Big Sur Magazine - Spring/Summer, 2004
Hidden Gardens of Big Sur
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Big Sur is a place folded into canyons and ridge tops with the ocean at it's feet, it's face to the sun. Each facet of the land creates a varied climate with cool shaded redwood clefts full of maples and thimbleberries next to creeks that gaze up at dry sunlit flanks under a blanket of dark fragrant chaparral. The fog rises like a tide up canyons and spills over hills but rarely touches mountain tops and never seems to leave low terraces by the waves. Sunset Magazine firmly roots the level of the highway in Climate Zones 16 and 17, but the Coast Ridge with it's ponderosa pines mimics the far Sierra Nevada in Climate Zone 7. The rich tapestry of plants, both native and domesticated, that grow in Big Sur is amazing. As spring runs to summer, the threads of the tapestry catch the eye of locals and visitors alike.
Of course, the masses of lupines in April and May are much commented on, but slow down and look more carefully for the scarlet bugler penstemon (Penstemon centranthifolius) on dry road-cuts accompanied by the apricot colored azalea-like flowers of Santa Lucia Monkey Flower (Mimulus aurantiacus). This plant will continue to bloom throughout the summer as long as the moisture holds out and is a perfect lure for vibrant hummingbirds.
Tall spires of blooms in purple, blue or lavender are born on Pride of Madeira (Echium fastosum). Actually native to Madeira and the Canary Islands, this garden escapee is perfectly adapted to Big Sur's dry summers and flushes with bloom in April, May and June. A garden specimen of Echium can grow to 10 feet tall and wide in just 2 years and is perfect companion to Matillija Poppy (Romney coulterii). This tall perennial has large open poppy-like flowers in white with yellow tasseled centers. A California native, it appreciates the same rocky free draining soil as Echium and can form colonies of upright stems to 6 feet with blooms in May to July. Matillija Poppy burst forth like white fireworks in the terraced gardens at Nepenthe and Essalen.
Later, look for masses of lavenders in gardens at Post Ranch or Ventana. Of the several hundred cultivars available, those of English (Lavandula intermedia and L. angustifolia) and the wing-flowered Spanish (L. stoechas) are most popular in gardens along the coast. Their fragrant foliage and flowers are shunned by deer and can survive on very little water as long as drainage is excellent. Spanish Lavenders bloom heavily in May and June, with a sporadic show anytime. English Lavenders flush with color in May and the fragrant spikes will hold their color till fall.
The red trumpet flowers of California Fuschia (Epilobium canum), bloom above the Waterfall Overlook Trail at Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park from August until October. Again, hummingbird lovers will want to stay near this plant to see the tiny colorful birds fight over the blooms. It is a low spreader that has also colonized the edges of gravel paths in my garden. I am always surprised by the unexpected combinations that develop when Epilobium pops up next to Erigeron, Grevilleas, Gaillardia or amongst the low ornamental grasses that are my garden favorites.
If you have been intrigued by some of the flowers of Big Sur, don't forget to visit some of Big Sur's beautiful landscapes this year as part of the Big Sur Art's Initiative Hidden Gardens Tour 2004 or get a take a sneak peek by visiting my website, www.TheCoastalGardener.com.
Dave Egbert, The Coastal Gardener
