fragranthill.com

The tropical rain forests host more than 60% of world’s plant species and it seems to be especially blessed with plants sporting colorful foliage. One poster child is the Rex Begonias that blend a complete spectrum of colors into amazing patterns. Here are some I grow with the majority of them coming from Home Depot as humble 3″ house plants.

(more…)

A good way to get over jetlag is to follow the local time schedule with lots of physical activities, and I did just that by going to the 7th China Flower Expo the next day after I landed in Beijing. This once-every-four-year event is the Olympic Games of the Chinese horticultural industry. A brand new exhibition center was built for the show with many green features such as these membrane roofs doubling as rainwater collection system.

(more…)

I went back to Beijing, China for almost three weeks in October to both visit my parents and to see one particular Imperial garden that I have never been to before: The Summer Villa at the city of ChengDe. The weather was very nice with many clear days, although air polution is still an issue and it would probably be a problem for quite some time since there are already 3 million cars in Beijing. The local government has a new policy of limiting cars on the road by their license plate numbers, but I heard many callers on a radio program complaining that their civil rights were violated by these executive orders. I think it is an encouraging sign that with prosperity people are demanding a society of law and people do have much more freedom in openly criticizing the government.

Here is a street scene near my in-laws’ home in Beijing. Because of the high population density, there are lots of stores that cater to people’s daily needs. I think it is not only good for the environment but also for personal health since people walk instead of drive for their haircuts. Even excluding all the gardens I went to, I probably walked more in those three weeks than I normally do in three months here in the American suburbs. (more…)

Ficus dammaropsis is a knock-your-socks-off fig tree from the highlands of Papua New Guinea with gigantic leaves. Previously I have only seen it in botanical gardens in Southern California. A plant master told me that one specimen is alive and kicking right in front of the Santa Cruz Art Center at 1001 Center Street. So I went over and checked it out after a Rare Fruit Growers’ Picnic nearby.

The first thing I noticed is the can-not-get-any-better microclimate: this tree is right against an inward corner of the building wall facing south. A big Liquidamber tree is conveniently located to protect its large leaves from harsh mid-day summer sun. It also does not hurt to be less than two miles away from the ocean. All things considered this tree probably has never seen below freezing temperature at this location.

It is kind of funny how this tree seems to be trying to hide from people who pass by:

(more…)

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this exotic white apricot for sale in my local Trader Joes supermarket. I have read about this fruit in a NY Times article years ago and have kept it in mind since then. Probably because it is so new to the general public, there was even a free sampling that I took advantage of without hesitation. I was quite satisfied with the milder-than-Blenheim-but-no-sour-after-taste flavor, so I offered one piece to my 8-year-old son. Being a strong-minded boy, he refused emphatically, then tried one small piece upon my insistence. As soon as he had that piece, he was all over me asking for more and more. So I bought four packs (1lb. for $3.59) and had to go back for more the next day since the first batch got consumed that evening. Now I think the word was out (and I helped with a posting on Cloud Forest Cafe), so there were no more free samples and half of the supply was already gone. I grabbed six more packs and just hope that this wonderful fruit will become regularly available in the future.

Palms have been my favorite plant group lately. When I grew up in Beijing, which is at most USDA zone 6, I had almost no experience with palms except a particular kind of common and versatile fans made from palm leaves (most likely Livistona chinensis).

(more…)

My son had a play-date last Sunday afternoon (5/24) and my wife said that we have not visited a garden together for quite some time. I guess I must have been really good in my previous life to be this blessed, so we decided to go visit Filoli.

For those of you who do not know, Filoli is a 650-acre country estate built in 1917 in the city of Woodside. The main house is 36,000 square feet and the garden covers 16 acres. It is open to the public with an extremely capable crew of gardeners. This is probably the finest example of formal style garden in the Bay Area.

The name Filoli is a shorthand of the first owner’s credo: “Fight for a just cause; Love your fellow man; Live a good life.” I mentioned this as an example during my talk about Classical Chinese Gardens in Suzhou where most gardens have meaningful and unique names. It is a poetic way of declaring the intention and it just sounds more interesting than Huntington Garden, for example.

Here is a signature view of the pond and Yew columns in the distance:

(more…)

A local APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers) officer asked me to put a garden on their joint garden tour with Foothill College. Since the theme this year is small gardens, I just volunteered my own garden. Last Wednesday (5/27) was the day and about 50 people came for the tour.

First benefit for me is the extra motivation to finish up a few neglected projects such as this garbage can enclosure that my wife thought I over-engineered. I am a little disappointed that no one commented on the white-on-blue Tree of Gondor pattern that I spent many hours to paint on the side wall. I guess either The Lord of the Rings trilogy is not very popular with my mostly female visitors, or I am the odd one who is too obsessed with these details. I really like a lot of the set designs in those movies.

(more…)

A friend first told me about this Boojum Tree (Fouquieria columnaris) in someone’s frontyard in Saratoga, California. I went for a revisit recently and took some pictures of this weirdly wonderful plant. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Baja California, more than 500 miles to the south of Bay Area.

(more…)

In the evening of April 20th I gave a talk to the California Horticultural Society about Classical Chinese Gardens in Suzhou, China. I thought it would be nice to show a local garden at the end of my talk. Unfortunately we do not have a public Suzhou style garden in the Bay Area, even though we have one of the largest oversea Chinese population in the world. Portland and Pasadena are the nearest cities with authentic Suzhou-style Chinese Gardens.

(more…)