Garden Visit: Hakone Estate and Gardens

While visiting family in the San Jose/San Francisco bay area a few weekends ago, we visited the Hakone Gardens (more info here). Hakone is the oldest Asian estate and garden in the Western Hemisphere, established in 1915. It covers eighteen acres with four different gardens. We went on a random Friday morning and walked into main part of the garden:

The garden, looking up

The first part of the garden you see is a full-sun (in the morning) garden, with many beautiful maples and a giant pond, all overseen by a traditional house on the slope. On our visit, most of the garden was showing off it's foliage, but there were a few waterlilies left:

Waterlilies in one of the ponds

 The true stars for me were the Japanese maples, many (most/all) of which can't really be grown in the desert (unless you have a shady spot and lot of water). Many of them were different shades of green, red, and yellow, and shaped into different shapes that showed off their unique forms, and made them fit into the landscape, yet stand out:

This isn't a maple (i think), but showed off a strong vertical accent

Yellow and Red leaves stood out against the blue sky

Green and Yellow, pruned into a more rounded form

This (also not a maple, I think) was in the shade in one of the smaller court yards.

The tree in the picture above was in the courtyard of one of the smaller buildings on the property. In person, it almost glowed red. For some of the trees, the trunks were shaped artistically into something you really wanted to spend a lot of time looking at:

  

A balance with the rock, tree and moss - one of those "scenes" I always like in formal gardens like this

 The pond and water feature was beautifully incorporated into the garden, as you would expect:

Looking back at the house and bridge from a viewing pavilion

 I loved the multi-stage waterfall that ran from the shady hillside into the main pond. All around the waterfall were Japanese maples:

I took way too many pictures!

 The pond also hosted a variety of wildlife, including Koi, turtles, birds, and a giant frog:


The garden art was very fitting!

The gravel paths took you from the formal water garden up the hill side, into a more shaded part of the garden.

Here things were much less landscaped



 Moving from one side of the hill to the other, behind the house, brought us to the bamboo garden:

Bamboo Garden Pictures

 Here there were several different groves of bamboo - green, yellow, black, and variegated. Many of them looked like they had been in place for years, with many of the culms being several inches in diameter. In most cases, nothing had been planted under the bamboo, and in some areas we could see new shoots coming up (or maybe old ones that had failed?)

A stone lantern backed by a grove of black bamboo formed a mediation garden:

 Throughout the garden, small statues, gates and a well added to the different views:


Most of the structures have been onsite since the gardens opened in the early 1910's and are made in a traditional fashion.

One part of the garden (the herb garden?) on the top of the hill looked like it had fallen into disrepair, but maybe it's supposed to look this way?

 

It was almost spooky!

Back by the pond, this giant stand of Gunnera reminded me of Loree of Danger Garden. It was even blooming! (at least I think those are it's blooms)

These were actually growing in the water! I didn't realize they liked that...

 For me though, this was really about all the beautiful Japanese Maples that were everywhere...

especially when they got caught in the sun, looking from the shady hill side

So many colors, yet no flowers!

According to the website, in the spring the pergola leading to the main house is covered in wisteria blooms. I might try to go back to see that! I could spend a lot more time here, and I would definitely recommend anyone in the area (or passing through!) to go and visit. If you like Japanese gardens, and/or just beautiful places in general, this one is a gem!

Weekly Front Garden - 09/09/2012 and future plans

It's been a while since I posted a picture of my front garden - I was trying to do it every week. And while I have been taking pictures (mostly), I haven't been posting them because, well, they got a little boring!

Here is the garden back in July (07/24/2012):

07/24/2012 Front Garden - before the real heat of summer

And here is it this week (09/09/2012):

09/09/2012 - After the first few heat waves, and several prolonged absences

They're the same! That clump of Mexican Feathergrass is still split down the middle, the blue fescue to the right of it is still more grey rather than blue, and the colors are the same - blue, green and yellow/straw (is straw a color?). The turf grass is the September picture looks better only because it's longer and needs to be mowed...

Some of the plants under the window have started to grow in:

A clump of glads and iris, pink muhly and society garlic...

Except those glads and irises have rarely bloomed for me (never for the iris) and the pink muhly still looks so wispy, it has no presence... It will in a few more months though!

So obviously some changes are needed! And October is coming, which means I'll be able to do a little planting when it's less hot. Here are some things I'm considering, based on what has worked in the back gardens:

Purple fountain grass, Optunia and a Coreopsis (badly in need of dead-heading)

The purple fountain grass might be hardy here, and could replace a clump of the Mexican feather grass. The clump that's split I'm thinking of replacing with a Phormium, preferably one of the pretty ones like I saw at the Getty a few weeks ago (pictures coming soon!). And I'd like to replace some of the non-performing flowers with Coreopsis and maybe a Penstemon - they're supposed to do well here.

And then there is this whole area:

Ugh.

Besides a good weeding, and a hacking back of the (bloomed-out) clump of Oenothera speciosa, it needs a little something - maybe a clump of Optunia along the back wall? This area gets almost no supplemental water except for the tree and the rosebush, and overspray from the neighbor's lawn...

Some of these changes will have to wait until Spring, when more plants are available and the weather is nicer, but next year it should all look a lot nicer... and Winter will be spent planning!

More Garden Wildlife

The birds are enjoying the left over sunflower heads in the pipes - there were three of them on one plant in the morning, trying to get at the seeds:

This involved a lot of being upside down...

 I'm not sure what kind of birds these are - at least one of them had a yellow breast, and they were all busy chirping and pushing each other of the flower heads...

The one on the lower right found a flower head hidden under the leaves...

I'm very glad I left these flower heads on, because the birds have been enjoying them for weeks now. I did manage to cut off one head before they got to it, and it's hanging to dry. We'll see if I get some seeds!

In addition to the sparrows, my back garden has been claimed as this particular hummingbird's territory. He (she?) surveys "their" Salvia greggi bushes from the top branch of my Cersis canadensis 'Forest Pansy':

It sits there basically all morning and in the late afternoon, watching for other hummingbirds

 Every once in a while, it will grab a drink off the Salvias:

 Or, it will chase away other hummingbirds, in crazy aerial battles! I'm still trying to get some decent pictures or video of these battles, because they are epic. What's really funny is that while the two are fighting, a third hummingbird will usually come over to drink from the plants...

After the battle is over, he returns to his perch:

Coming in for a landing

And any slow human how gets in the way of either the nectar or the battles is of no concern to the hummingbirds! I was buzzed twice one morning. I'm happy the hummers have found the plants (I think they're Anna's hummingbirds, judging by the size, color and area) and I wonder what would happen if I put up a feeder? I don't think they would share...

Melon Experiment

This is the first year I've been able to grow anything for real, and outside. I decided to try and grow melons (watermelon, canteloupe and honeydew) and they worked surprisingly well. I went with two types of watermelon, red and yellow.

A friend asked me if I were planning to grow a square watermelon... When I said just trying not to kill them was goal enough for the year, he made me a "watermelon box" and told me to try it. I have engineer friends :) I put one of the small yellow watermelons into the box....

On July 30th, after about two week in the box, the yellow watermelon looked like this:

View from the stem end, about two weeks after being put in the box

And view from the back, where the melon is already growing against the plastic sides...

 But a few weeks later (Aug 20th), there was trouble!:

The melon is escaping! The box was glued and screwed together...

I left it on the vine another week, and this is what it looked like when I brought it to the patio:

It only got worse over the next week...

The box had deformed so badly, power tools were required to open it. When viewed side by side with a "non-boxed" watermelon from the same vine, it appears pretty obvious what happened:

Boxed (top) and non-boxed (bottom) melons from the same vine, plus a tape measure...

Both melons were about 9 inches high, but the non boxed melon (bottom) was almost 16 inches long, while the box constricted the other one to about 9 inches long. It does look pretty cube-ish though:

It's kind of like a cube...?

So maybe a bigger box (or stronger box?) would work? Maybe next year... but I'll either have to make a new box, or get someone to make me one, because this one is toast!

The remained of the box... the pins were so deformed they couldn't come out...

But still a pretty cool experiment! Hopefully they both taste good... except I'm wondering what I'm supposed to do with two huge watermelons now...

Pollinators in the Garden

With the hot weather cooling off just a bit, I took a look outside to see what was buzzing around the garden. I used to be scared of anything that looked like it could sting, but most of the buzzing creatures seemed happy to have their picture taken.

I did see some things that I did not expect, like this blue-striped bee/wasp?

sitting on the white butterfly bush in the back garden

 There were more on the Coreopsis, along with bees and wasps of the yellow-variety:

The blue ones did not like sharing, and were big enough to push the smaller wasps off.

This shows  how distinct the blue markings were. They might be mason bees?

I thought this picture came out rather interesting - the wasp (?) is making a bee-line for the Coreopsis verticillata 'Route 66' ...

It's free!

what look like three different species on the same plant.

 This big black bee (a carpenter bee, I think?) was buzzing around the Salvia greggi. At first I thought the sound was a hummingbird, it was so loud...

The best picture was blurry - the thing would not sit still, except on the other side of the bush!

 But the award for the biggest thing buzzing around the garden that day went to this guy:

Sitting on the back of a bloomed-out sunflower, eating?

It was LOUD, and kind of bumbly, but when it finally stopped moving, it looked more like a giant beetle than anything else. I tried to use both Bugguide and What's That Bug to try and id this guy, but I'm still not sure what it is...

For more (and better!) pictures  of pollinators, there is Alan's post at It's Not Work, It's Gardening. His pictures are gorgeous!

Back!

It's been a crazy two weeks - between an unexpected work trip, and a broken computer (it won't turn on! at all!) I need to get back on the blogging band wagon. Thankfully, the garden turned out the bear my absence well enough (except for the crazy grass, that grows everywhere I don't want, and the aphids), so I should have some new things up soon. The broken computer has been replaced... if only getting rid of the aphids was as easy... They disintegrated my watermelon plant!

grass, aphids and watermelons... sigh.

First Harvest

Since this is the first year I've planted vegetables, I was very excited when some of them were ripe. The first ones were a bunch of Lemon Cucumbers, that I harvested at a couple of different sizes:

4 lemon cucumbers, eaten, and made into cucumber water

The smaller ones were so good I just ate them like an apple! I also made some cucumber water, and pickles (adapted from this recipe here). They're really good right off the vine, but I have found they don't store very well. Even a day later, they get a bit mushy.

The second plant that started ripening was the "black cherry" cherry tomatoes:

First six cherry tomatoes. All eaten shortly after this picture was taken!

 Unlike Carol at May Dream Gardens, there was no elaborate ritual for the first tomato, but they were tasty none-the-less. The first yellow tomato was also ripe, but I ate that one so fast, there was no picture! The first of orange sweet peppers met a similar fate. I need to be better at taking pictures!

In the next week, the first watermelon should be ready! I already can't wait... There is also a watermelon-experiment on-going... pictures to come soon!

New Plant: Agave Schidigera

When I first started redoing the front garden three years ago, I ended up with a lot of grasses - mainly blue fescue (Festuca glauca 'Elijah Blue'), pink muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris) and Mexican Feather grass (Stipa tenuissiam). They all provide a very "soft" look, and what goes better with soft than spiky?

This one shouldn't get more than ~1 ft diameter, which is good.

There's another new sorta-spikey addition to the front garden bed: an Agave Schidigera!

This is a smaller Agave, that only grows to be about a foot wide and tall, and instead of teeth, it has these cool "threads" instead - kind of like the false red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) It does have spines though. It's currently sitting next to a blue fescue, and they're about the same size - I think the contrast between them in kind of cool:

And this one come with a cool surprise - 7 pups/offsets! Since it is right next to the path, I didn't want an entire colony of A. Schidigera, so I pulled off the pups and potted them up into their own containers:

All the pups! Now I just need to figure out where to put them. On the slope?

Now I've got plans for an all-agave (but different types!) front row for one of the beds in the back garden! Or they'll go on the slope... Maybe in a container or two?