Garden Conservancy Open Days 2006

Sacramento Area Private Gardens Tour March 31
The Garden Conservancy kicks off its 2006 Open Days in Sacramento, CA, with tours of three exquisite private gardens.  The GC is the premier organization in the country that works to preserve the finest gardens in the United States for posterity, and everyone who's even vaguely interested in gardens should take advantage of these tours -- you won't see finer gardens anywhere.  Two Japanese Gardens and one enormous 50-acre garden are featured on opening day.

Maple Rock Garden (above) in Newcastle features extensive Japanese maples and rocks covered with moss; an English walled vegetable garden; a Japanese meditation garden; a fruit orchard; and a three-level redwood pavilion covered with wisteria, clematis, creeping fig, and azaleas.  And there's much more.

In Lincoln, CA, the 50-acre Gardens of Springhill includes a rose and a knot garden; a shade garden; a cactus & succulent garden; a palm garden; a formal Italian garden and -- under construction -- a 400 foot long cypress avenue with an aquarium.  Hiking trails, ponds, waterfalls and wetlands complete this amazing enterprise.

Finally, stop in Granite Bay to see Myo Wa En, the Japanese World Peace Garden designed in 1985 by then 93-year-old Katsuo Saito.  Take in three Zen gardens, the Japanese tea house, as well as six 50-year-old bonsai Japanese black pines.  Saito authored  several books on Japanese gardens, including Magic of Trees and Stones: Secrets of Japanese Gardening; and Quick and Easy Japanese Gardens. Both are still available at used book sites, including Amazon.com.

The complete Open Days Directory -- with directions to the gardens -- is available through the Garden Conservancy.

(photo: Garden Conservancy - photo by Frenk Andrews)

Comments

[panasianbiz]

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research. As someone who had the privilege of living in Japan for a number of years prior to returning to the United States, I have experienced firsthand the beauty and serenity of Japanese gardens. I am overjoyed that so many American gardeners are emulating their Japanese counterparts.