Elephant Ear

In the beginning of winter we had torrential rain and frost. We had very little time to acquaint ourselves with the plants in our garden, many of which were exotic and completely outside the realm of our Berkeley experience, before the frost hit and numerous plants, especially the ones right outside our windows, froze and looked slimy, dead and terrible. Our gardener, who knows far more about these plants than we do, cut them back to the ground. One hillside was covered with lantana plants which lost their leaves and transformed themselves into dry sticks which looked completely dead. OilMan had to be restrained from pulling out a shrub which he was convinced showed no sign of life.

The first sign of returning life was the ice plant which bloomed massively and spectacularly with neon bright pink and orange flowers. The entire front of the property next to the street was a show stopping display of blinding color.

OilMan transferred his energy to his hops growing up next to the arbor. Putting up the string for them to grow on was almost the death of him. The first time the ladder fell over, he was left hanging by his armpits head above and feet dangling below the roof lattice. The second time the ladder fell (it was bent after the first mishap) he was on it and came crashing down, gashing his arm and his leg, bruising his hip and taking out several of the strings he was attempting to tighten. Daughter Dana has taken away the ladder.

In the meantime, the lantana is covered with orange and red blooms, the lavaterra is bursting with purple blossoms and the plants by the house have not only reappeared but grown at an astonishing rate, producing plants with huge leaves, plants with striped leaves, vines that are growing up the window screens and threatening to take over, and bamboo that is putting up tall spikes. As I was taking some pictures, a snake took his time slithering away.

Coming from Berkeley to Santa Rosa reminds me of my friend Jean, who lives in Bali, and brought a Balinese friend with her when she came to visit her family in Berkeley. Her sister had a beautiful garden which she had painstakingly grown and nurtured over the years, and Jean's friend volunteered to do some work in the garden while everyone else went off on some outing. Used to the Balinese climate, he cut practically everything down to the ground assuming it would come back in a month or two as things do in Bali.

Sometimes there is a steep learning curve when it comes to a new garden....