Don Tollefson gives a guided tour round some
West Coast USA gardens. Don Tollefson, 599 California Avenue, Venice,
California, 90291, USA Chamaerops No.23, Summer Edition 1996
Left, above: The San Francisco garden of Mrs Inge
Hoffmann, 'The Seed Lady'
Left, below: Your smiling editor with Dypsis decipiens, in Lakeside
Arboretum, Oakland, CA.
Right, above: The high-level San Diego garden of Jim Wright
Right, below left: Bearded Jim Wright with Rhopalostylis.
Right, below right: Pauleen Sullivan's Hedyscepe canterburyana
It must be admitted that for one
reason and another, the following article is a bit of a mish-mash!
It was originally submitted by Don Tollefson with the title '1996
IPS Biennial Private Garden Tours'. IPS is of course The International
Palm Society, and the Biennial is . the 1996 meeting that took place
in Los Angeles in early August just passed. A number of EPS members
were there, including Tony King, Toby Spanner, Jacques Deleuze and
myself. The article should of course have been published prior to
the meeting, but due to lack of space, it was not. We all visited
some of the gardens described, at this time, or previously, plus
others, and there is so much to learn from the way Californians
'do it', I thought I'd risk publishing it late in a edited form,
along with a few photos that may or may not have been taken during
the meeting! Much of California has a near-perfect climate for palm
growing, and many of the species listed here would be ideal for
the warmer parts of Europe. Remember 'Temperate' covers a very wide
range of temperatures, but then so does our membership! (Martin
Gibbons)
California is one of the world's leaders in the
cultivation of temperate climate grown palms, and there are many
Californian gardens that are now among the best in the world. It's
a sophisticated skill to grow tropical palms in a temperate climate,
but once you obtain the basic know-how it's surprisingly easy, and
you'll be amazed byhow lush and tropical-looking a garden you can
develop.
Now the opportunity to see some of these gardens
is near. The August schedule for the 1996 International Palm Society
Biennial in California includes four private gardens and the oportunityto
see first hand some of the many exotic and beautiful palms that
can be grown in a temperate climate. There is no substitute for
learning from experienced growers, and seeing their mature collections.
These gardens and these growers are among the best anywhere. The
four gardens are those of Lois Rossten, Ralph Velez, Pauleen Sullivan
and Louis Hooper. What follows is a summation of each garden and
the unique growing techniques of each grower.
California Dreaming
