Kyle's Sacramento garden

Kyle's garden was the first stop on my whirlwind trip to Davis, Sacramento and the greater Bay Area late last March. To refresh your (and my!) memory I landed in Sacramento on Thursday afternoon, March 27th. Gerhard picked me up at the airport and as soon as he parked the car we were out walking his garden and I was snapping photos (hundreds, which I narrowed down to "just" 56 for this post). Friday morning we were up early and on the road. Gerhard's friend Kyle was heading out of town for a camping trip, but kindly let us stop by and tour early. 

Since I'm a faithful reader of Gerhard's blog, I've virtually toured Kyle's garden many times (for example) but seeing it in person was an entirely different experience. The plants were all pristine, so well grown! Everything was top notch...it was even better in person than I thought it would be.

Agave ‘Kissho Kan’

Looking at these images I realize I was trying to avoid getting the trailer in my photos, as it was being loaded up as we toured the garden and I didn't want to capture private business. Now I wish I would have focused on it because it was so darn cute! This is the best I've got though, just a bit of the back side...

And back to the plants... oh the plants!

Mangave some somebody. I'm not going to worry about getting ID on plants that I don't know the specifics of. I can't grow most of them anyway, I was just there to appreciate how well someone who can grow them was doing so.

And how tidy the garden was. My gosh... I am in awe of that!

Agave titanota growing off the side of a rock cliff, or, well, a couple of well placed rocks anyway.

Kyle is a geologist by trade, so this love of, and use of, rocks comes naturally.

Hechtia texensis partially obscured by a poppy.

Everywhere I looked there was an interesting, photogenic, vignette.

Mangave 'Praying Hands'

That's got to be an Agave ovatifolia...

Working our way around to the back garden now, and passing Kyle's truck bed nursery...

Core samples and a piece of metal make for a unique statement piece... 

Agave 'Blue Glow' lined up along the wall.

I do love it when a gardener makes vertical planting opportunities.

Especially when they're as fabulous as this!

Mangave 'Racing Stripes' 

I cannot remember the pups names, but they were having a grand time running about. They tried to get me off course and on to the patio out of sequence. 

Luckily I resisted and got back on track.

Ferraria crispa, so GOOD! 

Kyle's home office/shed in the distance, we'll get closer soon.

Looking back to the corner opposite the "shed" and one of several seating areas in the garden...

Pavers heading to the patio and potted plants...

A close-up of the potted plants.

Turning towards the back fence.

I want to call that lush tree a podocarpus, but I'm not sure if that's correct. This photo is one of my favorites from the visit. The layers are so expertly planted and cared for.

Patio/seating area shot...

Looking the other direction. Isn't this just a gorgeous area?

Aloe erinacea

Agave 'Sun Glow' or something similar.

The office porch...

And one last view towards the back of the house. Truth be told, as the weekend progressed and I saw one fantastic garden after another I almost forgot about the first visit that kicked it all off! It was a pleasure to look through my photos again and relive that morning. Thank you Kyle for making the time for us to stop by when you were just trying to get out of town!

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

Bella Madrona, again (I couldn't say no)

Last May, 2024, I had the opportunity to visit Bella Madrona—an extraordinary private garden south of Portland—post here. For me Bella Madrona will always be the location where magic happened during the final event of the 2014 Garden Bloggers Fling. Honestly, the Portland Fling planning committee (of which I was a member) could not have picked a better place to wrap up the long weekend.

Since that particular evening figures so large in my memories you might think I'd be hesitant to return, wanting things to stay as they were then. But no. I will always jump at the chance to visit, to see the garden and catch up with it's remaining owner/creator/tender Geoff Beasley in his element.

And that's why I was there again on the afternoon of June 1st.

This visit was planned by my friend Ann Amato (aka the Amateur Bot-Ann-ist) as she's been scheming to expose her fellow horticulture students to a wider expanse of gardens and nurseries, and she invited me to come along. Her group will be touring my garden in July, and I joined them on a previous visit to Cistus Nursery and Rancho Cistus in April. There's Geoff on the left (pug Olive in the background) and Ann on the right, as Geoff was starting the tour.

We have to give proper appreciation to Ann's Metallicat T-shirt.

And more pug-love to Caper and Olive.

I briefly considered abandoning the garden tour to enjoy the pug snuggles.

However the garden won (mainly because I knew there would be more pug snuggles at the end).

We walked, we talked, and I snapped photos...

Aruncus dioicus

This grassy spot has been the location for many a gathering, it was fun to see it unmown this visit.

Some of our group...

I think Geoff said this is Grevillea x ‘Neil Bell’.

Agaves that don't mind our wet winters.

My pug friends. I cannot even begin to describe how much I enjoyed these two. They were just pups during the 2014 Fling, now they're senior citizens.

Well, when I said the event lawn was unmown I was wrong, it was mown with style.

A large garden with chairs scattered throughout is a special place, one where you're invited to stop and enjoy. Soak it up. 

Grevillea 'Poorinda Royal Mantle' (I believe).

This was my 5th visit to Bella Madrona. The garden is widely celebrated for the parties that took place there before I ever stepped foot on the premises—many with Pink Martini performing—but I know it as a quieter place. That doesn't mean I don't feel the energy that came before. It's everywhere, honestly this garden buzzes. That may be a little more "woo woo" than you expect from me, but it's my truth. I feel honored to have been invited back again.

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All material © 2009-2025 by Loree L Bohl. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.