Monumental Trees, World-wide, and especially in Belgium

Castle Bleu in Trooz

The Monumental Trees website tracks trees, world-wide, that are monumental in some way - the oldest, tallest, biggest, thickest. Anyone can add to their database. Giant sequoia seems to be a favorite.

You can find the monumental trees in Belgium. Listed are 1448 specimens of various species. And you can find Giant Sequoia trees that are growing in Belgium! Today there are 956 Sequoias listed. I had trouble clicking on the marker except when I was in the big map. Look at all of those trees! Indeed, the Castle of Dave has three specimens! Mammoetbomen! Not so often, do you see a castle with a Giant Sequoia. Or do you if you are looking outside of California?

The California Nursery Company's Ramona Float in the 1929 Fiesta de las Rosas

The California Nursery Company float
in the 1929 Fiesta de las Rosas parade.
"The Wedding Scene from "Ramona'' was the
presentation of the California Nursery Company
of Niles, California."
Photographer - Frank Steiner, May 18, 1929
From OCLC WorldCat

In 1929 the California Nursery entered the Fiesta de las Rosas parade in San Jose with this float featuring Ramona's wedding place. Read the souvenir booklet and find the nursery's float on page 16.

San Jose has a very long history of parades to celebrate roses and to highlight San Jose as a "garden city". In 1896, the first "Carnival of the Roses" parade was held.  The Rose Carnival became the "Fiesta de las Rosas" in 1926.  The parade has since transformed into the Rose, White, and Blue parade.

What was the inspiration for this float in 1929? 

This was around the time that George C. Roeding, Jr. was thinking about renovating (or was in the process of renovating) the old Vallejo Adobe building. The 1931 catalog announced that the adobe would soon be renovated. The cover featured a beautiful pen and ink drawing of the Old Adobe.  See related article about Fred Reimers who transformed the adobe from functional to beautiful.

In 1928 "Ramona" was released. This silent movie starred Dolores del Rio and Warner Baxter. (For many years it was thought to be lost. Now you can find it online.) See the book Ramona Memories for how Helen Hunt Jackson's novel affected the selling of California for years and years. Bruce Roeding was not aware of any connection with Ramona, but then he was born in 1928!

An Abundance of Apples

This is the time of year to make Julia Child's version of the apple Tarte Tatin.  (What with "little Bart" being in Belgium, I was tempted to call it Tart Tintin... and apparently I am not alone.)

From Wikipedia 

Tree Rings

From the book, Sequoia National Park, 1937.

Most school kids in California have probably seen a redwood tree section showing the annular rings on it with dates, like "WWII ends", "Columbus discovers America", "Jesus was born", dates like that.  So it's pretty common knowledge that trees can show years passing by the number and kind of rings they set down.

If you want to refresh your memory, here's the NOAA website that talks about tree rings. And here's the wikipedia article on dendrochronology.

Ok, so now you know all about that tree ring stuff.  Did you know that humans also have annular rings?

Selecting that perfect tree

Looking for that plant that is low maintenance, drought tolerant, and is a great tree?  And maybe one that will not grow so tall that the utility company hacks at it periodically? 

Chorus of Winter Buds

This is a really sweet book that shows the winter buds of plants that look strangely human: Chorus of Winter buds.

This book is very reminiscent of Karl Blossfeldt's photos from Urformen der Kunst, only with poetry and a humorous slant.

I first heard about Karl Blossfeldt while taking a drawing class with my daughter and several other grade-school children.  What fun that class was to see how kids draw.

Even Famous Architects build Fruit and Vegetable Gardens

I was looking through the Bernard Maybeck archives in the UC Berkeley Environmental Design Archives and ran across this plan for a fruit tree and vegetable garden. The garden is for the Leon L. Roos House in San Francisco.

Look! A vegetable garden designed by Bernard Maybeck!

"I had a little nut-tree" by Roald Dahl

Walnut on Mission Creek

I had a little nut-tree,

Nothing would it bear.
I searched in all its branches,
But not a nut was there.

'Oh, little tree,' I begged,
'Give me just a few.'

The little tree looked down at me

And whispered, 'Nuts to you.' 

We all think that Grandpa Dean would have loved this poem!

And here is a famous "Nuts to you!" from WWII.

Stinkwort, Stinkweed, a stinky weed by any name

Stinkwort - not only does it smell very bad, but
it can cause dermititis and diarrhea.  

Stinkwort.

You can't avoid running into it where ever you go. In Fremont, I see it along side the road here and there, at the California Nursery Park, at Coyote Hills, at Ohlone College. You can identify it 65 miles per hour along the freeway. It's one of the only green plants at this time of year.

In August and September, in our hills in the Mission Peak Preserve, the sticky monkeyflower is burnt to a crisp, the California Fuchsias are still hanging in there, and we see various kinds of flowers in the Asteraceae family (what I used to call a "comp"..."daisy" flowers to others). It's nice to visit the native plants that are blooming at this late time of year.

The Garden of the Vallejo Adobe - Designed by Johannes Reimers

What did the garden around the "Old Adobe" look like? There are black and white pictures, but the cover of the 1939 catalog is probably how the Roeding family saw it. (The catalog flipped the original painting to make the front door be on the cover!). [2021 update! Movies from California Revealed]

Johannes Reimers designed the garden surrounding the Old Adobe around the time that the adobe was renovated by his son, the Bay Area architect, Frederick Reimers.

The 1931 catalog says that the owners plan to renovate the old building and that the grounds are being appropriately landscaped.

Why was Johannes Reimers chosen to do the garden?

A Walk Around the Old Vallejo Adobe

The garden around the Vallejo Adobe is often referred to as the "Reimers garden".   So far, I found this out about Johannes Reimers.  The original design for the garden still exists in the archives (supposedly). 

Johannes Reimers could be considered (at least by me) a really early drought-tolerant garden planner. He planned gardens for some of the driest most neglected areas, railroad stations.

Mrs. George Roeding Jr's History of the Old Adobe and its Garden

First an introduction to the dynamic father-son duo: Johannes Reimers and Fred Reimers

The Bay Area architect, Frederick Reimers, transformed the modest adobe building that was formerly used for fumigation and storage. He created a modern building with windows to let light in. Locally manufactured tiles covered the floor and roof. The historic adobe was introduced as the "Old Adobe." 

[Fred Reimers designed many buildings and homes in Oakland, Piedmont, and the Bay Area. His residences are very cute and are still very sought after. He designed a model home for the Niles Rotary in Adobe Acres which was built on former nursery land during the Depression. (see Fremont Main Library)]

Johannes Reimers, his father, designed the garden around the Vallejo Adobe. He created the pleasant sheltered garden surrounded by nursery buildings and created a place for gatherings.

Johannes Reimers had a long association with the Roeding family and designed and built Roeding Park, many other parks, industrial site gardens, and train stations.

A History of the Nursery Trade (1904)

To understand the importance of the California Nursery Company, it is helpful to understand the context of the times. How many nurseries were there around the turn of the 20th century?  Who were they supplying?  What were they supplying?  

The Horticultural Wishbooks

Catalogs, a window to the past

I love to look at old catalogs.  You get to see the ordinary or the fleeting or exactly what you got for Christmas back in 1965.  It was a big deal to get that Christmas Sears Roebuck catalog  each year. We called it the wishbook.  Indeed, the old catalogs give us a view into the lives of our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. What were some of those things used for?  You could buy anything in there. I always wish I could still order out of the catalog. Maybe there is a Sears Hazelton house kit languishing in some warehouse waiting for me.

Old seed catalogs are great wishbooks, too.  You see varieties that are hard or impossible to find now. You see trees that must have been just introduced to California.  All kinds of wondrous stuff.
I found several places online that have scanned in old catalogs and looked for the California Nursery Company catalogs.

The California Nursery Company History

The California Nursery Company is one of the best kept historical horticultural secrets of Fremont and of California.

Folks in Fremont probably all know that we have a early California mission, Mission San Jose.   And we have some historic buildings - Ardenwood Farm, the Chadbourne Carriage House, and Shinn Park.  Then there is the Niles Canyon Railway and the Essanay Silent Film Museum.  However, if you are the average Fremontian you probably don't know much or anything about the California Nursery Company.

Yet, at one time, according to the California Nursery Company literature, the nursery was the largest nursery West of the Rockies. (Other nurseries claimed the same!)

A Google Map tour of the California Nursery Company in Niles, California

In the Niles District in Fremont, there is an under-developed mostly unknown park called the California Nursery Historical Park.

For years I have driven by on my way to somewhere else, or stopped by the small retail nursery that was there for a while, or admired the inaccessible Vallejo Adobe, or looked at their antique rose garden and wondered about the windmill. Then there are all those large trees and some of those trees are kind of unusual.

For an "Introduction to Horticulture" class at Merritt College, I decided I would find out what I could about the California Nursery Historical Park and all of those big trees on the property. Certainly there must be an interesting story there!