Napa County Master Gardeners - Garden Tour 2009

"Down The Garden Path" - About the Gardens:

 

6. SHADY BOWER OF DELIGHTS - 

Beautiful ash and oak trees, planted long ago, grace this small city garden with its plethora of unusual delights. A sense of green serenity greets the visitor who is encouraged to walk slowly and look closely to notice the vignettes created by the gardeners, admire the garden art, and examine the family’s stone collection.

For now, the lawn provides family play space, but it will eventually become a vegetable garden, as the needs and desires of the family change. Nilda Douma especially loves ferns and has a beautiful collection nestled in the shade. But there are other wonderfully lush perennials and exotics, most with colorful foliage or long-lasting flowers to add a little spice to the green scene.

This garden is tended carefully, but simply. A philosophy of amending the soil with compost and manure yearly has proven to be a regimen for maintaining healthy plants in this green oasis. Most of the beds and garden work have been done by the gardeners, adjusting and coaxing a new design and contemporary ideas out of a 1960s beginning.

Small can be beautiful, very interesting and so calming. 

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS & HANDOUTS - SOIL:

Mulches, Soil Amendments & Fertilizers

Our Newspaper Article on Soil Solarization

Soil Solarization

Organic Mulches by Susanne von Rosenberg, Master Gardener