As serious and passionate gardeners, whenever Ryan McCallister and I have time, we always enjoy visiting botanical gardens.
During Ryan's recent holiday trip home to California, he blocked out some time to visit the University of California Botanical Garden, a 34-acre establishment that includes some of the most diverse landscapes in the world, with more than 10,000 types of plants, many rare and endangered species. First established in 1890 and laid out geographically, the UC Botanical Garden features nine regions of naturalistic plantings from Australasia to South Africa, along with a major collection of California native specimens.
Ryan took some photos of those plants that interested him, enjoy.
The UC Botanical Garden is in the Berkeley Hills, inside the city boundary of Oakland, with views of the San Francisco Bay. It has more than 20,000 accessions, representing 324 plant families, 12,000 different species and subspecies, and 2,885 genera. Outdoor collections are arranged geographically and nearly all specimens were collected in the wild.
In 1976 the Mather Redwood Grove was dedicated in honor of Steven T. Mather, a graduate of UC Berkeley in 1884 and the founding director of the National Park Service in 1916. Ryan sought out these redwoods, saying he had to find some during his trip. These were first planted in the 1930s.
Walking around, one can see how they tower above all the other plantings. Sequoia sempervirens is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood, and California redwood.
These trees are long lived evergreens that can thrive for 1,200 to 2,200 years or more.
The wood color can range from a light pinkish brown to a deep reddish brown. Sapwood is a pale white-yellow. Curly figure or Redwood burl (sometimes referred to as “lace” or by the name Vavona) are occasionally seen.
Elsewhere at the Botanical Garden – Encephalartos eugene, maraisii a species of cycad in the family Zamiaceae. It is endemic to South Africa, where it is limited to Limpopo. It is known as the Waterberg cycad. This plant grows in the sandstone hills of the Waterberg Range at almost a mile in elevation. The habitat is grassland and savanna.
Deterocohnia brevifolia, also known as Abromeitiella brevifolia, is a terrestrial bromeliad with small rosettes of fleshy triangular leaves with toothed margins and a sharp tip. It grows up to 6 feet in diameter, forming large compact rounded mats of hundreds of rosettes.
Nerine undulata is a species of flowering plant of the family Amaryllidaceae and native to the eastern Cape of South Africa. it is a bulbous perennial with narrow grasslike leaves that are almost evergreen, and umbels of 8-12 slender, crinkled pale pink, dainty flowers.
Pachypodium lamerei is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae. It is a stem succulent, photosynthesizing mainly through its trunk, and comes from the island of Madagascar. It has large thorns and leaves mostly just at the top of the plant, and large, fragrant flowers.
Welwitschia mirabilis of namibia is unusual. This plant has large, strap like leaves that grow continuously along the ground. During its entire life, each plant produces only two leaves, which often split into many segments as a result of the leaves being whipped by the wind.
Lithops is a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family, Aizoaceae. Members of this genus are native to southern Africa. The name is derived from the Ancient Greek words for ‘stone’ and ‘face’, referring to the stone-like appearance of the plants.
UC Botanical Garden has a collection dedicated to Southern Africa. It includes plants from South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, and Namibia. The plants of this region are famous for their diversity of flowers and forms. Many species are found nowhere else in the world.
Ryan also saw a small pond of newts. A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Adult newts have lizard-like bodies and return to the water every year to breed, otherwise living in humid, cover-rich land habitats.
The plants of Australasia are native to New Zealand, the mediterranean-climate and subtropical regions of Australia, and the high elevations of the South Pacific islands. The islands of New Zealand have year-round rainfall and a temperate climate. Ferns and conifers are prominent in this flora and are featured in the collection.
This is called Loropetalum – a genus of four species of shrubs or small trees in the witch-hazel family, Hamamelidaceae, native to China, Japan, and south-eastern Asia.
Its leaves are vibrant and range from a bright lime green to the deepest, darkest of purples.
Ryan stopped to take a quick photo with it.
Look at the large leaves on this plant. Gunnera tinctoria, known as giant rhubarb, Chilean rhubarb, or nalca, is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighboring zones in Argentina. It is unrelated to rhubarb, as the two plants belong to different orders, but looks similar from a distance and has similar culinary uses.
The anchor plant is a South American shrub, Colletia cruciata, of the buckthorn family, having flattened green branches and yellowish-white flowers. Look closely, it is nearly leafless, but grows slowly up to nine feet tall with flattened two-inch wide triangular spine-tipped gray-green photosynthetic stems (called cladodes) arranged in opposite pairs, that somewhat resemble a ship’s anchor.
Acacia pravissima, commonly known as Oven’s wattle, wedge-leaved wattle, and Tumut wattle, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is an evergreen shrub native to Victoria, the South West Slopes and Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia.
And this is California poppy, Eschscholzia californica, also known as golden poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold – a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico and Ryan’s favorite bloom. Thanks for always taking such interesting photos, Ryan.
No visit to Palm Beach is complete without a little shopping and sightseeing.
During my recent trip to Florida, my friends and I took some time to walk through some of the wonderful antique shops along Dixie Highway, Georgia Avenue, and Worth Avenue. We had so much fun touring the different galleries filled with furniture, lights, garden ornaments, and other decorating pieces - I always take lots of photos of items that interest and inspire me. We visited Pan's Garden, a private botanical garden dedicated to Florida's native plants. And, on our last day we drove to Merritt Island, home of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, to visit the historic Hacienda del Sol.
Here are more images from my holiday in Palm Beach - enjoy.
On this day we shopped along Georgia Avenue. This is Brass Scale Antiques, owned by Judy Barron. Judy’s shop focuses on American and mid-century pieces. She also runs estate sales in and around the Palm Beach area. I spotted this fun pet bowl and took a quick snapshot with it.
In another store, I saw this old 19th century tilt-top table completely covered with shells. It reminded me of my granddaughter, Jude, who loves shells and has a large collection of her own.
Here is the base of the table – also covered with interesting and beautiful shells.
At Casa Gusto, I admired this breakfront burl cabinet piece. Burl is a grain characteristic that happens in many types of wood and results from harvesting a tree or a part of a tree that has a burl.
Here, I was looking at both the woven mats on the wall used as the backdrop behind the paintings and the table – its apron has such an interesting shape.
This chandelier from Italy is made with Brazilian agate and brass.
I was told this giant clam shell came from the ocean off southeastern Africa. It caught my eye because I have several giant clam shells at Skylands. I often use them during parties to hold ice.
Later in the evening, I saw one of the most gorgeous trees. This is a kapok tree, Ceiba pentandra. It is a tropical tree from the family Malvaceae, native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and West Africa. A giant in the rainforests, the kapok tree can reach up to 200-feet in height, sometimes growing as much as 13-feet per year. This is one of only three kapok trees in Palm Beach.
One of the things we also did in Palm Beach was consume way too many desserts during our brief holiday. This chocolate mousse with tuile cookie and whipped cream was at Le Bilboquet.
And this is their apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream.
Not a dessert, but just as decadent – a baked potato with caviar at Club Colette, where we celebrated New Year’s Eve.
Here I am with Susan Magrino. The “necklace” I am wearing actually came off the table – it was part of the holiday decorations.
This is the first sunrise of the new year, 2024 from the famous Worth Avenue Clock Tower. As the tradition goes, whoever is at the Clock Tower when the clock rings in the New Year, can join a group photo for the local newspaper.
We also had the chance to visit Pan’s Garden on Hibiscus Avenue, just one block north of Worth Avenue.
Right away, I saw this Rhipsalis, a genus of epiphytic flowering plants in the cactus family, typically known as mistletoe cacti. I love rhipsalis and have many in my own collection.
Here is a beautifully shaped red cedar shrub.
This is called a coontie palm, Zamia integrifolia. It actually looks like a small fern and is typically one to three feet tall with stiff, glossy, featherlike leaves.
This is Southern river sage, Salvia misella, a low-growing ground cover native to the southern half of Florida and the Caribbean.
And this is Silver Saw Palmetto – a naturally occurring form of the Saw Palmetto that is native to the southeastern coast of Florida.
Do you recognize who I am with in this photo? It’s Dr. Mehmet Oz. He invited me over to see his gorgeous Addison Mizner designed 1919 mansion.
The next day, we did a little more shopping and antiquing. This is one of a pair of authentic Royere chairs.
And a wall of midcentury modern sconces.
I really liked these woodland stone squirrels, but the only reason I did not buy it was because I didn’t like the squirrel’s toes – they looked too much like fingers.
Driving by, I saw a sea heron drying its wings. At first I was concerned it was injured, but it later flew away, so I knew it was ok.
On our last day in the area, an extra day due to travel issues, we drove to Merritt Island to visit the iconic Hacienda del Sol, now the home of Todd Eberle and Richard Pandesio. Todd is a very talented photographer and over the years has taken many photos of me for my magazine, Living.
The 17,000-square-foot mansion features 11 bedrooms and 12½ bathrooms on a 7.5-acre site.
It also has a 50,000-gallon saltwater pool overlooking this half-acre man-made lake.
Look at the towering palm trees. There are many on the property.
I saw this charming bench. Doesn’t it remind you of a peacock’s tail?
This is one of the bathrooms. The original imported tile and marble came from Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
This is called weeping mortar, a style that involves applying a very large amount of mortar when laying brick, but then not scraping or molding the mortar after it seeps out between the bricks.
Here is a view of their living room.
And here we are at one of the bars – I think there must be about six in the house. It was so much fun to see Todd and Richard, and to end our brief Floridian holiday on Merritt Island. I’d love to bring my grandchildren here sometime to see Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center.
It's become a bit of a tradition for me to travel somewhere warm for New Year's - a brief trip south to escape the cold winter can be so invigorating.
If you follow my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may have seen photos from my recent holiday trip to Palm Beach, Florida. I was joined by my dear friend, Terre Blair. I always try to include as much as I can during my trips, so they are productive, informational, and fun. We spent most of our brief stay touring farms, enjoying great meals, shopping along Worth Avenue, attending parties, and visiting with friends.
Enjoy these photos.
This large cruise ship is Margaritaville at Sea – a cruise line that operates two-day voyages out of West Palm Beach, Florida to Grand Bahama Island. Our hostess, Lisbeth Barron, has a home overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, a 3,000-mile inland waterway along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts, and sees this vessel pass by every day. If you want to drink
margartitas, or Martha-ritas, and listen to Jimmy Buffet songs while relaxing under the warm sun, a trip aboard the Margaritaville at Sea is a great way to do it!
Soon after arriving in Palm Beach, we attended our first holiday party. Here I am with Lenny Lauren, Ralph Lauren’s brother – always looking so dapper and fun. I am wearing a comfortable Azzedine Alaïa kaftan.
The next morning, we went to Chikmonk Coffee, a unique farmer owned, locally roasted Indian specialty coffee company. Here I am at the pop-up coffee bar with owners, Nandini Jayaprasad and David Beil. They import the coffee from their family’s plantation estate in Chikmagalur, India. It was so delicious, I brought some home with me.
This is the front façade of the private club, Carriage House. Its owners, Michael Bickford and his wife Paula, enlisted the help of architect Keith Spina to handle the restoration of the Palm Beach landmark buildings and worked with Madrid-based designer Luis Bustamante on the interiors. The front is decorated with thousands of holiday glass ornaments.
I also stopped at the Paul Lebrecque Salon for a blow-out. Here I am with Paul on my right and the salon’s manager, Collin Adams, on my left.
Here I am for an evening of fun and celebration with my friends Terre Blair and Susan Magrino. I am wearing my new crisp white Oscar de la Renta kaftan.
On this night, we attended the 65th birthday part of my friend, Laura Slatkin. Pictured in this selfie – George Ledes, owner of the iconic fragrance Fracas by Robert Piguet, myself, Terre Blair, makeup artist Daisy Schwartzberg Toye, my longtime publicist Susan Magrino, and photographer Douglas Friedman.
Here I am with Douglas in another photo. this was taken inside the Slatkins’ beautiful home.
At Swank, they grow all their own crops from seed. Here are the starter trays with tomato seeds.
In another section are trays with developing seedlings. Everything is carefully watched and monitored. These plants look very healthy.
Because of rising waters and sandy soils, all the plants go from trays to individual grow buckets. There are more than 25-thousand plastic containers here at Swank.
This area has growing frisée or curly endive. The tan tops are blanching caps put on the head of frisée to keep the sunlight away, turning it into a beautiful yellow and making the leaves more tender and less bitter.
These are the peppers – millions of peppers growing and thriving in these plastic containers.
Here is a closer look at some of the hot peppers growing. Peppers need room for their roots to spread, so when growing in containers, remember to choose pots at least 12-inches in diameter.
The farm grows more than 350 varieties of produce consisting of leaf lettuces, specialty greens, cooking greens, baby and full size vegetables, edible flowers, herbs, tomatoes, micro greens, strawberries, wild flower bouquets and more.
Here I am with Swank Specialty Produce proprietors, Darrin and Jodi Swank. Aside from the farm, they also have a market held in an open-air 8500 square foot barn where they host about 25-bakers, growers, gardeners, and sellers of quality, all-natural fresh foods and products.
This is Dan Lembessis, owner of Blis Farms, where they make authentic Greek virgin olive oil, vinegar, jams, salt, and many other items.
They also had boxes of delicious sourdough bread.
Blis also sells a variety of honey – Wild Greek Forest Honey, Wild Greek Island Honey, and Greek Golden Vanilla Honey.
This honey is made from rare vanilla fir trees. It looks very creamy.
Here I am with Dan and his son. I purchased several items to take home with me. The market is filled with so many wonderful and flavorful items.
I stopped for this quick photo with a bunch of fresh baby fennel.
And one could smell the porchetta by Pork-etta – after it was cooked for eight hours.
There was also a table showcasing a large selection of Paulie’s Pasta.
Of course, I couldn’t visit Palm Beach without stopping at an orchid farm. There were so many beautiful blooming plants.
I selected a few vandas for my greenhouse collection. Vandas are rare orchids and are loved for their stunning colors. Vandas range from tiny orange flowers to gigantic blue and pink ones with interesting markings.
Here is one in beautiful dark pink. Vanda is a genus in the orchid family, Orchidaceae. There are currently up to 90 species of Vanda orchids.
And then we had some of the best Latin street food I have ever had at Cholo Soy Cocina. We enjoyed one of every kind of taco and a sweet corn salad. Cholo Soy Cocina is in the Antiques district, and features a large variety of tacos, quesadillas, empanadas, and other dishes.
I didn’t notice it at first, but look at the sign… I definitely approve! Do stop in if you’re ever in the area. You’ll love everything you try! In my next blog, more photos from my short trip to Palm Beach. Stay tuned.
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