six Month Report

Moonlight in the Garden

Some Favorite Plants

More Favorite Plants

Even More Favorite Plants

Field Notes

We experimented with a new format to report observations and experiences throughout the month.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Plants to Dye For: Wrap Up 2024

I managed to get in a couple of solar dyeing projects!

Dye Project: Poinsettia Bracts (solar)

Dye Project: Chokecherry (solar)

Plant Hunters

On a quest to learn more about plant hunters in the Americas.

Alexander von Humboldt

Dr. Elzada Clover

Dr. Lois Jotter Cutter

Movies

We learned more about weaving (to enhance our understanding of dyeing with plants) and enjoyed some entertaining shows (that had nothing to do with plants or plant movie stars).

Wisdom of the Loom

Garage Sale Mysteries

Books

We read a few good books to learn more about historical gardening, and plant hunters.

The Complete Book of Garden Magic

Alexander von Humboldt and the Botanical Exploration of the Americas

Brave the Wild River

Plant Hunters: Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter (Cutter)

This year I'm continuing my series on plant hunters who collected botanical specimens in the Americas. This time I'm reporting on two women botanists who collected specimens on the Colorado River in the 1930s - Dr. Elzada Clover (1897-1980) and Dr. Lois Jotter Clover (1914-2013). I don't recall how I heard about them (it might have been through a book club referral from my mom, or through my own research into plant hunters). Regardless, I love desert plants and a good adventure, so was hooked and wanted to know more.

Elzada Clover was born in 1897 in Auburn, Nebraska to a large farm family. They moved to Texas in 1925, where Elzada developed a keen interest in cacti. Clover attended Nebraska State Teachers College in 1930 and and later University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, earning her M.S. (1932) and PhD. (1935) degrees. Her doctoral thesis focused on cacti of the lower Rio Grande Valley. She taught botany at University of Michigan and was an assistant curator of their botanical gardens. She made numerous expeditions in the Southwest searching for native plant species.

Lois Jotter (later Cutter) was born in 1914 in Weaverville, California, and later the family moved to Michigan. Lois was interested in science from an early age, and encouraged to pursue science by her mother and her father who taught forestry at the University of Michigan. Lois graduated from the University of Michigan with degrees in botany and biology, and continued her studies in botany, earning a doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1943.

In the late 1930's, Clover started planning a research trip down the Colorado River to catalog its plants. She sought funding and worked with boatman Norman Nevills who worked out of Mexican Hat, Utah. At the time the Colorado River was untamed and boating the Grand Canyon was very rare. Clover and Nevills developed their team, which included Jotter and several graduate students and boatmen. Nevills and his father built a fleet of custom river boats - the Wen, the Botany, and the Mexican Hat. The Clover and Nevills 1938 expedition traveled from Green River, Utah, through the Cataract and Grand Canyons, all the way to Lake Mead. The rigorous trip took 43 days, covered 600 miles, and was filled with peril. Along the way, Clover and Jotter gathered plant specimens and described the plant zones found along the river (influenced perhaps by Alexander von Humboldt's work on climate zones at different altitudes - see Plant Hunters: Alexander von Humboldt). Their report is an important record of native species, as later the Glen Canyon Dam was built along the river.

Dr. Elzada Clover with Norman Nevills on the Colorado River
(photo by National Park Service)

To learn more about the expedition down the Colorado river, I read Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon, by Melissa L. Sevigny (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 2023). The book provides an account of the trip down the river, both the perilous physical adventure and the often-fraught interpersonal adventure. 

It was fascinating to experience the expedition vicariously, made at a time that the Colorado River and Grand Canyon were untamed by humans and very unpredictable. I was interested to learn about the challenges of collecting plants and keeping them dry, and their realization that indigenous people cultivated some non-native plants along the river. It was also interesting to read some of Clover and Jotter's resulting botanical publications and see how their research helped later botanists. I recommend this book for anyone interested in botanical history in the Americas, adventure, and desert plants.

Learn More

• Elzada Clover
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elzada_Clover

• Lois Jotter (Cutter)
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lois_Jotter

• Floristic Studies in the Canyon of the Colorado and Tributaries
  By Elzada U. Clover and Lois Jotter
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/2421241

• Cacti of the Canyon of the Colorado River and Tributaries
  By Elzada U. Clover and Lois Jotter
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/2481651

• Writing Westward Podcast Ep. 053 - Melissa L Sevigny
  Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Grand Canyon
  Interviewer: Prof. Brenden W. Rensink
  https://youtu.be/pE6g_MHtYxo

• The Wild Ones - The Atavist Magazine
By Melissa Sevigny
https://magazine.atavist.com/the-wild-ones-grand-canyon-colorado-river-first-women/

• Heritage Project - University of Michigan
  River Rat
  By Kim Clarke
  https://heritage.umich.edu/stories/river-rat/

• University of Michigan Library
  Elzada U. Clover Papers, 1938-1944
  https://findingaids.lib.umich.edu/catalog/umich-bhl-85109

• Northern Arizona University - Cline Library
  Oral history interview with Lois Jotter Cutter, September 1994 (with transcript)
  https://archive.library.nau.edu/digital/collection/cpa/id/63375/

• Lois Jotter Cutter - long form interview with Lois Jotter Cutter (who ran the river with Norm Nevills and Elzada Clover in 1938, becoming the first women to do so) shot in 1994 in the Grand Canyon on the Stanton Photo-match trip (eyewitness testimony from people who saw the river before Glen Canyon Dam). Camera, Jeff Robertson. Sound, Lew Steiger.
• Part 1 of 3: https://youtu.be/jyREBW3NKVw
• Part 2 of 3: https://youtu.be/JnMcQbDiJlU
• Part 3 of 3: https://youtu.be/LE3mwNZh01U