S I PA N RIG SI U N I D CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa TG DEE: OG UA T RR O S D E N GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN March/April 2011 Volume 102 No. 2 $4.00 gardening With children • Pat Welsh’s Child-Friendly Veggie Growing • Sharon Lovejoy’s Five-Senses Garden Walk • Aenne Carver’s Garden Fun With Kids • Take-Home Tips from Hamilton Children’s Garden Plus: Ethel Baily Higgins' Remarkable Career . Dyeing Eggs Naturally Herb Festival, Spring Plant Sale, Tomatomania ® A N D March 19 and 20 9 – 5 AM PM • We are happy to announce that Susan Belsinger will be our honored guest at this year’s Herb Festival. Susan is a culinary herbalist, educator, food writer, and photographer whose articles and photographs have been widely published. She has co-authored several best-selling, award-winning cookbooks. Another book, the creative herbal home, co-authored with Tina Marie Wilcox, is the second in the living with herbs series published by herbspirit. Susan will give a program each day at 1 PM. • Guided Tours of the Herb Garden • Speakers on Garden and Herb-related Topics • Herbal Marketplace • The A-Z of Herbs Information Booth • Spring Plant Sale • Tomatomania® with Plenty of Hybrid Tomato Seedlings Kids crafts, community art project, and botanical printers, both days, 11 AM - 2 PM. Cost: Free with admission or membership 230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas CA 92024 760/ 436-3036 www.SDBGarden.org California GARDEN THe MaGaZIne FOr Hands-On Gardeners and FLOraL desIGners March/April 2011, Volume 102, Number 2 Dig in PUBLICATION STAFF EXECUTIVE EDITOR Spring Classes 3 Mary James April 19 Meeting 3 Designer Paula Pryke to Demonstrate Her Floral Artistry in La Jolla 4 ASSOCIATE EDITORS Did You Know…? April 17-23 Offi cially Native Plant Week 4 Nancy Carol Carter Aenne Carver Did You Know…? Balboa Park Botanical Tours 4 The Ergo Gardner 5 LIBRARIAN Trees of Balboa Park: Cape Chestnut 5 Jean C. Hughes A New Garden Transports Kids Back to the Time of Dinosaurs 6 Book Reviews 7 CONTRIBUTORS John Blocker, FeatureS Nancy Carol Carter, Aenne Carver, Barbara P. Clark, Linda Davis, Mary James, Roots - Profi les in Horticultural History: Ethel Bailey Higgins 8 Kathy Jones, Marge Howard-Jones, Egg-citment: Color Eggs with Dyes Plucked from Spring Gardens 10 Vincent Lazaneo, Sharon Lovejoy, Grab Your Hat and Camera - Garden Tour Season is Here 12 Denise Thompson, Pat Welsh, SDFA’s Annual Historic Tour Spotlights Coronado Gardens 15 Constance Whitney, Christie Wright Growing Grounds 16 COPY EDITOR Child Friendly Gardening: Bonnie Gebhardt Growing Vegetables – and Future Gardeners 22 ART DIRECTOR Mom, I’ll be in the Garden! 25 Rachel Cobb A Five-Senses Walkabout 26 ADVERTISING Hollyhock Dolls and Garden Hideouts 27 Kay Harry Hungry Sticks Invade Landscapes 28 RENEWALS Lisa Prindle regularS membership@sdfl oral.org Now is the Time 18 EDITORIAL BOARD Calendar 29 Nancy Carol Carter, Aenne Carver, Bonnie Gebhardt, Kay Harry, Affi liate List 33 Mary James, Amy Wood From the Archives 36 SPECIAL THANKS California Garden Now is the Time contributors Published by San Diego Floral Association for 101 years Library of Congress ISSN 0008-1116 A visitor to the Hamilton Children's Garden at the President: Sandra Dysart (presidentsdfl [email protected]) San Diego Botanic Garden learns about nature, Arrangers Guild Chair: Sharon Lowry Headquarters: Casa del Prado, Room #105, Balboa Park, 619-232-5762 plants and gardening in a fun-fi lled, educational Hours: Monday-Friday, 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. environment. Photo by Rachel Cobb www.sdfl oral.org We welcome articles, photographs, drawings and Claims and opinions expressed by advertisers do no necessarily refl ect the views of the editor and ideas. Deadlines are the 10th of January, March, publisher of California Garden magazine. Copies of California Garden can be ordered by mail for May, July, September and November. We do not $4 per copy plus $2 shipping and handling. Single copies of the current issue of California Garden pay for articles or artwork. We cannot guarantee magazine can be purchased for a donation of $4 at the locations listed below. the safe return of materials. California Garden los Angeles Arboretum Foundation, 626-821-3222, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, CA 91006 reserves the right to edit any and all submitted Mission Hills Nursery, 619-295-2808, 1525 Fort Stockton Dr., San Diego, CA 92103 material. We ask that submissions be email San Diego Floral Association, 619-232-5762, Casa del prado, room 105, San Diego, CA 92101 attachments in Microsoft Word documents, or sent Walter Andersen Nursery, 619-224-8271, 3642 Enterprise St., San Diego, CA 92110 to us on a CD. All opinions expressed are those Walter Andersen Nursery, 858-513-4900, 12755 Danielson Ct., poway, CA 92064-6847 of the authors and do not necessarily refl ect the Water Conservation Garden, 619-660-0614, 12122 Cuyamaca College Dr. West, El Cajon, CA 92019 views of the editors of California Garden. No Coastal Sage Gardening, 619-223-5229, 3685 Voltaire St., San Diego, CA 92106 endorsement of named products is intended, nor is in Harmony, Herbs and Spices, 619-223-8051, 1862-1/2 Bacon St., San Diego, CA 92107 criticism implied of similar products that are not mentioned. FlOWEr SHOWS: Show chairperson, please contact California Garden if you’d like the magazine sold at your show. Send all editorial material and change of address to: California Garden (ISSN 0008-1116) is published bimonthly for donations (which also include California Garden membership in San Diego Floral Association) of $20 per year or $35 for two years (foreign delivery add San Diego Floral Association $6 per year). Published by San Diego Floral Association, 1650 El Prado #105, San Diego, CA 92101- 1650 El Prado #105 1684. © 2011 San Diego Floral Association. All rights reserved. Periodicals postage paid at San Diego, San Diego, CA 92101-1684 CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to California Garden, 1650 El Prado #105, San Diego, CA Email: editor@sdfl oral.org 92101-1684 or to vp.membersdfl [email protected]. President’s letter Reading California Garden may be good for your health, but an even better pursuit will be getting outside into your garden for a few hours and using some of the skills that you learn here. Did you know that gardening has been shown to be good for your mental health? If worry and woe seem to be your constant companions of late, counteract this heavy side of life by spending time in your garden, even if your primary effort is with just the pots on your patio. Even a short time spent tending plants helps to tone and strengthen you, as well as lift your spirits. Studies at Iowa State University found that the acts of pruning, digging and mulching often alleviate the tensions we feel. The experience of lovely hues, scents and textures tends to feed our souls in a way that nothing else does. Watching seeds and cuttings grow gives us a sense of hope for the future that brings feeling of hope and optimism into our daily lives. On its webs site, Nursing Times describes gardening as a therapeutic intervention in mental health: “There appears to be an intrinsic relationship between gardening and hope. The very action of planting a seed in the soil requires hope; by encouraging and in some senses almost imposing a sense of hope on to someone, a personal journey may begin.” It is my hope that as 2011 really gets started for you, that you will make a deliberate plan to read our magazine and then schedule regular time in your garden. Do this, not only because you enjoy it, but also because you are confi dent it will infuse you with hope for the future. Let your gardening journey begin! Join us on March 19 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Zorro Gardens for the “Joy of Butterfl ies,” part of Family Science Day in Balboa Park and again on April 19 for our Member’s meeting. In between, enjoy this issue of California Garden devoted to one of the most joyful times in the garden—sharing our passion, knowledge and love with children, who indeed are our hope for the future. P h Sandra Dysart oto: R ach el C o b b You are invited to subscribe to To sign up for your subscription today, please print (or copy) the form below and return it with California GARDEN payment to: San Diego Floral Association, 1650 El Prado #105, San Diego, CA 92101-1684. your subscription includes membership in SAN DiEGO FlOrAl ASSOCiATiON! NAME: 1-Year Subscription: $20 ADDRESS: 2-Year Subscription: $35 (Please add $6 per year for postage to foreign destinations.) CITY/STATE/ZIP: With your subscription, you’ll receive the magazine, our PHONE: newsletter, access to the San Diego Floral Association horticultural library and member discounts on events, trips EMAIL: and classes. 2 | California Garden March/April 2011 www.sdfl oral.org San Diego Floral aSSociation Spring ClaSSeS april 19 Meeting learn to Style Gary Bulman on BeautiFul Miniature Roses WeDDing BouquetS oses, a favorite of flower lovers the April 19 R world over, is the subject at the April Wedding Flower Arranging Workshop: 19 meeting of the San Diego Floral Bridal Bouquets Association. The evening gathering will be held at 6:00 p.m. in Room 101 of Casa del A workshop and demonstration on making hand-tied, classic Prado in Balboa Park. Members and friends round and cascade-style bouquets. For beginners. Bring flowers, are invited to attend. greens and a flower knife. Other materials provided for a materials fee of $7. Gary Bulman, a consulting rosarian who tends hundred of roses in his Escondido garden, will speak instructor: lucy Kramer on miniature and mini-flora roses. These flowering gems A native of Mexico, Lucy Kramer lived are a delightful departure from the large bush and climbing in northern Virginia for 24 years before roses that dominate rose culture in San Diego. Easy to grow, moving to San Diego nine years ago. they can be planted in pots, which are easy to move about, She learned flower-arranging from or added to the landscape where they enhance gardens of all her Virginia garden club mentors and styles. They also are the most inexpensive roses if procured in in classes throughout the Washington, the right way, and Gary will share his sources with the group D.C. area. A SDFA member, she also is during the evening. a life member of the Virginia Garden For more than 30 years, Gary Bulman has been a member Clubs and National Garden Clubs Inc. of the San Diego Rose Society; he is currently coordinator She is the owner of “Simple Flowers,” a wedding and special events flower of all consulting rosarians in San Diego County. He also is a service operated from her Mission Hills home. member of the San Diego Master Gardener Association. Gary was bitten by the “rose bug” while living in Poway. His move Cost: $16 ($12 for SDFA members) to his current residence in Escondido brought him closer to work, but, more importantly, allowed him to expand his rose All classes run from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and are held in Room collection. Visitors to the annual Flower and Garden Show at 104, Casa del Prado, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA. Coffee and sweets the San Diego County Fair have seen many of his winning will be provided; bring your own lunch and clippers. roses displayed over the years. To register and pay, call 619-232-5762. Classes are limited to Please put this informative meeting on your calendar. 10 people and must be prepaid. Dinner is at 6:00 p.m.; and the program begins at 7:00 p.m. Reserve a catered dinner ($15 per person) by calling the SDFA Call the Floral Association office weekdays between 10:00 a.m. office at 619-272-5762. Join us – you will be so glad you did! and 3:00 p.m. at 619-232-5762 for more information about SDFA –Christie Wright workshops. e-Mail aDDreSS reQUeST MOVING? Presently the SDFA is distributing its newsletter through Please let us know. the US mail. This distribution has become Help us keep membership costs down by very costly to o ur organization. informing us of your new address promptly. Please help to reduce the cost of newsletter distribution by Fax it to us at 619-232-5762 or mail it to: sending us your e-mail address so that you can receive the SDFA, 1650 El Prado #105, San Diego, CA 92101-1684. newsletter via email. Changes of address can also be submitted by email Please forward your email address to: to [email protected]. [email protected] Dig in! news, tips, advice and products you can use Designer Paula Pryke to Demonstrate Her Floral artistry in la Jolla ritish floral designer Paula Pryke has two gifts – an artistic eye and the B ability to recognize beauty in nature. Both have combined to make her one of England’s top designers, in demand with five-star hotels, international corporations and much-watched Royals. On April 7, Pryke will present a lecture and floral demonstration for this year’s “Meet the Masters” program sponsored by the Village Garden Club of La Jolla. The program is at 1:30 p.m. in Sherwood Auditorium of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 700 Prospect Street, La Jolla. The annual program is designed to “highlight excellence in floral design and to encourage individuals and communities to value the garden and what it grows,” says Dr. Nan Kaufman, Village Garden Club president. “Paula Pryke is an incredible floral designer whose work is admired and sought after in many countries. Being able to list The Flower School, established by Paula in 1994, is key to many a prominent floral designer’s resume.” In addition to teaching, Pryke is the author of 14 books that reveal her diversity as a designer. Her latest is The Ultimate Floral Collection: A Celebration of Floral Design. Her writing also appears in numerous magazines. Her creations are sought after by fashion houses, including Chanel, as well as private clients and celebrities such as Julia Roberts and Ewan McGregor. In addition, Pryke lectures around the world and guests on TV programs. Her London home also has been featured in design journals. To learn more, visit www.paula-pryke-flowers.com. Tickets are $65 and include complementary valet parking and a tea-reception following Pryke’s talk. Reservations can be made on the garden club’s Web site at www.villagegardencluboflajolla.com. Details for tickets to private reception the evening before Pryke’s lecture also are on the Web site. –Mary James Did you Know…? Balboa park Botanical Tours april 17-23 Officially native plant Week On three Saturdays of the month, botanical tours are offered in San Diego's Balboa Park. The ith the urging of the California Native Plant Society, tours begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Park Information W the California State Legislature on September 2, office and last for about one hour. These “Offshoot Tours” 2010, set aside the third week of April as a time to feature palm trees on the second Saturday of the month, promote native plant conservation and restoration and to celebrate other kinds of trees on the third, and desert vegetation on the iconic, economic, artistic, historical, and environmental the fourth Saturday. The first Saturday of the month is a value of these plants. The resolution notes that more than 6,000 history tour. In months with a fifth Saturday, the tour species and varieties are indigenous to the state and that 2,150 guide chooses a theme. For other guided walks in the park, of these species exist only in California, making our state find the “Park Information” tab and click on “Tours” at home to more diverse plant life than all other states combined. www.balboapark.org. – Nancy Carol Carter – Nancy Carol Carter 4 | California Garden March/April 2011 www.sdfloral.org Dig in! By Kathy Jones Tip 2: Your Body Doesn't like Strange Moves Gardeners may be fairly sedentary most of the time until they get the itch to get out in the yard to clean up, weed or plant. Injuries can result if we expect the body to do a lot that it's not used to (deep knee bends, overstretching to reach a limb, etc.) So, if you're a weekend warrior when it comes to gardening, remember to use movements your body is used to and can handle when you garden. If you can't reach something, get down and move the ladder! – Kathy Jones, Ph.D., is a retired professor in exercise and wellness. A San Diego Master Gardener for 7 years, she is also a graphic artist and copy writer for local clubs and businesses. She is past president of the Mission Hills Garden Club and the Mission Hills Town Council. She has spent the last six years renovating her own 100-year-old garden to incorporate more drought-tolerant plants. Trees of Balboa park: cape chestnut (Calodendrum capense) he Cape Chestnut forms a broad crown and can reach heights of 40-70 T feet. It is slow growing and rarely blooms when young. The tree is in the citrus family, not the chestnut (but the common name may refer to the beautiful blooms similar to a chestnut tree). The opposite, oval-shaped leaves are 5-6 inches long. The new growth is tomentose (covered in short woolly hairs) and then become glabrous (smooth) as the leaves develop. Although listed in references as an evergreen, most trees in Balboa Park drop their leaves for a brief period in the winter. In late spring, the fl owers form on the ends of the branches and are spectacular panicles that cover the tree with pink and lilac blooms. The trees fl ower sporadically through the summer and give a basis for the generic name, which is derived from Greek, meaning “beautiful tree.” The gray seed pods contain shiny, black seeds. Some African traditions believe that the seeds bring luck and skill in hunting. Cape Chestnuts are growing near the Federal Building, Morley Field and at the Balboa Park Golf Course. Excerpted from Trees and Gardens of Balboa Park (2001; $25) and reprinted with Photos: Don Walker, Courtesy of the San Diego Horticultural Society, reprinted permission from Kathy Pulplava, Paul Sirois, the City of San Diego Park and from Ornamental Trees of San Diego. Recreation Department and Tecolote Publications www.sdfl oral.org California Garden March/April 2011 | 5 Dig in! a new garden transports Kids Back to the time of Dinosaurs hat do the Water Conservation Garden and dinosaurs W have in common? Children! Every child, no matter how old, likes dinosaurs. The Jurassic Garden, the Water Conservation Garden’s newest exhibit, is an exciting and Photo: Paul Redeker kid-friendly garden where children of all ages can explore and learn. The garden, tucked away at the end of the “Children’s Trail,” focuses on dinosaurs, water and of course plants. Did you know that some of the plants we have today were around when the dinosaurs lived? Or that the water we drink today was probably first slurped by a dinosaur? Visitors to the Jurassic Garden learn these amazing facts—and many more. The Jurassic Garden was conceptualized by the Garden’s Education Director Laurie Furry and constructed by local teenager Justin Atkins as his Eagle Scout project. With help from his parents and his fellow scouts of Troop 235, construction of the garden got underway in July 2010 and was finished before the end of the year. Some of the Jurassic Garden’s features include a fossil dig pit surrounded by plant species that dinosaurs actually ate. Kids can uncover fossils, compare themselves to life-size dinosaur silhouettes, explore a paleontologists’ research hut, step inside life-sized dinosaur foot prints and learn from the interactive signage. The Water Conservation Garden is located on the campus of Cuyamaca College in El Cajon. It is open daily from 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. For more information, visit www.thegarden.org. –Pam Meisner, Programs Assistant, The Water Conservation Garden Specializing in Beautiful Weddings Spectacular Events Exclusive Custom Client Designs EleanoreClark.com [email protected] 6 | California Garden March/April 2011 www.sdfloral.org in! reviews This book, with its many beautiful photos, is as much of a total immersion into the history and philosophy of Japanese gardens as a three-week tour. You will find a survey of styles ranging from 8th century ritual sites, to strolling gardens for meditation and 16th century tea gardens. The survey ends with a discussion of modern landscapes that use elements in the garden to symbolize The Climate Conscious Gardener larger geographic features. For example, a stand of trees could symbolize a mountain range. Edited by Janet Marinelli There are also chapters on design elements, such as plants, Brooklyn Botanic Garden water, and hardscape that include teahouses and viewing platforms. $12.95 (Paperback); 120 pages The philosophical significance and Japanese terminology for each of the elements are explained, and they are accompanied by If ideas on managing your garden and having it detailed how-to descriptions and line drawings. The author, who fit into the larger neighborhood are important to you—and how is a British landscape designer, provides a practical chapter on could it be otherwise—consider reading this collection presented how to plan and maintain a Japanese garden in the West. The by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. According to The New York section on maintenance includes explicit instructions for the many Times, it is “a brilliant collection of gardening handbooks.” distinctive types of pruning used in Japan. And it’s printed with soy ink on post-consumer recycled paper. This book is rich in specific information with a special treat After a detailed introduction on climate warming and at the end: an extensive armchair tour of Japanese gardens with an information on plants in peril because of the climate changes, there emphasis on those found in the ancient city of Kyoto. are many gems to apply in San Diego gardens. There are ways to - Marge Howard-Jones offset the effects of climate footprints in your garden, such as a checklist for garden construction and renovation, eliminating the use of power tools and a guide to living without a lawn. Additionally, there is a guide to green landscape materials and products. One particularly interesting section discusses the creation of The Victory Garden Companion a no-till garden. Apparently the thrust is to “dispense with digging By Michael Weisham and Laurie Donnelly as much as possible because it damages the soil, and use organic mulches to control weeds, prepare planting beds, and feed the soil Harper Collins organisms that nourish your plants.” $29.95 (Hardback); 312 pages This small guide is very readable, and full of specific ideas for wisely enriching your garden experience in a conscientious With so many fabulous garden books already manner. - Christie Wright in print, Michael Weisham initially questioned the need for one more. However, as the former host of the long-running gardening television program, “The Victory Garden,” he recognized the demand for in-depth information on what to do in the garden, Designing and Creating Japanese as well as how to accomplish the task. Who hasn’t pondered the Gardens questions of soil content, or the effect of climate when planning By Penny Underwood a garden? In fact, just trying to decide the size of a new deck or patio can make one long for expert advice. Crowood Press/Trafalgar Square Publishing Although his book is filled with truly gorgeous photos, the $45 (Hardback); 192 pages author cautions that images are great for inspiration and ideas, but real planning must begin with the realities of each garden’s A rock representing a turtle or a tree pruned to suggest clouds specific site. Topography and climate are two concerns, but equally – every element in a Japanese garden has symbolic meaning. important is a design that complements the house it surrounds. Drawing on the myths and religious legends of the ancient Chapters devoted to the ins and outs of such important Chinese, who long ago migrated to the mountainous islands known decisions include many details pertinent to the wide-ranging as Japan, a tradition of landscapes developed that acknowledges projects. Discussions of problems with heritage vegetables, zone humankind’s affinity with nature and interprets the natural world maps for heat and cold tolerance, before and after garden designs through garden design. and good and bad landscape examples answer any remaining Teien is a Japanese word for garden, and it also can be questions. interpreted to mean the contrasting opposites of wildness and Each chapter ends with a photo tour of an “Inspired Garden,” control. The basics of Japanese garden design combine this ranging from Thomas Jefferson’s extensive vegetable garden at concept with several others, including the interdependence of Monticello to Thomas Hobbs’ colorful backyard in Vancouver. plants, rocks and water, and Fusui. This term, Fusui, encompasses Beginning gardeners will find this a fantastic resource for a set of rules to guide the placement of elements in the garden to guidance and ideas, and experienced gardeners will appreciate enhance energy flow. For example, there are “the three friends the detailed information on the hows and whys of particular of winter”—conifers to represent long life, flowers and colorful gardening methods. The author comes from a place with four foliage as signs of rebirth and bamboo, as a symbol of strength distinct seasons, but his enthusiastic, informative approach to because it bends without breaking. gardening has universal appeal. –Marge Howard-Jones www.sdfloral.org California Garden March/April 2011 | 7 profi les in Horticultural History By Nancy Carol Carter ethel Bailey Higgins n a day in 1900 when the thermometer At 67 years of age, she was alone in the O registered eight below zero, Ethel world and in need of a livelihood. Perhaps Bailey and her father left their home calling on the steadfastness of her Quaker in Maine. A year earlier they had vacationed heritage, Higgins successfully combined in California and decided to make it their her photography skills and plant studies permanent residence. The Baileys settled at to forge a new life and to launch a long a crossroads near the village of Hollywood. scientifi c career. Mr. Bailey shrewdly bought property with an She always had an interest in botany, artesian well. He was later able to retire on the and over the years intensifi ed her studies profi ts from selling this land. in order to identify the fl owers she When Ethel Bailey Higgins reminisced photographed, sometimes asking for expert about the unspoiled countryside around her assistance. Her archived correspondence fi rst California home, she recalled horse and has reply letters from botanists at the buggy rides with her father. They explored University of California, the New York Alhambra, the wilderness of the San Fernando Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Valley, the barren foot of Griffi th Peak and the Institution. A Stanford University botanist country road called Western Avenue, now a acknowledged receipt of plant specimens major four-lane street running through Los and the “beautiful photographs” sent by Courtesy of San Diego Natural History Museum Angeles. Entranced by the fl ora of her new Higgins and expressed interest in purchasing home, Higgins wrote that though she was “always a fl ower lover” additional pictures from her native plant portfolio. in her native New England, she was “almost overcome at the “While my interest in cacti is chiefl y from the standpoint prodigality of the new and strange fl owers of California.” of making their portraits . . . I have to know something of them Ethel Bailey was born in 1866 in Vassalboro, Maine. Through and I am trying to learn all I can . . . ,” she wrote to botanists her father, her lineage traced back to some of the earliest Quaker at the Smithsonian in 1929. Her photography and botanical settlers and entrepreneurs in the Americas. Little is known of research culminated in the small but popular illustrated book, her mother except that her Presbyterian faith cost Mr. Bailey his Our Native Cacti issued by a New York publisher in 1931. This place in the Quaker congregation. At age 20, Ethel Bailey was work undoubtedly brought her to the attention of the San Diego the youngest graduate of a local college, the Kents Hill School, Society of Natural History. Although it cannot be said that the founded as Maine Wesleyan Seminary. For two years before book directly led to her new job, Ethel Bailey Higgins was named moving west, she taught high school in Massachusetts. curator of botany at the San Diego Natural History Museum in In California, she turned to photography as a career, fi rst 1933 (some accounts give the date as 1934). working in the studio of Frank Schmacher before opening her It was late in life for a new start, but Higgins had begun what own studio in Hollywood. She began making “plant portraits,” would become an almost 30-year career at the Natural History and hand-tinting them, developing a portfolio of 250 pictures Museum. During her years in the botany department as curator of native fl owers. She ran a small business selling these works. and assistant curator, the size of the herbarium grew from 6,000 Enlarged copies of these plant photographs were exhibited at San specimens to a collection of 46,000. She conducted a professional Diego’s 1914-15 Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park. correspondence and specimen trades with other museum botanists. In Los Angeles, Ethel Bailey met and married John C. She is believed to have initiated the fi rst accession records for Higgins, an inventor and machinist. They briefl y lived in El Centro the plant collections. Her brown spiral notebooks of numbered in the Imperial Valley, but in 1915, moved to San Diego and specimen lists still exist. All accession records are today kept on invested more than $40,000 in a foundry and machine shop. When a computerized database. With about 80 percent of the historical the stock market crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression, records now searchable, Higgins is credited with adding 184 unique the family business and investment were lost. Discouraged and ill, items to the herbarium collection from her own plant explorations. John Higgins died in 1931. From joint collecting trips with museum entomologist Charles F. After Ethel Bailey Higgins liquidated assets and paid off all Harbison, she is associated with an additional 300 accessions. the family debts, she faced widowhood with 14 cents to her name. Higgins offered practical education about plants and was 8 | California Garden March/April 2011 www.sdfl oral.org