Like so many of you, I’ve been following the famous White House Kitchen Garden these last four seasons, and here’s what it looked like two weeks ago.   There was no special tour for gardenbloggers (I wish!), just the usual twice-a-year White House Garden Tour, which isn’t a tour at all but an opportunity for the public to walk around the south grounds.

Chief White House gardener Jim Adams is always there to answer questions and when I asked about his great-looking cabbage he revealed his strategy for dealing with cabbage loopers – hand-picking.  Every day, of course.  I suggested to Jim that with a White House Garden Blog they could share their growing wisdom with all of us and he told me their tips can be found on the Let’s Move Blog.  Well, they may be there but they’re hard to find, some I’m sticking with my suggestion of a garden blog – or at least a “gardening” category on the blog.

Though not certified as an organic garden, the techniques and products used here ARE strictly organic, according to Jim.

Above you’ll notice, to the right of the weather instruments, a new feature this year – papaya!  Jim says they’re producing well already.

Award for most colorful plant in the garden goes to this Hyacinth bean vine.

The view south from the residence is world-class.

This is the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden outside the East Wing.  Lots of mums and asters in bloom.  More images and info about the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden here.

Above, what the public could see of the Rose Garden.

Posted by Susan Harris.

Another installment in what’s turning out to be a series of articles about fall color in the garden, this one the result of my trip to the Mall over the weekend.  So what better place to start admiring the gardens of the Smithsonian than their Butterfly Habitat Garden?  It’s along 9th Street between Constitution and the Mall, and since it was created in 1995 it’s become awesome.

Horticulturist James Gagliardi has been in charge of this garden since June of 2011.

James here tells me he’s entertaining a whole lot more questions from passersby than he did in his last job at River Farm in Alexandria.  In fact, sometimes Smithsonian gardeners have to hunker down and look as busy as possible when the public passes by, just to get through their through list of chores.

I love the combination of well established perennials and colorful, dramatic annuals, like the red Canna and the Lantana that’s still blooming like crazy (in pink and orange) in mid-October.

James shows me another cool annual – the Gomphocarpus.  Its common name is Hairy Balls.  Seriously.

Above, a favorite perennial of mine – Amsonia hubrichtii, which will turn bright orange any day now.  It sports tiny blue flowers in early summer, and is a tough native in our region.

Of course a butterfly habitat garden is going to have lots of asters, and they’re going to look great in October.

Next door, the cafe at the Sculpture Garden (the one with the skating rink) has these gorgeous Mandevilla vines growing along its facade.

Along Constitution Avenue I spotted this fabulous garden in front of the Museum of American Natural History.   Great mix of sweet potato vines and coleus, with others I didn’t recognize.

UPDATE:  In a comment, the Smithsonian’s supervisory horticulturist Jonathan Kavelier tells us “these plantings also include Amaranthus and Cuphea as well as many other annuals and tropicals. The cycad is Zamia furfuraceae.”  Thanks!

Here’s another view of the American History gardens, with a close-up of the bizarre-looking cycad.  In the front are two sweet potato vines, and the taller purple plant is Persian Shield.

Finally, I always stop in at the Ripley Garden when I’m anywhere near it because it’s usually gorgeous, and always interesting. In the front is probably the annual Penta.

I DO know the purple plant here is an elephant ear. The red flowers in front? I don’t know.

In front, a Variegated Tapioca Plant. Behind it, an annual hibiscus.

You’ve probably noticed the Variegated Tapioca Plants at the front entrance to our Beltsville store.

Posted by  Susan Harris.

We love Brookside Gardens, but especially this time of year.  Who wouldn’t?  Photos taken April 13 of this year.

And one last shot showing nothing in blooms – just some faded tulips.  But this evergreen for shade is at the top of my must-get list this year.  It’s the variegated Osmanthus ‘Goshiki’ and it looks awesome along the north facade of Brookside’s education center – every day of the year.

Posted by  Susan Harris.

For out-of-town visitors or just for yourself, a fabulous day trip from anywhere in the DC area is River Farm, headquarters of the American Horticultural Society and former home of George Washington himself.  And to get an idea what you might see there, check the his Flickr account of local photographer Jim Sohn, who visits often and uploads his photos throughout the season.  He recently added the following shots, proving that the gardens at River Farm are visit-worthy even the first week of March:

Visiting in May, as I did for the photos below, you’ll see visions like this:

Below is their instructive “Green Garage”, which educates visitors about permeable paving and other features of sustainable landscaping.

Green Garage's green roof, photo by Jim Sohn

And below are some photos I snapped in late summer.

Front to back: daylilies, caryopteris and butterfly bush.

Caropteris and 'Autumn Joy' sedum in front of the AHS book store.

Like meadows?  You’ll love the famous four-acre meadow at River Farm.  Armchair meadow admirers can click here to see it throughout the year and learn all about its plants and the hundreds of species of wildlife it supports.  Below is how it looked during my late-summer visit.

Mount Vernon

Mount Vernon, the most famous of Washington’s homes, is just 5 miles down the George Washington Parkway from River Farm.  Photos from the Mount Vernon website.

Hey Marylanders, if you haven’t visited these gardens yet, they’re definitely worth crossing the Potomac to see!

Larry reverently contemplates entering the Botanical Garden.

by Larry Hurley

I spent the last week of January in the San Francisco region, and wanted to point out some of the charms of Berkeley.  It was just a pass through on the way to Point Reyes, but it’s definitely worth a day in a traveling gardener’s agenda.

We arrived late in the day, in time to keep a dinner reservation at Chez Panisse, Alice Water’s restaurant. Waters, as I understand it, is the original American mover and shaker in the slow food/buy local movement, and we wanted to try the restaurant.  There is a choice of dinner in the upstairs café, which is a la carte, and in the restaurant, which has a set menu with two seatings an evening.  As you would expect in Berkeley, the ambiance is casual and friendly, but the service is efficient and knowledgeable.  A four-course meal with wine costs more than my rental car for a week, but I’m happy that all those local farmers can continue to live in the style to which they are accustomed. Interestingly, given the local theme and California’s fame as a wine producer, all of the wines paired with dinner were European.

In the California section, Sand Manzanita (Arctostaphyllos rudis)

The next morning we visited the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley, which is perched at the top of the hill (mountain where I come from) upon which the university campus sits.  It’s a large garden with something like 12,000 plants.  (“Visit often, if you stay 2 hours, you have to see 200 species a minute!”  says the teaser, or something like that.)  What’s to see in January: a fair number of plants in bloom, and not many visitors.  The lay-out is by region of origin, so there is a South African section, a South American section, an Australian section, a California section, and so on, as well as several greenhouses, one devoted to ferns, one to arid climate plants.  Everything is labeled.

South African section. Note fog on the mountain.

At this time of year, many of the South African plants were in bloom, and some of the California species as well.  We spent quite a bit of time in the California section so we would have a better idea of what we were seeing in the days to come, when we would be hiking around Point Reyes.

(L) Bark of Pajaro Manzanita. (R) Ferns.

Two of the important genera from California are Arctostaphyllos (represented in Maryland by Bearberry) and Ceanothus (represented in Maryland by C. americanus, New Jersey Tea).  The California Arctostaphyllos, with the common name manzanita, have the tiny bell-shaped flowers characteristic of most of the heath family (Ericaceae) and seem to be light pink for the most part.  The bark is deep brown/red and smooth; very dramatic.  Manzanita is easily found if you go to any of the natural parks around the Bay area.

(L) Bergenia likes high humidity & good drainage, tolerates shade. (R) Banksia in Australian section.

Ceanothus has clusters of tiny blue or white flowers that were just starting to open.  They seem to cover the whole gamut from creeping groundcover to large shrub.  We saw a few “in the wild” but in the areas we visited, they were not prevalent.

Will the California species grow here? Not as far as I know; perhaps in a container with a lot of fussing.  One of the great joys of traveling is getting outdoors and seeing interesting plants growing on their own in the ground.  Even when you are on a well-trodden path, it’s still exciting to see ferns, sedum, or Manzanita growing along the trail.

In the South African section, Aloes and more.

Although we didn’t get there, one additional park very close to the Berkeley garden is the Tilden Regional Park, which includes the Regional Park Botanic Garden, said to have “the world’s most complete collection of California native plants.”  Perhaps we’ll get there on the next trip out.  A great garden center to visit is the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, which I saw about ten years ago when the Perennial Plant Association national meeting was in California.  Although we missed it on this trip (closed Thursdays in winter!), it was a delightful experience, easily worth an hour (or two) to browse through.

(L) Coastal Cholla & 'Giant Coreopsis'. (R) Agave stricta (Mexican)

Meanwhile, for those of you who would like to see our own East Coast native plants, a great place to visit is the Adkins Arboretum, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

South African section. Note lots of labels!