Field Trip to Mount Diablo

On a beautiful fall day, my folks, husband, and I made a day trip up Mount Diablo in the Mount Diablo State Park. The mountain is 3,850 feet above sea level, and dominates the skyline from all directions.

On the way up Mount Diablo in Mount Diablo State Park

We entered near Walnut Creek, from the Ygnacio Valley and North Gate roads, through the leafy, mixed oak forest, past horse trails, and up the winding road through iconic California scenery. We shared the road with bicyclists pedaling up or whizzing down, motor cycles, joggers, and a few other cars.

Mixed oak forest at the base of Mount Diablo

We stopped periodically to look at the grand view. The skyline was a little murky with haze in the distance on the day we visited, but many San Francisco Bay Area landmarks were still recognizable. At the Diablo Valley Overlook signage helped us identify many of these landmarks from our elevated perspective.

Livermore Valley Overlook

Diablo Valley Overlook

At the top, we were treated to a 360-degree view of Northern California from the Summit Visitor Center. On a clear day, you can see the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east, the Farallon Islands to the west, and everything in between. Our view was a little hazier, but we could make out primary landmarks.

Mount Diablo Summit Visitor Center

Mount Diablo Beacon

We also enjoyed the museum housed in the Summit Building built by the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) from 1933 – 1942. We learned all about the early native populations that inhabited the area for over 5,000 years, and about how Mount Diablo was important in early land surveys done of Northern California and Nevada in the 1800s.

Fantastic 360-degree view from the summit

After our adventure, we headed for Scott's Seafood in Walnut Creek for a delicious dinner, and great conversation. We definitely want to return to drink in the view, and explore the surrounding area.

Plant Propagation – Runners

Last month we switched our “Birds and Bees” series from sexual reproduction, to asexual reproduction (see Plant Propagation – Cuttings). With asexual reproduction, a new plant forms as a genetic clone of a single parent. Asexual reproduction has some advantages if sexual reproduction is impossible, or if a grower wants to propagate multiple plants with the same characteristics as the parent plant. The disadvantage is that the plants may be vulnerable to some diseases, or pests.

In this article, I’m partnering with guest bloggers Al and Bina Harris from Southeast Alaska. They are reporting on their own experiences with stolons in their summer garden. Some plants send out runners (or stolons) as an asexual means of reproduction. A runner is a stem that develops at the crown of a plan and grows horizontally from the source. New plants form at nodes on the stolon, and take root while still attached to the parent plant. Gardeners can take advantage of this tendency, and plant the nodes to grow new plants.

Ranunculus repens (Creeping Buttercup)

The common buttercup is a fixture in damp meadows and drainage ditches in Southeast Alaska. They are lovely addition to the scenery when you are out hiking. If you are a gardener though, they are not as welcome. They send out many stolons which put down a new plant at each node. For the gardener, this represents the potential of a weed at every node!

Buttercup stolon - each node is a potential weed

Fragaria spp. (Strawberry)

The strawberry plant, on the other hand, sends out many stolons, which are welcomed by gardeners. Each node represents a potential strawberry plant to add to the strawberry bed!

A productive strawberry plant to the left, sends out a stolon to the right

Nodes guided to containers in which to take root

After several days the plants are doing fine and ready to be transplanted.
The originating stolon can be severed once the starter takes root.

The new plant is already sending out its own stolon

Seven of the ten new strawberry plants produced via stolon

Good healthy root systems in the new plants (and already producing more stolon)

Special thanks to Al and Bina Harris for photographs and report. It is always interesting to share stories with gardeners in other climates!

Garden History – Innovation of Gardening Publications

Our final garden landscape innovation in this series is the spread of gardening publications in the 1800s. Technical advances brought down the cost of printing and producing color illustrations, leading to an explosion of journals, periodicals, and books. Changes brought on by the Industrial Revolution had led to an emerging urban and educated middle class, with an interest in gardening on a smaller scale. They eagerly sought out the new gardening publications.

Two prolific publishers of the time were Joseph Paxton (we learned about him in Garden History Innovations – Glass Houses), and John Claudius Loudon (1783 – 1845). Loudon was born to a farming family in Scotland, and became an influential horticulturist. He visited many of the great gardens of England and Europe, and understood their historical context. He also built glass houses, helped develop the Victorian suburban garden, and was an advocate for large public parks for recreation and nature. (Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed New York’s Central Park and the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, was influenced by his ideas).

Loudon wrote prolifically about old and new plant species, and how to grow them successfully using innovative techniques. His audience included those with grand estate gardens as well as small suburban gardens. Loudon’s publications include (dates vary by various sources):

• Encyclopedia of Gardening (1822)
• The Green-House Companion (1824)
• Gardener’s Magazine (founded in 1826)
• Arboretum et Fruiticetum Britannicum (1830)
• Remarks on Laying Out Public Gardens and Promenades (1835)
• Suburban Gardener, and Villa Companion (1838)

Gardening publication by John C. Loudon (No copyright, distributed by Google)

In 1830 Loudon met and married Jane C. Webb Loudon (1807 – 1858), who was already a published author of an early work of science fiction (The Mummy!). She worked closely with Loudon, and soon became a prolific garden writer in her own right. After Loudon’s death Ms. Loudon had continued success publishing books for women gardeners. Ms. Loudon’s publications include (dates vary by various sources):

• Young Ladies Book of Botany (1838)
• Gardening for Ladies (1840)
• Botany for Ladies (1842)
• The Ladies Magazine of Gardening (1842)
• The Ladies Companion to the Flower Garden (1840 – 44, four volumes)
• My Own Garden (1855)
• Amateur Gardener’s Calendar

Gardening publication by Jane Loudon (Creative Commons)

Many other gardening journals, periodicals, and books were available in the 1800s, but the Loudon’s had a major impact. They educated and influenced gardeners across gender and socio-economic lines via their many garden publications.

Learn More:

• The Green-House Companion (John Loudon)
• The Ladies Companion to the Flower Garden (Jane Loudon)