Permaculture garden on the side of the river levee. The summer squash are already producing, and look at that fennel!
(Photo by Dave Larzelere)
The very best garden tours take you to real people’s real gardens, where you can talk to the gardeners who created them and do the work. The tour I attended yesterday may be my favorite of all time. Just five gardens, but incredible variety!
First, the permaculture garden created by Holly. The large mixed ornamental/edible garden with terraces on the side of the Sacramento river levee just vibrated with life and fertility. I loved to listen to Holly – she’s incredibly knowledgeable about permaculture, but even more than that, she seemed so attuned to that space and those plants that she knew exactly what they needed to thrive.
Mine was second, then Elizabeth’s back yard garden. I loved it. She had curving beds carefully situated throughout the back yard to take advantage of sun and shade and lots of wonderful plantings and whimsical accents. I also really liked her outdoor dining area–so comfortable and inviting that I just wanted to plop down and stay.
Dave’s large garden was a revelation to me. He chooses beautiful, vigorous, waterwise plants and just sets them free. He has a deep backyard with a winding path through the middle and a riot of beautiful plants, such as huge purple butterfly bushes, that have been allowed to spread and intermingle in a completely natural way. This whole approach made a deep impression on me. I doubt that I’d ever be able to relinquish control that much, but I just love the beauty of what he’s created. And I’ll definitely think twice before I pull up a volunteer next time.
One of Karen's two large, beautiful koi ponds.
(Photo by Dave Larzelere)
Finally, Karen’s garden was amazing. She grows all edibles — bananas and kiwis and avocados and every fruit tree imaginable, plus she has gorgeous koi ponds in the backyard, a freestanding music/band room that she built herself for her own rock band and her sons’ bands to practice, a beautiful mosaic-tiled sitting area in front (she did it herself), murals she painted on the garage wall and a “Monet” mural she’s painting for the garden gate, a beehive, a bat house, and on and on. She’s a whirlwind of creativity.
Karen's beehive. She attended beekeeping school to learn how to care for them!
(Photo by Dave Larzelere)
Karen says she has never had any predator problems with her koi.
On the other hand, the first year I had my small pond, I had some lovely goldfish doing very well until I came out one morning and saw that the raccoons had had a party. It looked like someone had put an immersion blender in my pond. Gold flakes of fish everywhere, and my water lilies and other water plants completely shredded.
That was the same year I got up to investigate a sound one night and met Mama raccoon and her four children casually strolling from my kitchen back to the cat door after eating all the catfood.
I don’t know what happened, but that was about 10 years ago and I haven’t seen a raccoon since.
All the gardens sound wonderful. I love the diversity – permaculture, water, vegetables. Lots to learn from your group. How do the koi do in Sacramento? We have lots of issues here from either raccoons or herons. They rob the ponds of the koi.
We love touring gardens too! Maybe more than touring churches in Italy. Some of our best memories have been the gardens.
It sounds like you had a great garden tour! And congrats for being a part of it!