Luther Burbank Gardens

Submitted by Ledge and Gardens Blog

I feel a special connection to Luther Burbank, renowned botanist, horticulturist and plant breeder.   There are a couple of reasons. One, Luther was born in New England not far from where I live.  Most of his notoriety came to him  once he moved to Santa Rosa, CA but he did develop a hybrid potato on his farm in Lunenburg, MA and he used the extensive proceeds ($150.00) to travel to California where he continued with his work and passion.  The second reason I feel connected is that my maiden name was Luther.  I know that is tenuous at best but still, we did share a name and a love of plants.  Don’t you feel a kinship to anyone who gardens even if their achievements are on a grand scale?  I recently visited this small garden in the heart of the town of Santa Rosa which is just north of San Francisco.  There were some interesting plants such as this prickly pear cactus and this Mahonia and this tree dahlia, Dahlia imperialis, towering fifteen feet high.  Luther was a plant breeder and not one who kept great records.  He is credited with developing over 800 new strains  of plants and the list would be longer if his records were more meticulous.  I found his garden to be a haven in the middle of the residential area of this small city.  The enclosed courtyard was particularly inviting….as most are when entrance is denied!  I also loved his greenhouse.  This is an interesting design which seems unlikely to be able to stand the rigors of the snow now falling in New England.  It is beautiful and functional for the Mediterranean climate Luther embraced. I doubt that he sat here looking over his garden.  Most of us who have a garden seat can attest to its’ lack of use.   You can read more about his life and garden here.  Thankfully, his small corner of paradise has been preserved for all to see.  I did score a rather great treasure.  I have been planning on planting Nicotiana mutabilis for next season and the seed search has revealed just a few sources.  That is until I came across a huge stand of these plants at Luther’s garden.  This is not a great picture.  I can only claim to have been so overcome with seed lust that I neglected to take more than this one picture. You can almost sense that  lust given there are more seed pods visible than flowers which change color from pale pink through the darker pink tones as they mature.  This mass planting was about four and a half to five feet in height.  Frothy pink! The seeds were everywhere and a  garden employee granted me permission to shake a few into my  hastily made envelope.  I hope to have my own plants next season to remind me of this garden, the famous gardener and the wonderful trip.

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