Where else can you enjoy a 47 acre garden that includes a stunning flower display and a walk to the Pacific ocean? I previously shared the Mendocino Botanical Garden on my website under the tab “Gardens to Visit”. It is worth a visit to their website, and a real visit to the Mendocino/Ft Bragg area on the northern California coast. There is a garden, nursery, café, and a walk to the ocean.
I always get new ideas for clients, and on this trip, I found them some new plants for their garden. The first plant that stood out as we walked by the nursery was the Salpiglossis. This sounded to me like a medical condition. It is known as the salpiglossis sinuata or painted velvet tongue plant.
My next find was the Filipendula or Queen of the Prairie. It is shown here for its splendid color, but you really need to see it in the context of the larger garden to fully appreciate its size and contribution to the garden. This larger garden context is shown in the top picture in this blog.
Below is another beauty, the paprika yarrow. I have a lot of yellow yarrow in my garden, and will plant this variety for next summer!
We often look for a ground cover in parts of our garden. If you want ideas, this is the place.
This next picture was taken with an iphone in the grass, so you can see the low-lying nature of the New Zealand Burr or Acanea inermis purpurea.
We’ll be back at the Mendocino Botanical Garden in mid-August for another visit. My husband Don will take a photo class there, entitled “Find the Photo” that will focus on what to photograph and how to frame it. Sometimes the flowers provide a great composition by themselves, or not. The close-up picture of the Queen of the Prairie show its stunning color and beauty, but sometimes the addition of some other features, like the steps and bench in the top photo, gives you a better composition and better sense of the flower’s place in the garden.
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