A Fantastic palm Garden in N. California

[PalmGuyWC]

This thread should probably go under Travel Logs, but this garden is so spectacular it should be mentioned here. The Northern Calif. Palm Society group was entertained at the home and garden of the Bergstrom's on June 8th. The garden is located in Atherton, an exclusive enclave between San Francisco and San Jose. Atherton is the equivelent to Beverly Hills in S. Calif. and one acre can go for millions of dollars. The two acre Bergstrom garden catches one's eye from the street, and once inside, it's mind boggling.

Edith is an internationally know painter, and her art work is know from Japan to other museams and private homes around the globe. Her artistic talent is displayed in her garden. They recently purchased the acre adjacent to their present property, removed the house, and turned the acre into a tropical looking paradise. I can't imagine how many truck loads of top soil were brought in, but there are berms much taller than ones head with huge bolders placed in stragic places. It's a work of art, and palms and many other complimentry plants are growing along the many paths that wonder around the garden. The palms are nicely placed and can be viewed from many different angles. There is a new surprise around each curve in the paths, and dramatically displayed. There are many palms that would not be expected in N. Calif., and there were some that I had never seen or heard of before. One that particulary attracted our attention was a Brahea, actually several of them. Edith likes to plant in groups, not just one palm. The Brahea is silver white and has no spines along the petioles. We all speculated as to what it was, even what genus it was. It created a sensation among our group and we finally dicided it must be what is called "Super Silver," but we are still not sure.

Another group of palms that we all admired was a Butia called Butia var compacta. It's a small Butia, only about 1/3 the size of what we normally expect in a Butia. The fronds were stiff and very semmetrically arranged. One was growing on top of a berm and could be view from underneeith. It was spectacular.

There were many other nice specimans, such as unusual Tracheycarpus, nice sized T. martianus growing in full sun and to many other beautiful palms to mention. There are Agaves.......many of them, and so many other beautiful flowering plants. I had circled the garden several times, but on the way out, I spotted a nice sized Parajubaea T V T and a Butia X Parajubaea. I'm sure there are many palms I didn't see because the garden is so huge. It rivals any botanical garden I've ever seen.

Thank you Edith and Erick for a palm packed day and a nice party with perfect weather.

Dick

[iwan]

Dick,

Yes, it is a wonderful garden. I asked Edith how many yards of soil they had brought in and she didn't know (or remember). Based on the mound from my 25 yard delivery I suspect it was several hundred yards. There were a lot of people taking pictures, so hopefully people will post up. I was not excited with my pictures as my small camera could not capture the depth of field and beauty of the garden. I have been on the road for a week and didn't want to keep track of the good camera. I will post my pictures when I get a chance to process them.

[palmsrgreat]

Really awaiting to see pictures of this one!

[Gtlevine]

Someone please post some photos.

Gary

[daxin]

Here are some of my photos.

1. Front View Left

2. Front View Center

3. Front View Right

[daxin]

Sabal ? (Dick and Patrick had some serious palm talk that went through the ears of this newbie)

Trachycarpus grove (There is a tall T. martianus that is not photographed, also T. nana, T. latisectus, and T. princeps at another location. Later Edith also point out a true Trachycarpus takil with tight and fine fiber around its trunk in this area)

Close-up of Trachycarpus martianus

[daxin]

Dry Creek

Garden Path

Big Boulder

Stone Monument ~10' tall

[daxin]

Chamaedorea oblongata in Conservatory

Swimming Pool

The plant list says Caryota zebrina, but it probably is not. I should have looked closer.

[daxin]

Pritcharida hillebrandii. There was a big one on the other side of the pool.

Chamaedorea deckeriana: This one has similar sized leaves as a Chamaedorea ernesti-augustii nearby, but with finer texture.

[daxin]

Brahea moorei outside. There were 3 or 4 of them, all very healthy.

Big drop-dead gorgeous Brahea armata. The crown can be seen in the third photo in my first post.

Livistona mariae with beautiful leaf color

That's all of my best shots. How I wish I had taken more shots, especially panoramic ones. I hope you will enjoy them.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Edith's garden and home are spectacular. The pictures so far that Daxin has posted are very nice. I hope there will be more posted because those already posted only represent a tiny portion of this incredible landscape. What I liked so much about this garden was the element of mystery. Paths wrap around and intertwine throughout the garden and you never know what's around the bend or at the end 'til you get there and there's always a suprise.

What's also incredible is that Edith's garden is in one of the Bay Area's coldest microclimates. I live just a few miles from her yet her winter lows are often eight to ten degrees lower than mine. She thanked me, sarcastically, for sending the cold air her way!

She's done a great job designing and planning it and I'm sure she enjoys her garden every day she can.

[Dan OKeeffe]

Edith's garden and home are spectacular. The pictures so far that Daxin has posted are very nice. I hope there will be more posted because those already posted only represent a tiny portion of this incredible landscape. What I liked so much about this garden was the element of mystery. Paths wrap around and intertwine throughout the garden and you never know what's around the bend or at the end 'til you get there and there's always a suprise.

What's also incredible is that Edith's garden is in one of the Bay Area's coldest microclimates. I live just a few miles from her yet her winter lows are often eight to ten degrees lower than mine. She thanked me, sarcastically, for sending the cold air her way!

She's done a great job designing and planning it and I'm sure she enjoys her garden every day she can.

Jim, I have heard you can grow Howea's and other more frost tender species in your micro climate. What do you have growing? Any pics?

Dan

[Jim in Los Altos]

Edith's garden and home are spectacular. The pictures so far that Daxin has posted are very nice. I hope there will be more posted because those already posted only represent a tiny portion of this incredible landscape. What I liked so much about this garden was the element of mystery. Paths wrap around and intertwine throughout the garden and you never know what's around the bend or at the end 'til you get there and there's always a suprise.

What's also incredible is that Edith's garden is in one of the Bay Area's coldest microclimates. I live just a few miles from her yet her winter lows are often eight to ten degrees lower than mine. She thanked me, sarcastically, for sending the cold air her way!

She's done a great job designing and planning it and I'm sure she enjoys her garden every day she can.

Jim, I have heard you can grow Howea's and other more frost tender species in your micro climate. What do you have growing? Any pics?

Dan

Dan,

Yes I have a mature Howea forsteriana and several younger ones in the ground as well as, H. belmoreana, Licuala peltata, Roystonea borenquena, lots of big Archontophoenix cunninghamiana, A. alexandrae, a few small Pritchardia, Chamaedorea tepejilote, hooperiana, plumosa, and several other chamaedoreas, Dypsis baronii, a trunking Syagrus sancona, to name a few. The big Jan. '07 freeze did some superficial damage to some of these palms but all recovered pretty quickly.

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

What a beautiful garden...one can certainly see the effect of the "Painters Eye" in the design.

Thanks for the pics.

Rusty

[Walter John]

Wowza, that's a brilliant garden, top shelf hardy palms if ever I saw any.

[bubba]

Outstanding.Does anyone know the Sunset# on that Garden?

[PalmGuyWC]

Thanks guys.......I knew some of you would come through with some pictures, and I'm looking forward to more. I should have mentioned that Edith has what is probably the largest Sabal uresana in N. Calif. It is planted near the house and is above the roof line. It has an enormous trunk base that must be close to 3 feet across. There is also a grouping of T. wagnerianus of staggerd heigths and one is quite tall and holding many fronds. They make a very dramatic display, but then, so does everything in the garden. She also has one of the most beautiful silver Brahea armatas I've ever seen. It kind of shouts to be seen and it can be seen from the street.

Robert, we are looking forward to seeing your pictures, even if you didn't have your Nikon with you.

Dick

[_Keith]

Big drop-dead gorgeous Brahea armata. The crown can be seen in the third photo in my first post.

That's all of my best shots. How I wish I had taken more shots, especially panoramic ones. I hope you will enjoy them.

Incredible palm and picture too. I see a little artist eye in the composure of the photo as well.

Note - And as much as I hate to say it, I have yet to see the same quality in uploaded, thumbnailed photos as I do in these photobucket photos, not to mention the convenience of not having to click each one. The smooth experience of just scrolling through continuously, rather than the click and close routine, is also much more cohesive and pleasurable experience.

I hope there might still be some tweaks available there.

[rozpalm]

What a magnificent private garden! Those palms are some of the healthiest I have seen. I can't believe that they look so good given the zone.

[simona]

Extraordinary! Now, that garden is exactly what I dream to create here, where I live, as N. California does have same climateric conditions as we do.

A great variety of succulent plants too, as in a wonderful contemporary garden!

I'm excited to see more pics, please!

Thank you for the great visuals!

Edited June 11, 2008 by simona

[TikiRick]

Wow...what an incredible place. It is always so interesting to me that, even without knowing, I would say "California." The colors, textures, and care of the garden plantings are exceptional. I wish I could have been there to see it myself.

[deezpalms]

Daxin, great photos of a marvelous garden.

THANKS!! :greenthumb:

[LJG]

I am very surprised they have a nice growing Aloe plicatilis there. Mine was damanged in 2007 from 28 degrees. Still recovering. What temps do they hit Jim?

[mppalms]

I am very surprised they have a nice growing Aloe plicatilis there. Mine was damanged in 2007 from 28 degrees. Still recovering. What temps do they hit Jim?

Interesting, my Aloe plicatilis 'Northern California form' took 28 degrees F three nights in a row without a spot, fully exposed.

Jason

[Joe palma]

That really is a very nice garden. The layout is phenomenal, and as Jim mentioned, we are only see part of it. Wow.

Good job posting the pictures Daxin!

That L. mariae sure looks nice! I'd like to have one of those for sure.

Joe

[Alberto]

How I could miss this thread????

I´m inpired by this photos !!!

ThankS!!!!!!

[DoomsDave]

Well, whack me upside my head with a baseball bat with a spike driven through it!

Only that would get my attention more than those wonderful wonderful pictures!

[FRITO]

I missed it too, thanks for bumping it.

im guessing you were searching for the Butia 'compacta' alberto and resurected it...

I think we need more photos! would love to see that S. uresana and the Tachycarpus latisectus! (what is the palm in the foreground of the first picture of post #7?)

Edited February 28, 2009 by FRITO

[iamjv]

Fabulous garden, nice shots.... more pics please. Jv

[Darold Petty]

Sorry, I don't have any photographs of Edith's garden. All I can say is that her garden is WAY better than any photo or text can convey. Edith is truly an artist, and I wish that my garden had a fraction of the aesthetic sensibility of hers.

[paulgila]

i missed this too,1st time around.its an amazing garden.love the big rocks!thanks to everyone that posted pix.

[PalmGuyWC]

I was surprised to see this old thread bumped to the top again. Thanks Daxin for the photos, but I'm sorry that others didn't contribute other photos, as the garden is huge and the photos offered only show a small portion of the garden. One might describe the Bergstrom garden as whimsical, as there is a surprise around every curve of the garden paths.

One thing that caught my eye, was a square of tomato plants integrated into the garden. They were the most healthy tomato plants I've ever seen and seemed to fit right in with the other plants. There were also many ground hugging flowering plants underneath the palms to give a splash of color.

Dick

[Kris]

Simply Fentastic garden !

Love,

Kris

[freakypalmguy]

It is absolutely beautiful. Someone definitely needs to get over there and take a lot more photos.

Matt

[Central Floridave]

Nice shots! It looks like someone knows landscape design! Thanks for the photos.

[iwan]

Was going through some old pictures and realized I never posted these. I lost my notes, so most are without comments.

[iwan]

[iwan]

[sonoranfans]

This is just a fantastic garden, great diversity, placement, and space to give a great perspective and showcase various species. You can see that someone put their heart into this for decades in a big way. Great pics, this garden is truly a work of living art.

[rozpalm]

What a great garden! That is my type of garden where you have a wide variety of plants and lots of color.