If
Monday and
Wednesday's posts were the layers of a cake, then today's post is the frosting. Or maybe the other posts were the salad and dinner courses and this is the desert? Whatever you want to call it today's post is more garden eye candy from sculptor Marcia Donahue's Berkeley garden as I saw it late last March...
There is a large raised pond in the middle of the back garden and I find it endlessly fascinating for all the ways Marcia plants in and around it.
Pottery shards as mulch is a good look.
I think this staghorn planting must have really imprinted on my subconscious as did a very similar mount
with the plant I brought back from this trip, a gift from
Tracy. I'd forgotten all about seeing this until I started to edit my photos. I was rather surprised...
Going through and editing down my photos it took me a moment to realize those are the base of severed palm fronds. At first I thought they were metal.
Canarina canariensis
Being in the Bay Area Marcia can grow Phlebodium out doors year round.
Cypripedium formosanum in full bloom for our visit.
Coniogramme emeiensis 'Golden Zebra' or like.
Along with various totems (Marcia's work) this part of the garden featured multiple bowl plantings up on a plinth, it's a look I love.
Okay this was a bit jarring to my eyes. Mahonia x media 'marvel' seems a little familiar to be growing here. I say that not out of dislike (I have three and love them), but because among all the bromeliads, begonias and jungle cactus it was surprising to see.
Another Phlebodium...
The pond from the opposite side.
I have a piece of this plant! At least I think it's from this plant.
Riz Reyes got it from Marcia and he passed it on to
Ann Amato who divided it and passed it on to me.
Am I repeating myself? A little. I'm sharing the same subjects from different angles, I want you to feel like you're there in the garden!
Walking back, retracing my steps...
And now I'm back at the gate that leads to
the parking garden I shared on Monday. I hope you enjoyed this deep dive into Marcia Donahue's remarkable garden as much as I did!
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