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Kensington Cloud Forest

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 I'm lucky to visit  David Neumaier's garden  every few months or so.  He was part of the Garden Conservancy Open Garden tours this past weekend.  Of course we went to his garden first!  My first order is always checking the street-side Agave ovatifolias. It was a gorgeous day, sun overhead.  I could see he had been really getting in there and making changes to the front slope.  A Spring Clean! I love the variety, it feels so exuberant!  Russelia equisetiformis was firecrackering blooms, on our way down the driveway. Almost to the front... I love the cascading softness of this tall grass on the corner.   We made it!  Ivan and David are great friends. Ivan was over early to help field questions and such.  Along with the large pond on the lower level, David has several container water gardens.   Ceratostema ?, he has several varieties - dang the way they drape is stunning.  I had one in my kitchen window that ...
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Drifting Plans

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 Our plan was to visit some gardens in the Berkeley area, brought to you (or me) by The Garden Conservancy.  Of course, we started at David's Kensington Cloud Forest. A gorgeous day, my daughters looking at the pond on the lower level of the garden.   As it turns out, I didn't read the fine print.  You were expected to purchase a ticket for EACH garden, oops.  David certainly wasn't checking if people had tickets - his was the garden I actually did buy tickets to (thinking it was for all).  Since I had purchased a membership, no biggie - I just needed to select and download the individual tickets.  A closer look at David's pond.  He mentioned he added white sand to the bottom, it made such a difference you could really see those fish.  The pond is large enough the fish have nooks and crannies in the rocks to hide in if a raccoon visits. Also there is a motion activated sprinkler to deter the racoons, which Ivan has set off a few times, h...
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