The Gardens of Filoli

We finally had a chance to visit Filoli, a country estate built south of San Francisco in 1914.

I first became aware of Filoli when we visited the Empire Mine, the subject of an earlier post.

The house was commisioned by William Bourn who had made his fortune from the Empire mine.

After the death of the Bourns the property was sold to Mr. & Mrs. William Roth who continued to lavish loving care on the gardens.

The house and gardens were given to the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1975.

Professional staff, interns and an army of volunteers work to keep the garden a showplace for all to enjoy.

I wished we had been there a few weeks later when the wisteria that drapes the portico will be in bloom.

But then this beautiful magnolia might not have been in bloom if we had come later.

The entrance was graced by pots of fragrant blooms.  I'll leave the interior of the house for a later post.

The formal gardens are divided into many garden rooms.  I think this Sunken Garden was my favorite.

Looking across the Sunken Garden, one sees the Garden House, beyond it is the Walled Garden.

Along the wall of the Walled Garden is a row of  London Plane trees, pruned back to knobs (pollarded).

Inside the Garden House were more fragrant flowers.  I wonder what flowers will be there later, when the bulbs are done

In the Walled Garden.

Another view of the Walled Garden, this spot is called the Wedding Place.  I do not recall if it was the Bourn daughter or the Roth daughter that was married here.

There is a lot of work to keep up these gardens.  All of the trees and shrubs require care and pruning.

Now I'm wondering, what will it look like next month, the month after.  I guess we will just have to return and see.

This is one view of our wonderful world, to see others visit That's Our World, Tuesday, hosted for us by 

Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia and Sandy.

A Walk Along Putah Creek

 We recently drove over to Davis, a college town west of Sacramento.  One of our sons had attended college there and we were familiar with the town but we had never visited the arboretum.  I was hoping for some great photos to represent Yolo County on my other blog.
Arboretums are collections of plants and not decorative gardens so I was not very successful in that goal but it was an interesting and worthwhile visit.
UC Davis started out as a Farm School 1907 and was part of UC Berkley.  It is now a full university in its own right and includes a Medical School and Law School.
It is still and important Ag school and a resource for farmers and home gardeners alike.

 The arboretum extends along both sides of Putah Creek for over two miles.  We didn't explore the entire length, I think we will go back another time.
The arboretum contains collections of both native California plants and plants adapted to California's climate.  The main emphasis of the collections is on water-wise gardening.

Western Redbud

Ceanothus

 Ceanothus and Redbud are both widely used in my area; they are native plants that are attractive and need little water.

Flamingo Chinese Cedar (Toona sinensis 'Flamingo')

 This lovely plant in the East Asian collection was new to me.

Knife Acacia (Acacia Cultriformis)

 This low growing Acacia from Australia was also one I hadn't seen before.

Another collections was dedicated to plants that attract hummingbirds.

See more of our amazing world at That's My World, Tuesday, hosted for us by Klaus, Sandy Wren and Sylvia.