A Visit to Keela Meadows' Garden

This past Sunday I visited Keela Meadow's garden. She is just north of me in the Eastbay, across the bay from San Francisco. She is an artist, garden designer, writer and colorist supreme. She goes places with color that few would dare go, and pulls it off with incredible results. The art pieces are all her designs, as are the pots, plant choices and paint. I first met Keela when she gave a demonstration on putting together plant choices for pots you paint yourself, when I got her to sign my copy of her newest book: Fearless Color Gardens: The Creative Gardener's Guide to Jumping Off the Color Wheel.This is a really, really small lot but there are at least six areas that feel separate unto themselves without feeling cramped.

You can find the biography Timber Press did for her latest book here:www.timberpress.com/author/keeyla_meadows/1477 and her own website is here:www.KeeylaMeadows.net

The most noteworthy aspect of her garden, among many, is her bold use of color

... in her choice of plants:

... in her use of paint:

especially on her house

but also on her pots

and other structures

... in her choice of paving materials:

such as the tiled area beside the house

or this glass near the studio

or this serpent near the dining area

... in her choice of outdoor furnishings and architectural details:

such as this bench

or this dining table

such as this outdoor shower and roof top seating

and this gate

... in the creation and use of her sculptures:

But I couldn't help also noticing some very nice textural elements in the garden as well:

July 2010

THE HAPPENINGS IN MY GARDEN

There were plenty of blooms in July. My favorite clover, a variegated one with lavender flowers has been in bloom all month and continues to be on into August.

The Verbena bonariensis had at least one fan in this Red Admiral.

The Meadow Rue is in bloom too.

So too did the Aloe distans bloom.

Other plants put on plenty of show through foliage alone, like this combination of the Ceonothus 'Diamond Heights' and Echeverias.

More splendid foliage: the really large bromeliad, __ imperialis shown here in front of the garden bed.

The garden has done well in our thus far cool summer. Here is the center arch at the broken concrete courtyard, in the center of the back garden.

OUR WHIRLWIND TOUR OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GARDENS
With Lia, I visited four Southern California gardens in three days and two nights. We drove down to the Huntington in San Marino very early the first day.
After we finished there we continued south where we stayed the night in a motel in Laguna Beach. The next morning at 10 a.m. we followed our guide up the hill to tour the Hortense Miller garden.
For lunch we ate at the restaurant of the Sherman Gardens and Library just up highway 1, in Corona Del Mar.
Finally we drove up to Santa Barbara where we stayed at the Montecito Inn. The next morning we checked out and headed up the hill to Lotusland where we were assigned to a tour guide who had formerly worked there as a gardener.
After a quick tour of the Contemporary Art museum in Santa Barbara we headed home.

THE U.C. BERKELEY BOTANICAL GARDEN

Later in July the Titan Lily, Maladora bloomed at the Berkeley Botanical Garden.

While I was there I couldn't help noticing how nice a place this garden really is.

Still later in the month, the Garden Conservancy opened 5 private gardens to tour in my area. Sherry's garden and Zumba's garden in the hills above San Leandro were a pleasure to revisit. My balky camera prevented me from getting as many shots as I would have liked. At Sherry's there was lots new to see. This is the view you get upon reaching the top of the driveway. It was fun to see these gardens with Cal Hort buddies Ellen and Beryl. As usual Sherry had incorporated many exotic plants, interesting combinations and loads of art in her garden.

My camera died midway through touring Raul Zumba's garden, which just around the block from Sherry's garden. It looked even better than I remembered it.

I also visited Keela Meadows' garden in Albany but my camera wasn't available to me there.