Alice Keck Memorial Garden, Santa Barbara

On a recent trip to Santa Barbara Botanic Garden I got this book called Alice's Garden, by Anne-Marie Castleberg. It's about the Alice Keck Memorial Garden in Santa Barbara, which I had yet to visit. With 30 minutes to spare before our dinner plans, I jetted over to this free public garden with my daughter to see just how special it was.
I admit before seeing this book I had never even heard of the Alice Keck Memorial Garden (or Alice Keck for that matter). I also admit that none of my family that live in Santa Barbara even realized it was there (but then again, none of them had been to Lotusland either). And...I will also admit that I visited the garden on a whim, after just flipping through the pages of the book for 30 seconds to look at the beautiful pictures from Ralph Clevenger. My pictures posted here do not do this place justice. I was tired from hiking around the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, was managing my 4 year old (almost 5 year old!) and trying to go meet family in a few minutes. The plus side: this beautiful place is a *free* public park- so if you go visit it based on my recommendation and are disappointed, oh well, it didn't cost you anything. BUT... if you go, and are blown away by one of the coolest free public parks in California.... please remember to thank me! I was blown away, and will probably visit it every time I go to Santa Barbara.

The author of Alice's Garden is married to Grant Castleberg, the landscape architect that designed this beautiful space back in the mid-70's (dude- Grant, spruce up your web page! Show us your pretty designs!). Alice Keck was a wealthy socialite that bequeathed over 50 million dollars to the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara's Cottage Hospital, the Humane Society, and the Museum of Art.

In addition to her financial donations to the Santa Barbara community, she donated this piece of land, over 4 acres of prime Santa Barbara real estate which is now named in her honor. The location, at Arrelaga and Garden Street, had gone through many changes over the years. Once an experimental farm, a fancy hotel, and on the chopping block to become a high-rise building, this space is now reserved as a garden for her legacy.

As huge Alice in Wonderland fans, we found it entertaining to get lost in "Alice"; a healthy, mature, beautiful garden. Alex and I wandered along the pathways with no clue as to where we were heading.

This inspirational space is pesticide free. In 2004 Santa Barbara adopted IPM (Integrated Pest Management) for all of their public areas. This garden demonstrates how you can have a lush garden without the assistance of chemicals.

This Ceiba insignis tree was gnarly looking but beautiful. We came across it while following the sound of a violin....

The violinist had found a comfortable spot in a patch of nasturium, and didn't seem to mind her new audience.

Alex and I continued on to the pond, where she was very excited to find this turtle hanging out on a rock.

We sat there and watched the turtle for several minutes while it did absolutely NOTHING, yet we were enthralled.

Well, that was until I looked over to my left and saw that we were missing out on the action of a gazillion other turtles that were swimming around. How did I not see them earlier? There were tons! (we later learned this park is nicknamed Turtle Park by some of the locals!)

The Brugmansia hybrids were to die for...

After visiting Alice I finished reading the book within a day. I was in awe of the beautiful space that was created, and loved seeing how many people were out enjoying the space. I WISH Sacramento had something like this! If you can't get to Santa Barbara anytime soon, I highly recommend the book Alice's Garden. If you don't want to buy the book, you can enjoy some additional pictures at this article I stumbled upon by Santa Barbara landscape designer Billy Goodnick that he wrote a few months ago. Enjoy the summer!

10 Days Gone

10 days. That's all we were gone for. But geez....
After 10 days, I thought I'd at least be able to find my house! No.... a few days of 100+ degree weather and KA-BLOOM!

Polygonum orientale "Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate" has grown 2 feet taller in the short time we were on vacation.

Dicliptera suberecta "Uraguayan Firecracker Plant" wasn't even showing signs of blooming when we hit the road on July 1st. But now, it's covered in its coral colored blooms. (Sacramento residents can find this plant at Talini's nursery to purchase)

Origanum laevigatum "Pilgrim Oregano" was purchased from High Country Gardens last year. When we left on vacation it was just a small mound of foliage, but now it's covered in beautiful blooms of purple and rose.

In addition to the beautiful flowers I also spotted a bunch of weeds! Ack! Damn you Bermuda! You litter my pathways and suck the life out of my lawn.... When are you going to figure out that you're not welcome here?!

As quickly as I got frustrated with the weeds, I look to my left and see COLOR. Rudbeckia, echinacea, and kniphofias never seem to disappoint in the summertime.

I haven't been very good at keeping track of which coneflowers I have. Part of that is because they have reseeded themselves everywhere in the yard and I keep digging them up and replanting elsewhere. I love them though, and so will the birds in the fall once their seed heads have dried up!

Helichrysum bracteatum "Monster Fireball Red"
is a newer purchase for me, and I'm loving its color in the garden. Fireball is an accurate description, eh?

I almost had an anxiety attack yesterday when I got home and saw how overgrown everything was. I'm suppose to be part of the Arden Park Garden Club garden tour in September, and now I am regretting handing my four year old four packages of sunflower seeds. (How many sunflowers is too much?)

I also wish that before I went on vacation I checked all of my drip lines. If I had, maybe this Holodiscus discolor "Oceanspray" would have made it! The drip line was not properly staked and moved about a foot from the base of the plant. I have now cut the plant back to the base, and staked the drip line (and prayed that it will sprout again from the base).

10 days gone and all of my Nigella plants have dried seed pods. We got home just in time, before it heavily reseeded itself in place.

10 days and some of the Rudbeckia are already finished blooming.....

10 days and we came home to the first bloom from Lupinus regalis 'Morello Cherry'.

Coreopsis 'Heaven's Gate' is blooming for the first time in our garden. I planted them last year and I admit I was almost shocked when I came across them in the yard yesterday. It's amazing how sometimes a plant stays insignificant for a year to the point that you forget about it. But then one day.... it blooms like mad.

In 10 days, the artichokes that were blooming like crazy on June 30th are seeing their end on July 11th. These plants will be cut down to the ground in hopes that we may possible get another round of 'chokes in the fall.

10 days ago this Shasta Daisy plant was upright, just starting to bloom. It was in a partial sun area, which I believe contributed to its 5 foot tall height. Now I need to find a place to move it so that next year it can have better support (and maybe not grow so tall).

Solanum pyracanthum is enjoying the Sacramento heat. Also known as 'Porcupine Tomato', it is covered in purple blooms after only being in ground less than a month. Its true battle will be our winter, and I will probably be digging him up and moving him to a container before the frost hits.

10 days was all our nectarines needed to ripen as well. These are Independence Nectarines, part of a "fruit salad" tree that I got for my birthday a couple of years ago from my totally awesome husband. This tree was purchased at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply, located in Grass Valley, CA. If you are in the market for fruit trees and native plants, you must check them out! It's a gorgeous drive from Sacramento!

10 days, and all I can say is 'Zowie!" (as in Zinnia elegans 'Zowie' pictured above!) I might need at least 10 days to get the garden back in shape, but I have REALLY enjoyed my time off to go visit family and beautiful gardens all over Southern California. I'll be posting all of those pics soon!

Like a Kid in Lotusland

I am lucky that my husband's family live in fabulous places like Santa Barbara. For years I've tried to visit Ganna Walska Lotusland, but due to poor planning on my part, I've never been able to go. This year Jason's aunt thought ahead and made reservations for the family months in advance. I was like a kid in a candy store.
I admit I was a bit jealous of my daughter and her cousin, Wade. To experience this beautiful place as a child must be awesome! I found myself blocking out the docent (who was awesome, by the way), and instead watching the kids as they experienced this place for the first time with me.

Without the kids, I would have missed this leaf. At first I thought they were commenting on the water droplets, but they were actually admiring the shadows being cast by nearby agapanthus, and how they looked like fireworks.

I would have also missed how notocactus leninghausii looks like a "bunch of fuzzy people staring at you."

Of course that was until we saw the Oreocereus celsianus. They are the fuzziest of all. Plus, they were obviously named after Oreo cookies, so they must be cool.

When they're my age, will they appreciate this moment they had when they were four and five years old?

And lets not forget the Theatre Garden, filled with adorable statues from the 1600's that Madame Ganna acquired during World War II.

African boxwood and fern pine make a great backdrop for playtime. Our docent, Gayle, was nice enough to allow us to take a long break at the theatre so that the kids could run around and burn off some energy.

And the statues encouraged silliness...... which we highly encourage in my family.

After our tour my husband decided that his favorite garden was the Japanese Garden. I was disappointed at how my pictures turned out here because it was such a bright sunny day and I had a glare in almost every single photo I took of it. It was also so big that it was hard to capture just how beautiful it was. At the end of our tour Jason and I took the kids for one more lap around the lake while the rest of the family went to the gift shop.

I'd say my favorite plant that I saw at Lotusland would be the climbing bamboo, chusquea coronalis. In a wide open space like it's in here, it takes on a weeping form that is graceful and beautiful. According to our docent, this plant bloomed back in 1994 and provided enough seed that you can now find climbing bamboo at several nurseries.

This was a great way to start our vacation.