I do believe my readers know me by now, that I cannot write
on any botanical gardens or arboretums in one posting! And now back to subject of the Dawn
Redwoods.
This grove of “living fossils”, with their shaggy auburn
bark, was started in the 1950s. They
were once believed to be extinct, however in 1941 a 1,000 of them were found in
remote areas of China. Scientists from Harvard
University sponsored an expedition
to collect seeds from the trees and soon the first trees were planted in America. Another interesting tree is the Bristlecone
pine, which John has been looking for since he first read about them. This species, in its native environs, can
live for millennia, and there are specimens over 4,700 years old in
existence. We found one in the Schedel
gardens, upon examination of the tiny cones on the tree we discovered they had
bristles on their surface.
In my previous posting you may have noticed the thousands of
annuals planted along the mansion’s driveway, and also a smaller amount of
begonias and other plants around the Los Bailadores Flamenco marble sculpture,
pictured above. The beds of the gardens
are planted with nearly 20,000 annuals each year. To plant and maintain so many meticulously
manicured beds of plants looks like a lot of work to me! Schedel
Gardens has a staff of 15-20 full
and part-time staff. They also are
helped by nearly 100 volunteers, student interns and master gardeners.
As you may notice from the above last two pictures, art has become
an important feature of the gardens.
The sculpture pictured above is called The Sower. I liked it the best, it gave the impression that the little girl was holding a bouquet of lilies. As a garden brochure has explained it so
well, it is an example of “how art enhances the beauty of the gardens as well
as how gardens can enhance the beauty of art”.
In closing, pictured below are the flowers of a rose of Sharon bush, I
have not seen one before with blue flowers!
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