Rhus chinensis top, and a hillside planting of Rhus aromatica 'Grow-Low' and Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet' on the north side of our main parking lot

Rhus is a fun genus in the Anacrdiaceae, the Cashew Family. Traditionally Poison Ivy and Poison Oak have resided in the genus, though some current classification schemes reassign them to their own genus. One of the characteristics of the family is the presence of resin passages, and many of the plants are fragrant....Fragrant Sumac for example, like the plants on the slope! It's a fairly chemically active family; the fruits of the non-poisonous Rhus are used variously around the world for seasoning. Stefan and Martin were particularly impressed with the taste of Rhus coriaria which they encountered as a seasoning for meat, throughout their Azerbaijani trip. The Rhus chinensis pictured is one of a number in China Valley; this one is about 50' to the right of the intersection of the China Valley Path and the road.

The slope planting is one more example of an improvement we've made here, a medium-sized project that took a dysfunctional eyesore and turned it into a pleasant simple planting of four native taxa. The Red-leafed plants are Itea, the yellow/orange are Fragrant Sumac. I was part of the project that ripped out the English Ivy last year but didn't get to participate in this year's planting. I do get to walk or drive by it a few times a day and it's wonderful.

Sometimes White Oaks, Quercus alba, have good fall color

Driving downhill from the Asian Collections, this one just about marks the end of the Holly Magnolia Collection and the begging of Flowering Tree Collection. Friday we had a large group of High School Students volunteer and much work was done in the Flowering Trees, Fern Valley, and Gotelli.

Tanya (our sort of new Volunteer Coordinator) is doing an incredible job supplying us with valuable volunteers. It's uplifting and disturbing at the same time to realize how much of the work in the gardens is done by volunteers. Back in the day (in most/all? public gardens) it was standard practice to cherish and cultivate your volunteers and appreciate the amount of work they did while at the same time assuming nothing. In other words, there was enough paid staff to maintain the gardens and whatever you got from volunteers was gravy......Those days are gone. If it weren't for our volunteers the gardens would be unmanageable. We;re very grateful!