The Christmas decorations are barely packed away and my mind goes to gardening. On Christmas Day we took a stroll through the gardens - next to the upper Sacramento River and through the forest of evergreens. A bit higher in elevation than where I live, I still like to see what the plants look like in winter, while many are dormant.
Located in Dunsmuir City Park in far northern California, the Gardens encompass ten acres of hilly, wooded area with a meadow containing the various gardens.
Rhododendron
We all know this is a Rhododendron, a woody plant that can be an evergreen or deciduous shrub, depending on where you live or the species in your area.
The Oregon Grape is a medicinal herb
Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest used Oregon grape for many ailments, including stomach problems, hemorrhages, tuberculosis, and arthritis.
The Oregon grape is a bushy perennial plant with shiny leaves that resemble holly. It produces blackish-blue, unpleasant-tasting, edible berries that look like tiny grapes. The golden yellow roots of the plant are used for their medicinal properties. The name Oregon grape is misleading because the fruit it bears is not a grape.
Galium triflorum also known as cudweed, sweet-scented bedstraw, and fragrant bedstraw) is a herbaceous plant that grows on the forest floor. The secret of Galium triflorum is its smell: a sort of cross between fresh-cut grass, hay, and vanilla-scent compounds
Woodwardia Giant Chain Ferns is the largest American fern that can reach up to 9 feet tall. They are native to the Pacific Northwest where they grow in forests, among the Redwood and other Evergreen Trees.
Wild Ginger plants have a history of being used for food, including boiling the fleshy rhizome/root to make a sweet syrup that tastes slightly of ginger. It was used for a wide range of medicinal purposes by Native Americans The plant is native to shady woodlands and spreads via rhizome.
This moist area loves the moss - and so do I.
This time of the year with the sun in a lower position, we do have some moss that grows in our yard. Mostly the east side. But once it hits spring and definitely by summer, the moss dies out. It has no roots, no flowers, no seeds, no vascular system, and a bizarre reproductive cycle. There are about 20,000 species and moss has been here for a very long time. I read 350 million years but as a Creationist I find that hard to believe.
Ladies Glove/Fox Glove plant -
All parts of this plant are poisonous. It contains cardiac glycosides that are toxic to people and pets if ingested. While extracts of the leaves are used by knowledgeable practitioners in medicinal applications, ingesting this plant has potentially lethal consequences.
Intertwined with the Giant Chain fern is the Snowberry. I don't remember seeing this plant there before. Looked like little marshmallows and while there were a few on this woody shrub, they apparently show off their snowberries in the winter. Even though wildlife enjoys eating the fruit of the snowberry bush, it is poisonous to humans and should never be eaten.
A dried-up Hydrangea
I couldn't tell if it was a dried-up scrub oak or something else. Pretty though...
Healthy evergreen trees that look like Christmas
In this big rock formation, life. It looks like one of those Giant (or not-so-giant) Chain ferns but my phone told me it was a Spleenwort fern. In the spring, I want to go back over there and check these plants out after the winter.
Alumroot or Wild Geranium.
Thanks for joining me on this stroll through Dunsmuir Botanical Garden in the winter. Besides the above plants, there is native white dogwood that is prolific in the garden and provides a glorious show in the spring. Unique to this area are many Shasta lilies growing on the hillsides and the beautiful, fragrant native azaleas that grow along the river. In addition to the native species, a variety of other perennial plants and shrubs have been introduced. These include rhododendrons, hostas, alpine plants, ferns, Japanese maples, and others.
I plan to revisit, in the Spring and compare. I can't wait!
