Eagle River and the Crab Feed

A group of us headed "out the road" to the Eagle Beach State Recreation Area. This is a favorite place as it is surrounded with beauty and grand views, offers easy walking for a multi-generational crowd, and frequently has milder weather than downtown (when Juneau is cloudy and drizzly, Eagle Beach may have high-clouds and no rain, and sometimes even sunshine).

Mist over Eagle River

Watching the river

Fun with Grandpa

A dense fog hung over the vegetation in places along the river, giving it a soft focus look.  As always, we looked for bears (recall a year ago we watched a young female bear delicately eat a salmon in this same place - see Beautiful Juneau).

Exploring with Grandma

No fish

No bears

As with the streams at Mendenhall Glacier, we found the streams at Eagle River void of spawning salmon, so little to draw the attention of hungry bears. We found interesting plants in the area, and enjoyed exploring along the access road to the campground and cabins.

High-bush cranberries almost ripe

Wood rose

We drove over to nearby Eagle Beach for a walk on the sandbars. It was fun to skip rocks on the water, listen to the birds, and take in the sweeping views of the sea, the craggy mountains, and Herbert Glacier in the distance.

View to the mountains and Herbert Glacier to the right

Family portrait at Eagle Beach

A few days later, my brother and dad pooled their personal crab licences, and treated us all to a crab feed. My brother arrived with a plastic table cloth, an assortment of kitchen shears and pliers, and two King crab legs per person. We fell to work releasing the crab, and feasted on the sweet, delicate meat dipped in melted butter.

Crab Feed 101

Gaining momentum

Finishing up

In the pictures of the event, we all look pretty grim, but don't be fooled. It's just pure concentration and culinary pleasure. We celebrated another birthday with delicious cake and ice cream, this time for a sexagenarian.

The aftermath of a great crab feed

Birthday Black Forest cake

We had enough crab leftover for several crab melt lunches. Needless to say, we were full of gratitude for the gracious squandering of the season's crab take on our behalf. It was delicious, and a wonderful experience!

Preparing the crab melts

  

Summer Details at Filoli

Can you feel it? The slight change in the air that indicates the seasons are changing. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the change from summer to fall is very subtle. But you can feel it in the morning and evening fog, and you can see it in the long afternoon shadows and the leaves changing from green to shades of brown. As for me, I’m hanging on to the late summer beauty as long as I can.

Glimpse of the Filoli Garden House through summer plantings

Bold summer border

Late summer beauty, like what my aunt and I experienced in our recent field trip to Filoli (see Filoli in Summer). The colorful borders. The beds of roses and dahlias. The shady allées of trees and bushes.

Rose garden. The roses are well cataloged and signed for easy identification

Dahlia garden. The dahlias are also cataloged and signed.

Shady olive orchard provides a Mediterranean feel

I’m also filing away some of the details for future garden ideas – the interesting signage, the cataloging of plants, and the use of containers to extend summer color for as long as possible.

Citrus tree	Row of containers on the stairs
Burgundy inflorescence	Interesting signage
Splash of purple	Containers add color

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We have a month or two of summer heat ahead of us, but the shorter days are coming, and with them, incremental seasonal changes in nature. Luckily, my aunt and I can visit Filoli in any season to see something new, and we always have Fentons Creamery and Restaurant!

Botanical Gardens: University of California, Berkeley

The UC Botanical Garden, which is associated with University of California at Berkeley, has over 13,000 plants from around the world installed in naturalistic settings on 34 acres. The plants are arranged in nine major geographic regions (such as Mediterranean, South Africa, Australasia, the Americas, and California); and in special collections (such as Chinese Medicinal Herb, old roses, cycads and palms, crops of the world, tropical, and carnivorous plants).




Printable version: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/GardenMapPoster.pdf

My first visit was on a class tour that was led by Dr. Lawrence Lee, one of my professors at Merritt College. Lee had worked at the UC Botanical Garden early in his career, so knew many interesting facts about the plants and history of the garden. The setting is spectacular—high in the Berkeley Hills overlooking the San Francisco Bay. I have visited the garden multiple times, in different seasons, and there is always something new and interesting to see.
 

Entrance to UC Botanical Garden, at Berkeley

Palm Collection

I always seem to gravitate to the trees and palms; to the desert plants in Arid House; and to the carnivorous plant collection. The California native plant collection is extensive, and a valuable asset as we all try to learn more about drought tolerant, and low water usage plants for our gardens.

Arid House

One of the many interesting specialty collections

The education program hosts lectures, such as iPhone plant photography, botanical painting, dyeing with plant materials, and native plants. Check their calendar regularly for interesting offerings.

Carnivorous plants	Needle grass
Yucca rostrata	Blueberries from New Zealand

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Docent-led tours are available, or you can explore the garden on your own. The gift store has a great collection of books and garden-related items (gift worthy, if you want to do a little holiday shopping while enjoying a beautiful garden). Their nursery offers many California native plants, and their fall and spring plant sales are legendary.

 

Address: 200 Centennial Drive; Berkeley, CA 94720-5045 Web Site: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu Directions: http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/directions/ For other botanical collections in the San Francisco Bay Area see: http://www.edenbythebay.blogspot.com/2015/02/botanical-collections-of-bay-area.html

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Botanical Gardens: San Francisco Botanical Garden

The San Francisco Botanical Garden (formerly called Strybing) is located in Golden Gate Park. The 55-acre garden specializes in plants of the Mediterranean, South Africa, New Zealand, the Americas, California, and Asia. Special collections include plants from the cloud forests of the world, a moon garden, succulents, and ancient plants. The garden takes advantage of its temperate, foggy location in San Francisco, and grows over 50,000 plants from all over the world.



Printable version: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/graphics/pdf/04SFBGSA_BW_Map.pdf

I visited the garden for the first time in July. With so much to see, I decided to make a sweep through all the major areas of the garden, and to spend some concentrated time in a few places that were especially appealing.

Main Gate entrance (Friend Gate is a second entrance)

Plenty of space to roam

I visited on a hot and beautiful day. The park was jammed with folks eager to be outdoors after a stretch of cloudy days. A plant sale was in full swing, and a couple of private parties were in progress. Adding to the festivities was the Sunset Piano, Opus IV. Twelve pianos were distributed around the garden, and played by professionals. What a pleasure to stroll around the beautiful grounds and come across small informal concerts with all types of music—jazz, gospel, show tunes, classical. Even with all the extra activity, the garden is large enough to accommodate the crowds.

Piano concert under the trees

I especially liked the groves of mature trees – the redwood grove, the Mesoamerican cloud forest, the Andean cloud forest, and the Southeast Asian cloud forest. They are each populated with native plants from the regions, and dense with vegetation. Signage provides information about the plants and their ecosystems.

Metrosideros excelsa from New Zealand. According to signage, the aerial roots descend to the ground and take root, becoming extra trunks that support heavy horizontal branches.

I stood for quite a while in the Mesoamerican cloud forest listening to the wind in the trees; enjoyed sitting beside the Bamboo Pond in deep shade watching shadow and light play over the water; and ate my lunch in the deep shade of the redwood grove.

Bamboo Pond

Redwood Grove

Docent-lead tours are available, or you can roam freely. The garden offers monthly plant sales (excluding several months), and an annual plant sale in the spring. I recommend this garden for a pleasant outing, or for learning more about plants from around the world. I plan to return to see what all I missed, and to see trees and plants in different seasons.
 

Address: Golden Gate Park; 1199 9th Avenue; San Francisco, CA 94122 Web Site: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/ Golden Gate Park Directions: http://www.sfbotanicalgarden.org/visit/directions.html For other botanical collections in the San Francisco Bay Area see: http://www.edenbythebay.blogspot.com/2015/02/botanical-collections-of-bay-area.html

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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.

Winter

Winter is another subtle season in the San Francisco Bay Area. Days are shorter now, and we have had several of our seasonal rains. Temperatures hover in the 50 degree range, but may spike during the day or plummet at night. Fog, or even frost, may be on the car windows in the early morning. The sun is lower in the sky, and somehow always seems to be in my eyes.

The garden is neglected – it is typically dark when I get up in the morning and dark when I get off work in the evening; and cold enough during the weekends that any garden task can wait until the weather is warmer. The garden seems to be “dormant.” I recently took a stroll through our small garden. In truth, I found signs that nature is very active, and many things are happening in the garden.

Azalea bud	Hydrangea bud
Ivy florals	Magnolia bud
Rhododendron bud	Tulip tree bud

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