Quarryhill Botanical Garden
Many of you know that we are planning a move to a condo in Santa Rosa within the next year. We live near the coast now and have explored the area for the last 40 years. The move inland will expose us to a new and different environment. Yesterday our kids took us out to explore Quarryhill, which is a number of miles toward the town of Sonoma. The visit was a birthday present for Mrs. side pocket. Located amongst vineyards, it was originally a site where road building material was dug out of the hills. Founded in 1987, Quarryhill is one of the pre-eminent Asian botanical gardens globally, featuring one of the largest collections of documented, wild-collected Asian plants in the world. It is centrally located for Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties as well as greater Northern California.
Our kids had been there during the summer months, when everything was in bloom, but the pond and stream levels were low. Yesterday was cold and clear, most plants were dormant, and flowing water was abundant. As far as I could tell, we were the only visitors.
All of the plants are Asian. Many of them looked very familiar but some of them were unlike anything encountered around here,
This is the only one I will identify. Every tree and shrub had an identification tag like this. Guidebooks were available at the entrance for a nominal fee.
The grounds were immaculately maintained. Even on this sere day we saw two workers on motorized carts going about their business. I understand that member volunteers also assist in the care. It seems as though it would be a labor of love, as it’s a wonderful place to be. I’m looking forward to visiting every month of the year.
We saw this from below, so we climbed to the top of the property. The “tree” was festooned with flags, each printed with commentary and poetry (assumed, because they were not in English).
This bench, adjacent to the flag tree, looked out over Quarryhill and Sonoma mountains in the distance. It was a precipitous drop. I plan to sit here a lot this summer in quit contemplation.
Heading back down, we crossed the distant bridge and sat right here, I noticed what appeared to be algae on the surface and wondered how difficult that would be to control. Upon closer examination I discovered it was actually a lovely plant with tiny leaves.
I am writing this in the midst of a huge storm, with constant high winds up here on our hill. I plan to queue it up and hope I still have internet access when it publishes. Hope to see y’all here.
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