Seeds

A visit to the Rose Parade float barn…

~ queenofthedirt ~ 9 Comments

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We kicked off 2020 with an overnight trip to Pasadena–one of my favorite SoCal cities full of historic homes and beautiful gardens–to take in the iconic New Year’s Day Rose Bowl Parade. A number of Rose Bowl related events lead up to the parade so the stadium and its surrounds are flush with RVs, buses, cars and people clutching their various tickets and of course, the Official Rose Parade program! One of the large float building barns is open to the public, allowing those of us who have only seen these marvelous melds of engineering and botanicals on our TV screens to get a close up view of what it takes to get them on the road for their 5.5 mile slow crawl on January 1st.

The floats are viewed via a sort of boardwalk which winds around and through the barn. Think of those moving walkways in large airports with folks pretty much shoulder to shoulder but it is your legs actually doing the moving. Volunteers are everywhere. The white suited ones with official name tags are directing traffic and talking to passers by about each float and literally hundreds of others, many in sweatshirts due to the barn’s cool temperature, are snipping flowers, scaling scaffolding, and whatever other tasks are needed to get their assigned work of art perfect to the last petal and seed. Everything that covers the float’s mechanics must be natural material–flowers, petals, fronds, grains grasses, seeds, fruit or vegetable.

First up are the floats proudly depicting the school name and team colors of the two outstanding football teams that will compete in the 106th Rose Bowl Game–Oregon State University (Ducks) and University of Wisconsin (Badgers).

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Oregon State University
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University of Wisconsin Badgers
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Roses were the stars of each team’s float

I loved seeing the up-close detail on the beautifully restored antique cars and carriages that will transport the parade’s Grand Marshals, dignitaries and honored guests on the parade route.

The Parade’s three Grand Marshals will ride in two Pope-Hartford Touring cars and a Pope-Hartford Model T, all dating from 1910-1911 and wearing dazzling floral arrangements in warm fall colors.

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The 2019 inductees into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame must look forward to their venture down Colorado Avenue in a 1916 Seagrave Fire Engine, the first engine purchased by the Monterey Fire Department. This engine earned the nickname “The Old Gray Mare” when in 1924 when lightening struck oil tanks on Cannery Row and it pumped water continuously for 72 hours! As it turned out, The Old Gray Mare would end up being towed most of the route but that made its floral finery none the less beautiful.

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float barn 12As much as I adore colorful floral displays I can never get enough of the classic whites and greens! Wouldn’t this be a fun way for a bride to arrive at the church on her big day?

The Tournament of Roses President and the Mayor of Pasadena each had their own spectacular ride.

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The President’s Rolls Royce Silver Ghost was actually blue! The Mayor and his family will pile into this replica of an 1880 Abbott Downing Hotel Coach (background of photo) pulled by the Express Clydesdales, an eight horse hitch of rare black and white Clydesdales.

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All the vintage vehicles had this great signage with lots of interesting historical details

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Finishing touches are added to an 1880s sleigh which will transport stars of the Broadway show Frozen after their mid-parade show. The sleigh will be pulled by a team of Percheron horses.

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In the background you can see yet another color palette of florals–this one adorning a 1915 Pierce-Arrow 48-7-Passenger Touring model. Until 1928 there was a Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company dealership on Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena.

I know I promised you floats! This barn had a half dozen more floats in progress with volunteers doing all manner of things. I learned that the Tournament of Roses manages almost a thousand volunteers each year to cover the events. This year’s theme The Power of Hope is reflected throughout the entries.

China Airlines presents “Dreams of Flying, Wings of Hope”

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Elements representing Taiwan including these butterflies and spinning tops expresses the good hopes of its people and welcomes visitors to the island nation. The decks of the float are filled with thousands of roses, orchids and lilies.

Pasadena Celebrates 2020: Celebrating the 100th Year Anniversary of the Passage of the 19th Amendment presents “Years of Hope, Years of Courage”

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The purple, gold and white flowers throughout the float represent the colors of the suffrage era, along with a band of red, white and blue representing the American flag. Notice that Lady Liberty is missing her top half as it will have to be attached after the float leaves the barn.

Amazon Studios presents “Troop Zero”

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Not all float participants are cities or charitable organizations. Mega-business Amazon’s entry celebrates an upcoming 2020 film release in which a girl dreams of outer space and organizes a group of scouts to make her dream come true. There are over 15,000 flowers on this float.

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Really behind the scenes at Troop Zero–notice the fire extinguisher camouflaged by the red roses. To the left of the pole you can see that big baking potatoes are used as rocks on the hillside!

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The trees at the float’s rear are hinged to clear the ceiling!
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I’d give almost anything to have roses and tulips grow under MY redwood trees
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Each of the barn floats has an artist’s rendering

Honda presents “Our Hope for the Future”

The flagship sponsor’s float entry celebrates the optimism created by the spirit and vitality of children. Six children are pursing their dreams through a variety of activities. This float leads the parade after the opening spectacular and as we saw it only about 18 hours before parade time it looked pretty undone–my though was that they would need that spirit of optimism before the day was out.

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Except for the gentleman on the phone who I’m sure was taking a much needed break, all these sitting and standing volunteers are laboriously scissor cutting off the dried blossom ends of buckets upon buckets of purple statice. The mandate was purple only–no green stem.

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Then the power tools came out in the form of multiple blenders and spice grinders, in which all those cut off flowers were ground down to a coarse powder and offloaded into bins to be applied to the float–almost like painting with flowers.

Cal Poly Universities present “Aquatic Aspirations”

An optimistic submarine sets out to discover fortune and riches but finds a breathtaking underwater home thriving amongst an old sunken ship instead. This self built float earned a Certified California Grown designation by sourcing at least 85% of its flowers from California farms.

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Yes–this is an actual sea of blue dutch iris!

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It seemed fitting to exit the barn at this homegrown float. It was my favorite of those featured in the barn. It is my understanding that there are a number of barns in various Pasadena locations, each with as much float activity as its space can handle. It is no mean feat to round all the floats up from their disparate locations and get them lined up for the parade’s start.

Several years ago a few of our Orange County friends spent a few day in Pasadena working on the floats. I’m not sure how you get that opportunity but I think I’ll investigate it. The volunteers were having a great time and there has to be a huge satisfaction in knowing you were part for making this immense endeavor a success!

We have a New Year’s Day crack of dawn wake up call to travel from our hotel to the Colorado Avenue parade route where we need to be in our grandstand seats before 8 am to not miss USAF B-2 Spirit (Stealth) flyover. Parade photos may take another few days to post!

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The Badger Marching Band is on the move!

 

 

Virginia Robinson Gardens…

~ queenofthedirt ~ 2 Comments

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I have been receiving the Virginia Robinson Gardens e-mail newsletter ever since I saw a small article about the Beverly Hills estate in my AAA magazine a few years ago. It looked like just the kind of garden I love to visit–interesting and progressive garden originators, a historic home and a size pretty easily covered in a single day. The kind of garden that locals cherish but is not widely known outside its broader neighborhood. This six and a half acre jewel is smack in the middle of historic Beverly Hills–in fact it is often called Beverly Hills’ first estate. Vintage photos taken circa 1911 show a ground hugging house built in the Beaux-Arts style on a rise surrounded by acres and acres of bare dirt. Some 100+ years later it sits behind a modest stucco wall at the end of a residential cul-de-sac.

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The home was built by Harry and Virginia Robinson in 1911. Mr. Robinson, originally from Massachusetts, was the fourth generation in a family of dry goods merchants and heir to what we know today as JW Robinson, the Los Angeles based department store. Virginia was known for her social, business and philanthropic activities and their garden, much of which was modeled after architecture and gardens she and Harry had seen on their 1911 world tour, were often used to entertain the Beverly Hills and Hollywood elite and fundraise for causes dear to the couple. Although Harry died in 1932, Virginia continued to live on the estate for another 4 decades. Upon her death in 1977, the estate was donated to the public for their enjoyment and is currently owned and maintained by the County of Los Angeles.

The Virginia Robinson Gardens can be seen only by pre-scheduled docent led tours–in part this may be due to their good neighbor policy of having all visitors park on the property rather than on the street. They have a small lot which probably only accommodates 20 or so cars and thus must maintain strict control over the size of tour groups. Every Southern California trip I have made in the last several years has started with a e-mail to them checking for an available tour spot coinciding with when I am passing through–they also periodically update days & times with open spots on their website but you must email them to secure your reservation–no online booking. Go to http://www.robinsongardens.org for all you’ll ever want to know and some really wonderful photos. The newsletter announcement of a short class entitled Re-wild Your Garden on the day after I was planning to attend an event at The Huntington in nearby San Marino was a no-brainer for me–not the docent led tour but an opportunity to see the gardens and learn about their efforts to create a more sustainable garden and habitat for pollinators and other local birds and wildlife. I’m in!!

So…the day did not go as smoothly as I had hoped–the first challenge a result of being gone too long from living in a city where you measure your trip in terms of traffic and minutes rather than miles. I checked my Map app as I wound down from my Huntington visit and noted the 39 minute driving time to Beverly Hills. All y’all from SoCal know how this turns out–that was a Sunday night about 7 pm and my drive was to be on the following Monday morning. When I got into the car (fortunately pretty early) I turned on my navigation to reveal the 1 hour and 34 minute drive time which meant that if all went well (??) I would still be 11 minutes late for class. And then there was the route over winding Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon Road…

Arriving semi-intact at 10:06 am, it was already 91° but hey..I’d made it and I was not, in fact, the last person to arrive. Tom Lindsay, Superintendent of the Virginia Robinson Gardens, introduced the concept of Re-Wilding as creating sustainable garden spaces that offer opportunities for meaningful interaction with nature and people while nurturing the health of the planet. We would walk the gardens as a group using them as an outdoor classroom to illustrate various techniques and concepts such as composting and using plantings well suited to the natural climate/rainfall.

Our first stop was the Kitchen Garden, home to this little lathe greenhouse and its surrounding veggie garden. Composting was the message here–Tim is super hands on in the management of this property and gave concise, clear explanations of how they produce and use their compost. As a note–the home, large back lawn, pool and pool pavilion are on flat ground but everything else falls off precipitously to either side of those areas. The veggie beds have only a small swathe of level ground then go right up a hill.

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To further illustrate that, base of the stairs are at the driveway level–at the top of the stairs you are on the level of the lawn and pool.

Tim shared that a mandate from the City of Beverly Hills several years ago requiring them to cut their water use by 30% was integral in sparking the desire to be more sustainable. At that time the property had two large lawn areas in the front, the Great Lawn in the back and two smaller lawn areas immediately in front of the pool pavilion. He felt the Great Lawn was necessary for siting large numbers of tables and chairs for events but decided to eliminate all the other lawn. The first season after the lawns were removed they reduced their water usage by 33%.

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Looking from the Great Lawn to the Pool and Pool Pavilion
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One of 14 water features on the property–all maintained with the use of mosquito fish and without chemicals–provide habitat for birds and insects
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Lone pond bloom
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Pool nestled in front of the Pool Pavilion–the areas to either side of the brick surround now contain pea gravel and a tough ground cover that will take both foot traffic and dining seating when needed
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Looking back toward the house from the Great Lawn

The Italian cypress seen in this photo are a prominent feature throughout the grounds and provide a baseline of water requirements for any future plantings. The automated sprinkler system runs once every seven days and anything to be added must be adaptable to that watering schedule. Newly planted materials may get a little supplemental hose watering but only until they are established. From the Great Lawn we moved toward the Dry Border and then on to the Italian Terrace Garden both of which are off to the right of this photo and then downhill…way downhill by means of multiple sets of brick steps and walkways. It was in the Dry Border that I dropped my camera on the brick walk and it bounced off and downhill about 3 feet under a bush–good thing I was at the end of the group! Well…everything seemed to be working and it wasn’t until I got home to download my photos that those from this point on are totally black. See–I told you that you would enjoy those great photos on their website! I so wanted you to see the Musical Stairs-a set of brick stairs which have a rill in the middle (little rivulet of water) traveling downward down from a neighboring small water feature. The hillside terraced garden was spectacular as was the skyline view of LA skyscrapers. Go ahead and close your eyes and maybe you can imagine it.

Tim took the class on through to the meadow garden which has replaced the turf on both sides of the front walkway from the street. The meadow is at its peak in March, April and May and looks pretty dreadful now–which is just as you would expect it to. The dead vegetation has been tidied up and Tim demonstrated how he uses a whirlybird spreader to broadcast seed to beef up the meadow for next year. Many plants are reseeding annuals or perennials but each year something new is added to keep it filled in.

It is here our class ended but Tim offers us the opportunity to walk down into the Palm Forest across the driveway to see the newly installed pond which will be the centerpiece for many children’s programs. There are old and new narrow sloped walking paths, not yet having handrails all the way down. My camera strap was irritating my now pretty sweaty neck so I tucked the camera in my bag and pulled out my phone for some photos. I am convinced now there must have been a garden fairy on my shoulder giving me that idea or I would not have a single shot of this amazing part of the garden.

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Palm Forest seen from the driveway

The Palm Forest is a roughly two acre sloping area originally planted with citrus and other Mediterranean plants. Poor drainage and heavy soil eventually caused their demise and a consultation with a landscape architect in the 1920s led the Robinsons to dedicate the area to tropical plants. Hundreds of King palms from Queensland, Australia were planted and now provide a shaded canopy 60+ feet high. It is not known if the palms were planted from seed or small plants but it is agreed that this grouping is now the largest of this species outside of Australia. The forest floor along the upper part of the walkway is planted with Clivia miniata. Although only a few remnants of it remain today, Harry Robinson tended a serious collection of ferns in this area.

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The new pond is very large and bordered with large boulders. A duck house awaiting a coat of stain rests on the corner of a small terrace. It is hoped that a few outliers from a duck colony living in nearby Franklin Canyon will take up residence in the pond and lay their eggs in the house once it is installed on the water’s surface.

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Amazing King palms
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Looking up from the forest floor, newly planted with sun perennials, near the pond to the house above

Insane hilly driving and lost photos notwithstanding this was a worthwhile visit. I was fortunate enough to spend a little time talking with one of the children’s program docents (for 26 years!) who encouraged me to come back and take the guided tour for more history of the garden and generally more time in each area.

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She also helped me with the purchase of this wonderful book written by Mr. Lindsay and colleagues which is chock full of photos of both the home and garden from its earliest days and of Mr. & Mrs. Robinson and their friends and family in addition to descriptions  of each garden area including plant lists. I will study it before I visit again so I can be on the lookout for interesting features and details which I’m sure I passed by this time.

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Harry (named after Mr. Robinson) the Kitchen Garden cat hopes to see you soon!

Virginia Robinson Gardens is located at 1008 Elden Way in Beverly Hills, California

All things Robinson, including a timeline of the garden’s development, great photography and information you need to visit at http://www.robinsongardens.com

 

 

 

 

 

Dog and other woods…

~ queenofthedirt ~ 5 Comments

The last trip to our cabin in Fish Camp near Yosemite National Park had a few hours for leisurely walks and Yatzhee! on the wraparound deck but was mostly about accomplishing chores necessary for the coming winter. We take the removable snow rails down from the deck and pull out the painted plywood snow doors for installation on two of our three entry doors. With central heat and a nice wood stove, we make use the cabin every few weeks throughout the cold season. It’s impossible to know whether we will have 10 feet of snow or none at all and so the smart money is to be prepared for whatever comes well in advance the the first icy flakes.

In my 2018 post Dogwood day…Memorial Day I featured bloom photos from the lone Cornus nuttalii, Pacific dogwood, on our property. I’ve since found that we have one other but certainly that’s not really the making of a dogwood forest, especially when the spring blooms bursting out along the highway to our place have almost a wedding like feel. On this visit the dogwood’s leaves are starting to show their fall color.

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Shaded by a high canopy of cedars, firs and pines it is a little hard to see the russet and purple tones creeping in.

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I got pretty excited when I saw a number of seed clusters well within my reach–maybe I can grow my own little dogwood forest! I texted my native plant mentor Ann for counsel and spent a bit of time on a few California native plant propagations sites to get a sense of the best way to go. The consensus was that directly sowing the seeds would probably be more successful than trying to start in pots. I was amazed to learn that germination could take up to 18 months!! Seed collection is #1 on my to-do list for our next trip–hopefully I won’t have missed my window of opportunity.

Number one of this trip’s list was to take care of our wood supply for the winter. We are able to cut firewood every year in specific amounts and from designated locations on public lands with US Forest Service permits. Every couple of years we supplement that supply with a load of cured and cut almond.

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In preparation for the new wood we shift the older wood remaining on the second set of wood cribs to the front one, making a nice open space for the new wood to be delivered. Even with two sets of hands this is a several hour job.

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The big truck makes the big dump

The weight of the wood truck (this one hauling 4 cords of wood stacked in the bed with vertical partitions separating each cord) dictates that the wood must be dumped at the TOP of our year old asphalt driveway–the truck could come down but would never be able to get back up!

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Our wood moving method involves Dave backing up our truck to the pile. We then fill up the bed, drive the truck down the hill and back it up near the wood cribs and unload it into another pile…three times.  A strong motivating factor is that we cannot drive off our property until the wood is moved.

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Then that big pile gets stacked onto the empty crib. The whole process takes about six or seven hours. Dave is strong and I am slow but steady. I am not sure I would have survived “the olden days”. He always gets the honor of placing the last log. With every stick tucked in its spot both piles get tarps and bungee cords to keep the wood dry. We use these two wood storage stacks to refresh the smaller wood supplies kept closer to the cabin. I am here to tell you this work makes even the most strenuous garden tasks seem lightweight!

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Missing these beautiful blooms until next spring (taken May 2018)

 

 

In a daze near Denver…a visit to Botanical Interests

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Have you ever wondered how the seeds we take so for granted every year for our annual cutting and veggie gardens get in those cute little packs illustrated with the beautiful color drawings? The Denver 2019 Garden Bloggers Fling organizing committee was lucky enough to have Judy Seaborn, co-owner of Botanical Interests, at its helm and some of her staff in its ranks. Her prominence in the Denver gardening community opened a lot of great garden gates for us–and she gave us the opportunity to see the operation of her company’s 300,000 square foot production warehouse in Broomfield.

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Judy Seaborn and partner Curtis Jones founded the 24 year old business in their garage, with a goal of providing gardeners more information on their seed packets. They now offer over 600 seed varieties which are sold in independent garden centers and through their mail order business. On their site http://www.botanicalinterests.com you will not only find the seeds of your dreams and selected garden products but also their blog and a variety of short educational articles. “I like to say that we are a gardening education company that just happens to sell seeds,” Curtis says in the About Us page on their site. You can also subscribe to their newsletter–there can never be too much gardening news in my inbox!

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A seed’s journey begins in the receiving area where huge bags full arrive from selected growers. Judy explains that every bag is “sampled” for germination rate. This involves inserting a sort of coring tube through the bag (specially designed to allow this) and sending the sample to her laboratory for germination testing. No bag of seed moves into the production process until Judy is satisfied that the germination rate meets her high standard.

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Boxes of printed envelopes for every variety await filling

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Judy almost glowed as she introduced us to her baby–this machine counts the seeds into the individual packets AND has a special mechanism inserting the tiniest seeds (like tomatoes) into a second internal sealed packet called a sachet.

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We’re learning the order filling process which uses this customized cart to increase efficiency of steps up and down the long rows of seed packets ready to be shipped.

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Each of hundreds of boxes contains a single type of seed and any given order may be for many different seed types. One of Judy’s 50 or so in-house staff will work each order on the “pick line” and once complete, the order will move to the packaging area.

The upstairs of the warehouse is home to the support staff which includes marketing and IT professionals. The seed packet art is all created by Colorado artists–here you see a proof sheet to be scrutinized for color and other detail.

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Botanical Interests also has 60 field based sales representatives across the nation–sounds like a great job for me! The  upstairs hallways are lined with photos sent in by customers of plants grown from Judy & Curtis’s seeds. Recently Judy introduced an indoor seed starting set up to look at new varieties.

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We can’t get away without a quick look–and sniff–at the “vault” where the most dear of the seeds are stored. Judy shared a story of a package delivery she was called out to sign for once, even though it was quite small the pounds of tiny seeds it held were valued at over $10,000. The vault also offers cold storage for seeds with relatively short germination lives.

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The vault has an amazingly earthy smell!

On the run again–last call for the bus to our next stop!

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Of course a seed company would have a garden–creative use of construction barriers and a retaining wall to make a nice deep planting space for a long rows of veggies planted from Botanical Interests seeds