Drifting Plans

 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, haha!

I'll share more of David's garden on a future post. Off we went to see the next garden! Maps decided to take us via Grizzly Peak Boulevard and Tunnel Road.  Very windy roads on what feels like a cliff with bicycles and sharp turns, yuck.  I hate a curvy road, especially if there's a drop off. We made it tho to North Oakland Hillside Retreat.  The photos do not come close to showing the insane elevation they are dealing with.  The driveway is one thing, the lot is something else!

The owner's names weren't listed on the tickets, but we did meet the gentleman of the house.  He introduced himself as an old English Gardener.  This was the car port area under the house, we did need to show tickets here.

The lot was 10,000 sq. feet. Here's more of a straight on shot of the same side garden. 

We checked in, and were told how to work our way through the garden -just to the right of the car port, up we go!

Just at the top of those 👆stairs, a new planting area.  He said he had just begun experimenting with drilling holes in this large rock and planting Aeoniums and Haworthia. Very cute!

We are heading towards the back of the house to a patio. 

Made it to the patio area in the back, it was maybe 10' deep with lots of people.  It was difficult to really get a shot. I was struck that most of the garden was still UP there.

Walking to the next set of stairs, as directed.  This mural was painted on the house. 

And turned away from the house, a nice seating area. You can see the red umbrella up higher in the slope, that's where we're headed.  I have to say, this elevation was extremely EXTREME, it felt impossible to accomplish what they've done.  In fact, he did say he has 2 gardeners who do the work now.  His balance is "off" and he can't handle it well anymore. 

I liked this back corner planting, before we head up another set of stairs. An octopus sculpture is partially hidden back there. 

Up.  The stairs and railings were perfectly sturdy.  We all talked about how excellent the workmanship was on the hardscaping.  And a necessity!

I'm guessing the plants were all brought up one by one.  I'd need a donkey.  I've always wanted a donkey!

Bromeliads all nicely tucked in the palm trunk. 

Made it to the red umbrella and another sitting area. You can see the wall behind the couch, the slope was trellised up in several sections this way.  I can't imagine the cost.  

And up a little higher, I tried to take shots down towards the house to show how high we were.  The photos don't do it justice. 

Yay for a path! Silly, but this might be my favorite area.  I liked the pathway and wall, it felt so grounded.  I really struggled with feeling "unsettled" in this garden.  I am not a fan of heights.  I wouldn't say I was nauseous, but close.

And a look down.

This might be the tippy-top?

The surrounding hills were gorgeous, as we wind our way back down the side garden.

I mentioned the directions when we checked in, they made sense once we entered! Some stairs were completely cornered off. 

Another blocked stair off to the side. 

A narrower, but really lovely path.

I took this shot as we were almost to the first set of stairs we started on.  I'll admit I was totally trying to snoop at the plants on the attached patio.  

I'm so impressed with they've done here, there are some gorgeous plants.  And LOTS of them.  I was paying too much attention to my footing to appreciate it all.  I'm sure when you get used to it, that isn't the case.  

We had done enough with curvy roads and steep anything.  Sophia lead us out an easier way, and we enjoyed some sushi.  And chocolate.  I couldn't help but take a quick jaunt to Flowerland.  It ended up we didn't have time for any more tours, they were OVER! Hopefully I'll get a second chance. 

I had such great company, the plan going haywire didn't matter one bit!