This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Re: UCB Botanical Garden Holiday Sale (12/6)

Hi Cyndi,
It was good seeing you at the UC Botanical Garden holiday plant sale, and
I'm glad that it was accessable to you. There are plans to make more
parts of the Garden wheelchair accessable, but that depends on raising
more funds (as in more plant sales & happy plant buyers like yourself). 
These sale s are also enjoyed by the volunteers working there.
As for pesticide use, UC Botanical Garden must follow the rules for a
public space, and so use and storage of pesticides are different from
those of commercial businesses. We are extremely sensitive to this, and
our horticulturist in charge of Garden policy has been wonderful. Besides,
we are a research and study garden for the university, so we want to have
all the insects, birds, newts, tree frogs, quail, etc., etc. as residents
of the Garden too. Consequently, your instincts were right, in
that there were no pesticides present on the plants you purchased. This
would be true of all plant sales in public gardens, such as Strybing,
because they must follow public law too.
Thank you for identifying yourself as a medit-plant person. I enjoy all
the discussions, and am happy that we are an international group. But the
other wonderful part is that we all have local friends on the network too,
and it's a joy to find them.
Cyndi, were you one of the members giving me advice about nurseries in the
San Diego area last January? That was wonderful! While my husband was
attending his meetings, I spent four days touring the area looking at
plants. Buena Creek Gardens and Anderson's, right down by the freeway,
were most helpful. One caution, some nurseries there were closed in
January, a slow month. I purchased a Kalanchoe sp. at Mission Hills
Nursery there, and it gives me great pleasure, but I have been unable to
identify it through Hortus, Sunset Western Garden Book, and other sources.
Just before Thanksgiving I was back at Mission Hills Nursery, but they
didn't have any more information than before.
Anyway, it was good to meet you in person!
Best wishes, Elly

 On Mon, 15 Dec 1997, Cyndi Norman wrote:

> I want to thank Sean for tipping me off to this great event.  I had a
> wonderful time and bought an armload of plants.  I'm not sure how many list
> members were there as well as me.  I talked to Elly (did I remember
> right?) who was one of the volunteers and really enjoyed that.  If you were
> there, I was there from about 10:30 to noon and was the only person in a
> wheelchair.  The long-suffering short man with long hair grumbling at me
> was my SO.
> 
> Sean warned me that the sale would be crowded and grabby.  This was true as
> I walked into the main room.  I got worried since I couldn't navagate my
> way around there at all.  The back room wasn't so crowded though.  I could
> move around and talk to the volunteers.  Fortunately, the back room had all
> the herbs and was where I wanted to be anyhow.  By the time I moved to the
> front room, it wasn't so crowded but the back room was.
> 
> Notes for disabled folks wanting to try out their other sales: the space
> was completely wheelchair accessable.  The building, however, was down a
> very steep (but accessable) path.  Thank god it wasn't raining while I was
> there.  Had it been slippery, I would have been a goner.  I needed help to
> get down that hill and I never need help going downhill.  It was too steep
> for me to feel safe.  There was no way I could have gotton up alone either
> (you'd have to be someone (preferably an athlete) who was in a chair
> because you had bad legs, not overall problems, like me).
> 	The space was okay for people with chemical sensitivities.  No one
> was smoking anywhere.  The plants might have been sprayed; I couldn't tell,
> though I had a slight headache when I left.  But at least there were no
> overt smells anywhere, pesticides, air fresheners, perfumes, etc.  Just
> wonderful plant and dirt smells.
> 
> Okay, now for the good part: the purchases.  I'm on a fixed income so I
> only bought 8 plants.  Unfortunately, I didn't take notes when I was there
> and some of the tags that came with the plants lacked the info that was on
> laminated sheets present at the sale.  So, I'll ask you all some questions
> if you don't mind.
> 
> 1) Bay Laurel.  Laurel Nobilis "Saratoga."  A nice specimun in a 1 gal
> pot.  The last one they had too :-).
> 
> 2) Lavender.  Lavandula "Goodwin Creek Grey."  I forgot to note what kind
> of lavender this was.  Does anyone know?  The leaves are ruffled at the
> edges (L. dentata, French?)
> 
> 3) Thymus "Woolly Thyme."  This would be T. pseudolanuginosus
> 
> 4) St. John's Wort.  Hypericum Perforatum (the species isn't in Sunset but
> is listed in herb books)
> 
> 5) Santolina green.  It didn't say anything else, but of course this is
> Lavender Cotton, the common varient form.  S. rosmarinifolius I assume? or
> would it be S. ericoides?
> 
> 6) Kalanchoe species.  Not a very useful description...*which* species?
> >From the choices in Sunset, it sounds most like K. uniflora.
> 
> 7) Feverfew.  Chrysanthemum parthenium, presumably.
> 
> 8) Oak-leafed Geranium.  This is the main one I wish I had written down.  I
> know it's Pelargonium, but which one?
> 
> Thanks you all,
> Cyndi
> _______________________________________________________________________________
> Oakland, California            Zone 9 USDA; Zone 16 Sunset Western Garden Guide
> Disabled, chemically sensitive, wheelchair user          Organic Gardening only
> _______________________________________________________________________________
> "There's nothing wrong with me.  Maybe there's                     Cyndi Norman
> something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG)                   cnorman@best.com
> __________________________________________________ http://www.best.com/~cnorman
>
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index