Jana Olson's Berkeley garden

I've written about my visit to Marcia Donahue's garden last December (with my then fellow Pacific Horticulture Society board members), as well as our stops at Keeyla Meadows and Raul Zumba's gardens. We made one other stop that day, at the garden of Jana Olsen.

Jana's home is tucked into a corner on a very step hillside in Berkeley. Some people might consider the site un-gardenable, but not Jana.

Unfortunately she had to run off to a meeting soon after we arrived, so we didn't get the benefit of touring the garden with its creator. In her brief welcome it was obvious she's a warm and generous lady who enjoys what she's created.

That's a very happy fern... am I the only one who thinks of glue dots?

Rather pretty too.

OMG! It just gets better! Palm tree or fern? (fern)

To get to the back garden you pass under a deck. Because Jana isn't the type to leave any space unimproved, this dark area is dubbed "Grotto of Santa Basura" and decorated with the collected trash (Basura is Spanish for trash) found in the ravine behind her home during clean up (now a garden with a stream running through it).

Next is the Graveyard of Rusty Tools...

Here's where you might want to click over to the blog Quirky Berkeley and read the story on Jana: Jana Olson’s flamboyant confidence of style. As for our tour we're back out into the afternoon light and heading down into the ravine...

A timing reminder. This was December 7th. A beautiful day that felt like the best autumn day back home in Portland.

Cordyline 'Cha Cha'

This!

I was awe-struck. The (now) cracked and crumbling retaining wall was the work of a previous homeowner.

Rather than demolish it and pay to have it hauled away (every piece hauled back up those steep stairs and under the deck/through the grotto) she turned it into a feature. In her words: "Yeah, I was thinking since we live in earthquake country, why not emphasize it?  (Although I think the wall is collapsing do to soil movement and lack of footing).  Anyway, it sat there for many years in its crooked state before I decided to embellish it..."

And embellish it she did...

Of course it helps to have artist Marcia Donahue as a friend.

Her pieces definitely add a touch of class to the installation.

As do the plants Jana chose, I believe this Agave vilmoriniana?

From above, looking down.

I could barely tear myself away. This was just so damn cool!

I did eventually move on, where I enjoyed Marcia's turkey tail fungus.

And more ferns.

At the bottom of the ravine was this slippery passage to the other side. I'm a klutz and wasn't wearing appropriate shoes (I never am). I chose to retrace my steps and meet the group back at the top (really I wanted to walk past the broken wall again...).

Looking up towards the house...

And of course, because this is Berkeley, there were bromeliads just tucked in here and there like it was no big deal.

And spider plant? (sorry, that's all I know this houseplant as)

Back up by the house we came out of the shadows and into the sun.

What a garden! Thank you Jana, for sharing it with us. I do hope to return someday.

Weather Diary, June 10: Hi 86, Low 58/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

A second opportunity to enjoy the color artistry of Keeyla Meadows

I first visited the garden of artist Keeyla Meadows during the 2013 Bay Area Garden Bloggers Fling (and wrote about it here).

A friend warned me the garden wasn't likely to be my "thing," since she knew I wasn't a big fan of art in the garden. But she was wrong. I loved how personal the space was, everywhere I turned there was something original and colorful. And of course there were fabulous plants, like this Yucca desmetiana 'Blue Boy' (syn. Yucca aloifolia 'Purpurea') currently in the hellstrip.

That first visit was in July and the exuberant plantings tamed the art a little bit. My most recent visit was last December. With many of the plants gone dormant for the season, or maybe just bloomed out, the art was front and center everywhere you looked.

The lower angle of the sun made capturing parts of the garden difficult, but I still shot over a hundred images. Don't worry, I greatly pared them down for this post.

That Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' was huge.

If you click back to my 2013 post (here) it was in the same spot, only much smaller. I assumed it was the same plant, but I really should have asked.

Some type of kalanchoe, I think. Cotyledon orbiculata, thanks Anon!

Looking back toward Keeyla's house, and that epic banana.

Notice the outdoor shower on the right.

I have a couple of dried brugmansia blossoms hanging above my desk, these felt very similar, but of course can stand up to the elements.

Abutilon 'Red Tiger'

Lupinus albifrons

I'm sure Keeyla arranged the carpet of ginkgo leaves just for our visit.

Did you spot the daffodils (above, and below)? Do you remember my saying I was there in December? Ya, I don't know what's up with that.

The kniphofia were a nice color match as well.

And this! (whose name I just can't remember...) Cobaea scandens...thanks Alison and KS!

Last time I was here we walked through the studio at the back of the property.

But it wasn't a pass-through space this time so we turned around and retraced our steps.

Papyrus! In December...

Isn't Keeyla's garden magical?

And that banana! Of course in December, when I was here, my red banana at home was still looking great—that was before our "winter-in-February." I had dreams of a plant, if not this size, at least half as huge. Sadly that wasn't to be the case.

Weather Diary, May 2: Hi 66, Low 46/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2019 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.