Rhododendrons Revisited where Heaven Meets Earth

Subtitle: Color Show that Rivals Opals and Diamonds

©Copyright 2013: Richard von Sternberg, All Rights Reserved

Photographs by Richard von Sternberg, All Rights Reserved 

 

About 2 years ago I posted a blog about Sonoma Horticultural Nursery because I had just visited the place and become, once again, mesmerized by the extraordinary play of color that the rhododendrons all over the 8 acres of paradise were firing off in all directions for all to see and be lifted by.  It is such an amazing place, and only a few minutes from where I live.  The reward one gets from this nursery is akin to that experienced at Descanso Gardens, Butchart Gardens, DuPont Gardens: places one would have to fly and drive to that take hours, days, to get to.

 

The 3 famous gardens I mention here are highly established tourist Meccas that are exemplary symbols of haute culture, places on the world-wide tourist map with mega million dollar maintenance budgets, places where rich and famous people have weddings and history wafts its way around the grounds with the perfume emanating from the floral landscape.  Sonoma Horticultural is not in that league, of course, but it leaves a profound impression on its visitors during the few days a year when the rhododendron fireworks show sets each visitor’s heart vibrating in tune to the palpable beauty everywhere in this rustic and rural setting to the south of Sebastopol.

I just returned from my last visit there so far this year.  I have been several times to take photographs for this post.  I learned this year that it is better to go multiple times during the spring because there are ongoing stages of color bursts due to the fact that the original owner and the current owner have planted many varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas as well as several other exotic plant species (such as magnolia, hydrangea, camellia, ferns, and a host of others).

 

This year I became acquainted with the owner of Sonoma Horticultural, Mr. Polo de Lorenzo who hails from the Islas Canarias (the Canary Islands) which are an archipelago to the west of Morocco, colonized by Spain centuries ago.  Polo and I spoke Spanish to each other before I knew where he was from.  My Spanish language acquisition began 50 years ago and has been highly influenced by Mexican Spanish, especially so since I lived in Morelia, Michoacan in the 1970’s.  When I speak Spanish, my “accent” is michoacano more than anything else.  At university when I studied Spanish linguistics, I learned of all the dialects of Spanish including the four major ones: the Castillian Spanish of the Iberian peninsula, the South American one primarily characterized by Argentinian persuasion, the North American one spoken in Mexico and countries just south, and, finally, the Caribbean one exemplified by speakers in Cuba and Puerto Rico.  In Cuba particularly, the “s” sound is “swallowed” in many words and the vocabulary/vernacular is unlike that of any other part of the Spanish speaking world.  An example would be the Caribbean Spanish word for bus (which in most Spanish speaking countries is autobus or omnibus).  In Cuba a bus is Guagua—pronounced WA-wa.  As I listened to Polo speaking Spanish, I had to ask him where he was from.  When he told me, I asked him how he said “bus” in Spanish and, you guessed it:  Guagua was his answer.  Many people who left the Canary Islands ended up in Cuba and Puerto Rico over the centuries.

Polo purchased Sonoma Horticultural from its first developer in 1976 and began to fill in the blanks around the property.  The first owner’s initial planting thrust was magnolia trees. 

They were planted so long ago that, when they bloom, they look like white-petaled Magnolia skyscrapers. 

Polo planted rhododendrons and exotic plants all around the big pond on the property, put in walking bridges, a gazebo, strolling paths, fountains, greenhouses, lathhouses and an arched arbor stroll-way reminiscent of fairy tales, all dotted with rhododendrons and azaleas, some of which have grown up along tall trees, some of which have bushed out and become trees themselves, that burst out deeply gratifying blooms in chalky white, cotton candy pink, ruby red, magenta, violet and many other striking hues.

The Magnolias were blooming on my first trip this year.  A few days later the Magnolia splendor was past and rhododendrons were beginning to bolt.

 

Some of the varieties were just beginning to show their colors among the larger number of plants that were still without buds.

A few days later the show intensified and began to peak around the pond.

It is always hard to walk past the covered areas where the rhodies sit waiting for buyers to take them home without wanting to fill the car with them.  One year I gave into my impulse and opened my wallet pretty wide, only to find out that my soil does not have good enough drainage for these amazing flowering shrubs.  One at a time my rhododendrons wilted and then finally died.  So, I go every year several times to experience these awe-inspiring creations at Sonoma Horticultural and live the rest of the year on memories and photos.