April 09, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Open minds at Open Days

by Barbara Wood

S pring is officially here and local gardens are showing it. Take a peek yourself next weekend when the Garden Conservancy's Open Days program will allow visits to private gardens in Woodside and Atherton while raising money to preserve special gardens nationwide.

Three gardens in Atherton and one in Woodside will be open on Saturday, April 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at a cost of $5 per garden. No reservations or advance purchase are required.

Susy and Larry Calof's garden at 126 Stockbridge Ave., Atherton, has been 25 years in the making, and just a glance shows the hand of a master gardener at work. Susy Calof designed the garden herself, but it is definitely not the work of an amateur -- she trained at UCLA as a landscape architect and also worked as an interior designer for many years.

That background is apparent in the incredible combinations of colors, plant textures and shapes in her garden and even the choice of garden ornaments. Or maybe it's just that gardening is in Calof's genes -- she says both sets of her grandparents gardened.

Chartreuse, that unusual golden-hued green, is one of Calof's favorite foliage colors and she uses it throughout her garden to make what might be ordinary plant combinations into the extraordinary. One standout is the combination of chartreuse with a soft-purple-leafed variety of the shrub loropetalum. A variety of feverfew with chartreuse leaves combines the unusual color with soft fern-like leaf texture for a double-whammy of a garden accent that often reseeds itself.

Ideas for gardening in the shade as well as the sun are available in the Calof garden due to a number of mature redwoods and pines on the property. She likes to plant variegated bishop's weed in the shade -- an easy-care groundcover that disappears each winter. Hydrangeas add long-lasting flowers and Japanese maples add shots of color and interesting leaf textures.

Ajuga "Giant Bronze" is used as an edging plant in many areas of the garden. When the 6-to-9-inch tall electric-blue flowers aren't blooming the foliage color takes over. It grows in sun or shade. Lambs' ears (Stachys byzantina), with their beautiful fuzzy gray foliage are also used for edging.

All around the garden are Calof's collection of frogs and items as unique as two rusted metal headboards Calof found on a dump heap during a hike and then hauled back three miles, on foot; a pot shaped like a pair of bright rubber boots and hanging baskets full of gardening hand tools.

The garden isn't just for show. It has a number of secluded nooks and crannies with tables, chairs and benches. The backyard includes a swimming pool, which Calof placed to visually expand the size of the backyard, vegetable beds, a berry patch and fruit trees.

A garden shed, one of the few items in the original garden, stores tools and other gardening essentials, but its planted window box, climbing roses and collection of crosses on the wall leaves it looking a like a stage set for "The Secret Garden."

Like any gardener, Calof has learned to deal with things beyond her control. This year the unseasonably warm weather meant the flowering cherries, dogwoods and crab apples that were expected to bloom during the tour will already have passed. But some of the several varieties of wisteria on the property and many of the 150 roses that normally wouldn't be out yet will be in bloom.

Calof says she loves the experience of hosting the Open Days tours. "The Conservancy is such a joy," she said, with most of the visitors "people who really just love and are fascinated by gardens."

Margaret Bellomo is one of those people. Her garden, Taramar, will be open at 283 Selby Lane, Atherton. Bellomo planned most of the three-acre garden herself, with the help of designer Toni Heran.

The front yard is mostly shaded by tall, old trees and includes 100 hydrangeas, camellias, beds of acanthus and a holly tree lighted each year for the holidays. The Bellomos' son was married in the garden last June.

Behind the house is a huge lawn with putting greens at either end, complete with sand traps. Beds on either side of the lawn were planted with more than 10,000 daffodils and tulips this year and now feature colorful bedding plants. A white Chinese wisteria blooms on a metal gate next to the swimming pool.

Other traditional garden favorites found in the garden include hollyhocks, foxgloves, 150 rose bushes, clematis, iris and delphinium. Dozens of pots grace the paved areas of the garden, including evergreen topiaries.

A "secret garden" winds behind a pool house and the garage, with a blue slate path meandering through romantic plantings.

This garden closes at 2 p.m.

Other gardens open on Saturday include:

The Karlene and David Elder garden, is at 83 Linda Vista Ave., Atherton. With the help of landscape architect Dennis O'Connor the Elders have transformed a former sea of asphalt into an inviting front yard of lawn and flower beds. Their backyard features a screen of trees with "Sally Holmes" roses and wisteria on a trellis providing a screen of green that blooms most of the year, a grape arbor and a cutting garden. This garden closes at 2 p.m.

The Isgur garden at 1 Cedar Lane, Woodside, surrounds a contemporary home. In front, a geometric Mediterranean-style garden features olive trees, lavender and water moving through the space. At the rear are flowering trees, and wisteria and spring bulbs. The back garden has raised flower beds, walls, arbors and trellises surrounding open space.

Other Open Garden days will be held around the Bay Area in May, June and September, including Sunday, May 16, when the Calof Garden in Atherton will be open again along with the Jaunich Garden at 384 Mountain Home Road, Woodside. The five-acre Jaunich garden was designed three years ago to capture owners Kathy and Bob Jaunich's favorite view of the western hills. The garden includes a natural creek and small pond, vegetable gardens, orchid greenhouse, rose garden and a wide array of Mediterranean plants.

For a complete listing of all gardens in the Open Days program, pick up a copy of the Garden Conservancy's Open Days Directory at local bookstores or one of the gardens on tour. The directory may also be ordered by calling (888) 842-2442 or online at www.gardenconservancy.org. Cost is $6.95 for the regional guide or $20.45 for the national directory, including shipping.

The Garden Conservancy was founded in 1989. The organization now has 13 gardens that have been preserved and opened to the public, including the gardens on Alcatraz Island and the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, and has assisted in the preservation of at least 33 others across the country.

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