Monthly Archives: April 2016

Brook Lomond Iris Farm, color in the garden, colorful foliage, composting, cut flowers, deer resistant bulbs, Deer Resistant Plants, drought tolerant gardens, drought tolerant plants, flowers, fragrant plants, garden design, garden inspiration, gopher resistant plants, low water use plants, organic gardening

A Visit to the Brook Lomond Iris Farm

Aztec Sun
Aztec Sun

What do you get when you combine a world renowned pottery artist with a reformed corn grower? On California Street in Ben Lomond, the result is the Brook Lomond Iris Farm of Rick and Chris Moran. This fun, educational, inspiring couple recently invited me to admire this year?s crop of tall bearded iris grown with certified organic gardening practices as well as to share their organic vegetable garden, cactus and succulent collection and Chris? unique pottery. They are getting ready for this year?s annual iris sale coming up April 30th as well as May 1st and 7th from 9:00-4:00 each day when the iris blooms will be at their peak.

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Coiled pottery by Chris Moran

Upon arriving my eyes were torn between the colorful beds of iris on my left and the blooming cactus and succulent collection displayed on the flagstone entry garden on the right. I later learned Chris cut and laid the flagstone herself. Inside the house Chris?s fabulous coiled pottery vases, urns and jugs in their great room were so amazing I had a hard time tearing myself away to start the tour of the back garden and iris beds in the front. Cody, their new dog, was good company as I learned how the Moran?s came to start an iris farm.

When Rick Moran was 13 years old he worked at LoPresti tomato farm in Connecticut. ?I hated it,? he laughs. Later when he was a student at UCSC he used to pass by the Chadwick garden and says he ?got the gardening bug by osmosis?. After graduation the couple moved to Bar Harbor Maine where they started a community garden. Chris displayed the cactus and succulents she had moved there in a heated porch which was quite the talk of the town for neighbors passing by on a snowy day.

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Organic vegetable garden

When they moved back to this area and found the sunny lot in Ben Lomond, Rick added nine yards of chicken manure mixed with rice hulls and planted corn. He had visions of savoring succulent ears of corn for dinner but quickly realized that the amount of water needed to grow corn was prohibitive. That was after the Chris? succulent failure. He and Chris wanted to come up with a crop they could make a little supplemental income. She used to sell her cactus and succulents when they lived in Capitola at the drive-in in Santa Cruz many years before but after planting fancy succulents in the front yard and seeing them turn to mush in a Ben Lomond freeze they realized succulents weren?t going to work either.

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Stepping Out

Enter ?The Queen of the Garden? as iris are called. The Morans researched these stunning flowers and found them to be drought tolerant and deer and gopher resistant. Having a high water table Iris are the perfect crop. They require no extra water at all with summer being the plant?s dormant season. Chris worked for the City of Santa Cruz for 25 years and started their Home Composing program. They compost all garden waste and kitchen scraps using the compost as the only fertilizer for the iris beds and vegetable garden. They get 15 wheelbarrows of compost a year from their simple bins. Straw is spread as mulch to control weeds between the iris beds?

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Tall bearded iris beds

The iris are starting their blooming cycle now. Some bloom earlier than others. By planting early, mid and late blooming varieties you can extend their colorful show for several months. Iris also make a good cut flower and many are fragrant. Chris told me that you can tell when an iris was hybridized from it?s shape. The early types are not as frilly as modern varieties. She pointed out a bed of Wabash Heritage which was first introduced in the 1920?s- simple with three falls. The lovely sky blue flowers of Striped Zebra iris smelled of Grape Koolaid. Chris explained that the flower scent develops as they sit in the sun. The aroma is not as strong when they first open.

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Bearded iris closeip

The Brook Lomond Iris Farm is located at 10310 California Drive off Highway 9 in Ben Lomond. Just look for the tall flags waving in the breeze and bring your camera. Iris rhizomes for sale are chosen for hardiness in this area and the Morans are always on the lookout and adding the newest varieties available such as the deep purple Dusky Challenger. The Iris Farm is educational as well as beautiful- a place the whole family will enjoy.

Central Coast of California, wildflowers

A Wildflower Quest on the Central Coast of California

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Tidy tips – all photos by Tom Trower

A wildflower is a flower growing freely without human intervention. They grow in the wild and are not intentionally seeded or planted. Even when we humans create our own wildflower meadow from a seed packet the selected seed is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar different from the way it appears in the wild as a native plant. We are naturally drawn to fields of flowers and I didn?t want to miss out on this year?s spectacular wildflower display.

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Fields of Gold wildflowers

With well spaced precipitation we received this rainy season I knew there would be good wildflower displays where ever I decided to go. Because I lived in the Pismo Beach area for many years, the central coast of California got the nod and off we went with our dog Sherman along for company.

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Sherman and the author on Shell Creek Road

When I used to live in San Luis Obispo county there were more cows than vineyards. Not so anymore. So after a bit of wine tasting near Paso Robles we headed out towards Shandon and parts south to check out an area noted for it?s flowers in springtime.

Our first wildflower stop was Shell Creek Road which is abut 20 miles outside Santa Margarita near Highway 58. Named for the many fossilized shells that are found in the exposed strata of the bordering hills, this area is famous for it?s wildflower displays. The central coast has not received as much rainfall this El Nino year as southern and northern California. Still the wildflowers were pretty spectacular.

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Goldfields closeup
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lupine and owl’s clover

The weather was warm and soft late afternoon light accentuated the golden hills covered by wildflowers aptly named goldfields. Also in the mix lupine, tidy tips and owl?s clover splashed the hills and pastures with color while the grasses swayed in gentle breezes as we walked among the wildflowers. The drive itself is beautiful at this time of year but it?s when you get out of the car and walk among the flowers that you really get to appreciate them. The cattle were the only other observers of these green hills splashed with flowers planted only by mother nature.

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lupine and California poppies

Next stop was the Lopez Lake area. Wildflowers are ephemeral by nature and depending on the weather they may bloom, peak and fade in a very short time. Hiding beneath showy displays of color covering a hillside are dozens of little beauties that require you to get up close and personal to enjoy their tiny fragile features. it?s easy to take in the orange colored hillsides of poppies and goldfields but also take the time to marvel at the small jewels hiding among them.

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lupine closeup

I?ve also lived in the Antelope Valley are where California poppy fields go on for miles. And in 2005 I walked in the previous super bloom in Death Valley. Theodore Payne Foundation has an online wildflower hotline with weekly wildflower reports for all of California with their peak blooming times. February was dry in our state and some of the smaller wildflowers have already faded after setting seed. After our March rains and light April showers larger wildflowers might pink_unk_wildflowerget another bloom this spring in some locations so check the site for what?s blooming and where. Next year be sure to check out this source of wildflower sightings early and often in the season to get the very best wildflower viewing time for where ever you might want to visit.

atmosphere in the garden, Garden art, garden design, garden inspiration, stone

A World in Stone

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Lion’s head wall fountain

There?s a reason that stone in a garden gives us the feeling that it has been there a long time. The rustic elegance of a dry laid stone wall, natural stone paver patio, huge stone slab steps, outdoor stone fireplace or flagstone garden path reminds us that we humans have used stone for over two million years when we first started making stone tools.

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Ocean Pearl sauna wall detail

Stone is much more than the Wikipedia definition of ?a naturally occurring solid aggregate of one or more minerals.?? Granite, for instance, comes from igneous rocks formed slowly as it cooled deep under the earth?s surface. Sandstone and limestone are sedimentary rocks formed by the compaction of grains or pieces of any kind of existing rock material then cemented over millions of years by the movement of the earth?s tectonic plates and sometimes contain fossils formed at the time of deposition. Then there is metamorphic rock like marble and slate that were formed at extreme high pressures and temperatures beneath the earth?s crust from other types of rock. The presence of swirls, linear patterns or banding is a key characteristic of this kind of stone.

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Whimsical wall detail- anchor, agate, shells

In Ben Lomond lives a stone advocate who has created a spectacular decorative stone wall, a stone shower and sauna room, stone patio, paths and slab steps and he?s invited me to come and view them at his home before he puts it on the market.

Jon Troutner has been in the stone business for a long time. He owned Antolini Masonry and Landscape Supply in Santa Cruz for 20 years until he lost his lease and sold the company in 2008. Afterwards he used his expertise and some choice materials he saved to use at his home in Ben Lomond and another in Aptos. Jon?s primarily a musician these days but his creative vision in stone is a magical experience as he walks me around his home.

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“eel-head” rock peaking out of wall

Jon?s property is located near Love Creek up on a hill and has a lovely canyon view. When he bought the property 5 years ago the backyard was just sand but now it is fully landscaped. Ocean Pearl, one of his favorite stone types that he used in his whimsical wall and sauna, comes from a quarry on Vancouver Island that he used to own. Jon gave this this type of quartzite it?s unique name because of the subtle hues and shadings in the stone.

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“Where’s Waldo” stone wall

Jon?s creations in stone have a look of their own. Being a harmonica player he puts an old harmonica somewhere on each of his unique walls. It?s his personal signature and he pointed out one in the sauna and one in the ?Where?s Waldo?? wall as he calls it.

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mermaid in stone wall

?What?s a ?Where?s Waldo? wall, I ask?” Jon just laughs and explains that this 1987 children?s book is about the travels of Wally where readers are asked to locate him hidden in an illustration and to re-explore each scene locating other objects too. Jon showed me three mermaids, five otters, two turtles, three seahorses and an eel-shaped rock poking out from the ?waves? of ocean pearl stone veneer on the showpiece wall he created to enclose the patio. There are also ship net balls, an anchor, abalone shells, fossils and his signature harmonica. ?I pictured this wall as the ocean floor,? Jon explained.

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fossils in stone wall

As we walk around, Jon points out the Vermont slate floor and the ocean pearl veneer sauna room, the basalt shower with rounded cobble stone floor, the Indian rainbow cut sandstone shady patio, the Connecticut bluestone slab steps, the ocean pearl columns, the tumbled Arizona gold flagstone path and the 125 pound crystals from Brazil that are lighted at night.

This place is magical and timeless. Jon?s creative vision will live forever in his stone creations.