A Secret Garden

Well, it's not actually a 'secret' garden, but you can easily miss it unless you are specifically looking for it because it is a botanical garden in the midst of a residential area. It is a local hidden treasure.

I hadn't visited the Charles C. Jensen Botanital Gardens in awhile and last Saturday gave me the perfect reason to take in the beautiful sights of Spring in all her glory. A plant sale! I enjoy going to the local plant sales because you can buy those 'hard to find' plants that you don't see at the box nurseries and most often you can purchase native plants to your area.

The 3-1/2 acre garden was the property and master work of Charles C. Jensen from 1958 until 1976. When he retired at the age of 63, Mr. Jensen had a vision to create a garden to be enjoyed by all. He and his wife, Marguarite, moved from their home in Oakland to Fair Oaks bringing many of their plants with them. After clearing the brambles and overgrowth from their new property, Mr. Jensen began planting magnolias, azaleas, dogwoods and Japanese maples. He hybridized, grafted and acquired many new plant varieties that attracted people passing by and brought many visitors to his garden. 

After his death, a group of citizens formed the Charles C. Jensen Botanical Garden, Inc. Committee to preserve this magnificent garden. Through successful fundraising efforts, the garden became the property of the Carmichael Recreation and Park District in 1976 where the garden is open to the public and enjoyed by visitors throughout the year. Friends of Jensen Botanical Garden is a volunteer group that gives TLC to the plants and work to add more varieties of plants to the garden each year. One of the volunteers told me that they try to have enough varieties so that something is in bloom throughout the year.

I took so many photos while there that I put them into a slideshow. I hope you'll take a few minutes and view it because you'll see some wonderful spring flowers in bloom. Enjoy!

And let's not forget the plant sale! I wanted so many of the plants that were for sale that day, but I controlled myself and only bought a Cape Fushia which I am anxious to see bloom. It will be another plant for the hummingbirds in my garden to enjoy.

Do you have any gardens in your area that you enjoy visiting?

Homage to the Seed Project

I learned about this wonderful project from Robyn over at gardenrooms. Sophie Munns is the artist in residence at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens in Australia and she is having a postcards from the blogosphere "homage to the seed" show at her open house July 12 - 18. 

Visit Sophie's blog for more information on how you can participate. Hurry, though because you will need to act quickly so that Sophie will receive your handmade postcard before July 12th.

Garden Conservancy Open Days

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of visiting three gardens in the Sacramento area as part of The Garden Conservancy Open Days. The Garden Conservancy is a wonderful organization that works to preserve the beautiful private gardens in the United States and to help open these private gardens to the public for education and enjoyment. I learned about them through Margaret Roach, on her Web site, A Way to Garden. Margaret opens her gardens to the public each year during Open Days in her area in New York. One day I hope to visit her gardens, but until then I will content myself with seeing some of the private gardens in my own neck of the woods.

The first stop was at Maple Rock Gardens in Newcastle. It is situated over three acres in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. The owners, Ruby and Frank Andrews, have created beautiful garden rooms. There is the Memory Garden, Rock Wall Garden, Vegetable Garden, a Croquet Lawn, a Plant Hospital, a Railroad Garden, Orchard, and a Japanese Garden. There is also a wonderful Pavilion that is a shady retreat where you can meditate. We could have stayed there all day! Maple Rock Gardens has recently opened for weddings, corporate gatherings, family reunions, and other events. There were so many things I loved about these gardens, each room was different, but they each flowed effortlessly into the other. The owners are truly artists!


The second stop was at the Golden/Darville Residence in Lincoln. This garden is created on approximately 2.3 acres and is a wildlife garden. There is a spectacular lily pond with a cottage that takes up a good part of the acreage, a vegetable garden, and perennial gardens. We spent quite a bit of time near the lily pond eating cookies and drinking lemonade and soaking up the quiet and peaceful ambience. The small, black Guillards were fun to watch swimming and playing among the lily pads. This garden was so different from the Maple Rock Gardens, but just as lovely. The owners/gardeners have created a very special place here.




Our last stop was The Gardens of Springhill. The gardens are on 54 acres in Lincoln and "is gardening on a grand scale." [The Garden Conservancy] It includes a 400-foot-long statuary garden, a ten-ton, nineteen-foot high fountain; Tequila Hill has hundreds of agave plants, there is a pond with a wooden walkway so that you can view the wetlands and wildlife, close to the house is the rose garden, knot garden, a shade garden. Leaving the gardens you walk through a 500-foot-long arched pergola. Half-way through this pergola is a stop to Uncle Rob's Crazy garden, a gnome and pink flamingo filled garden. Last, but not least, is a small (well, not so small) version of Stonehenge. The owner is English and he and his wife were gracious hosts that day. Peg Poswall made delicious cookies and served them along with bottled water and coffee. John Poswall, a Sacramento attorney and author, drove his golf cart around and stopped and visited with everyone. They supplied us with a hand drawn map with their suggested route through the gardens.



All three gardens were truly remarkable and inspirational. I hope that I can take some of the design elements that I saw and apply them to my little corner of the world.

Garden Inspiration

My friend, Kenn over at House Blend, shared some pictures of his garden on his blog and I can tell you that I haven't been able to get the pictures out of my mind, especially these two that I have posted here. He has definitely taken what he has learned from Martha Stewart and probably other inspirational gardeners to heart and not only learned from them, but also has practiced what he has learned.

I can't help but wonder, if he can achieve a garden that looks like this in such a short growing season in Michigan, what could he do in a climate like we have in Northern California?! He has inspired me to get out there and dig, dig, dig and plant, plant, plant!