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Not
everyone is fortunate enough to have a grove of
eighty-year-old Redwoods in their garden. This incredible
feature provided an opportunity to create an understory
garden comprised of plants from the Redwood community.
Ground cover selections include Redwood Sorrel, Wild
Ginger and Inside-out Flower, as well as, Western Sword
Fern, Bleeding Hearts and Deer Fern. For shrubs,
selections such as Evergreen Huckleberry and Western
Azalea work well. Under-story trees are Dogwoods and Vine
Maples. Under the Redwoods, a curved path leads to an
antique stone bench, which is framed by Dogwoods that
flower in mid-spring. The Dogwood is a selection that
features the rootstock of Cornus florida crossed
with our western mountain Dogwood, Cornus nuttalii.
Its trade name is Eddie’s White Wonder and it is
particularly successful at elevations close to sea level.
Adjacent
to the Redwood garden is a second garden where mounded
soil is held in place with Hillsborough boulders, thus
creating niches for a series of California native dwarf
conifer selections. Among those used are three unique
Coast Redwood dwarfs and two Douglas Fir dwarfs. The
conifers were hand-selected from specialty nurseries in
Oregon. |
