Merritt College Plant Sale Spring 2016

Merritt College just held their annual spring plant sale on the weekend of April 30^th and May 1. The plant sale is part festival and part marketplace, and a great venue for mingling with fellow plant lovers and knowledgeable horticultural students. You can find healthy, well-rooted California native, drought-tolerant, and organic vegetable starters to purchase. For best selection, get there early on Saturday (but I have found great plants even late on Sunday).

The Horticulture Club and associated volunteers grow the starters on premise, in the green house and planting beds. The Horticulture and Sustainable Agriculture departments team up to experiment with interesting ideas for raised beds, using natural materials. They also propagate many varieties of native plants, and heirloom produce and trees.

Approaching the Plant Sale on the Merritt College campus

This year I found several new plants to try. I purchased a couple of interesting cherry tomato plants, and a few shade-loving plants and ground covers for my "white garden". The pink dianthus is for a hot, sunny location in the garden. I already planted a few of the plants, and look forward to getting the rest planted soon.

The Spoils - ready to plant

The Merritt College plant sales coincide with the ideal planting times here in the East Bay—in the Fall (right before the wet season, so that roots can go deep and become established), and in the Spring (at the end of the wet season, when the soil is still soft and moist). These are great sales for stocking up on beautiful plant starters.

Hildene House

Hildene House is located near Manchester, Vermont, in the southwestern corner of the state, and was the summer home of Robert Todd Lincoln and his wife Mary Eunice (Harlan). Robert Lincoln was the only surviving son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. We visited on a moody, cloudy day that threatened rain.

Sweeping grounds of the Hildene estate

Hildene is a composite of old English words meaning hill and valley with stream, which is a perfect name. The 412 acre estate encompasses a hill overlooking a valley, meadows, and wetlands. The summer estate is now run by the Friends of Hildene. They give tours of the estate, which includes a working farm, a Pullman train car, and the house and garden.

Working farm on the Hildene estate

Lincoln (1843 – 1926) was a lawyer like his father. He was educated at Harvard University and the Old University of Chicago law school, and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He served as Secretary of War (1881 – 1885), and as United States minister to the United Kingdom (1889 – 1893). Later he worked as general counsel of the Pullman Palace Car Company, and then became its president in 1897 after George Pullman died.

Pullman Car - Lincoln was president of the Pullman Palace Car Company in later years

The house is built in the Georgian Revival style, and built on an outcrop overlooking the Battenkill Valley. A sweeping driveway delivers the visitor to the front entry. An antique red car stands at the ready. The front lawn has markings representing the size of the log cabin in which Abraham Lincoln was raised in contrast with the size of his son’s summer estate.



Front entrance of Hildene House - the sign describes the lawn markings outlining the size of Abraham Lincoln's family cabin

We toured the house interior, which is furnished with Lincoln family furniture and possessions. I was impressed with how cozy and comfortable it was. I can see why it would be a destination in the heat of summer.

Hildene House formal garden

Hoyt Formal Garden

Behind the house is the Hoyt Formal Garden. The formal beds are designed to resemble a stained glass window – with clipped hedges demarking the beds of annuals and perennials. From the house and charming garden is a beautiful view of the valley and hills beyond.  Our docent explained that in Lincoln's day, the hills would have been farmland. Over the years, they have reverted to native forest land.

Borrowed view of the valley and hills