Spring Day-Long Bus Garden Tour: May 7, 2010

Join GardenLife radio co-hosts, John Bagnasco, Bruce and Sharon Asakawa on a spring adventure to the Oasis Water Efficient Garden in Escondido, EuroDesert Roses in Morongo Valley and The Living Desert Museum in Palm Desert. Since there are buying opportunities at all the places we visit, we can store our prize purchases on the bus.

Oasis specializes in cacti and succulents, as well as other drought-tolerant materials including sedum mats that can be unrolled directly onto a slope or roof-top for an attractive and water-thrifty landscape feature.

Our second stop will be at EuroDesert Roses in Morongo Valley, California's high desert. Owner Cliff Orent grows over 5,000 roses, 3800 varieties, of which many are commercially available only at EuroDesert Roses. Open to the public by appointment only, this will a unique opportunity to see thousands of rare, unusual and historically important roses.

The final stop will be at The Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park in Palm Desert where Mack Nash of the Garden Department will give us an overview of the fascinating gardens and afterward we will stroll around to enjoy all the desert's natural wonder and beauty.

WHEN: Friday, May 7, 2010
COST: $75 per person includes bus service, admission to The Living Desert, bus driver gratuity and light snacks (for heartier fare, pack a lunch or meals can be purchased at The Living Desert Wildlife and Botanical Park)
PICK-UP POINTS AND TIMES:
SAN DIEGO 7AM At the Park and Ride at Old Town Trolley Station, I-8 at 4300 Taylor Street, Return is at 7 PM
ESCONDIDO 8 AM At the Park and Ride on Deer Springs Road at Serendipity Lane on the west side of I-15. Return is at 6 PM
NO SELF-DRIVERS FOR THIS EVENT
PAYMENT: Payments accepted by check only made out to Sharon Asakawa and mailed to PO Bx 219, Bonita, CA 91908. Please include the total number of reservations, names, addresses, work, cell and home telephone numbers and pick-up point. E-mail Sharon at sharon@gardenlife.com if you have any questions.

 

The Insider’s Garden Tour to Scotland and England
May 2009

Last May 12-22, 2009 Sharon, Bruce, John and fellow gardening enthusiasts left for a horticultural experience of a lifetime. Highlights of our special memories included: membership in the Royal Horticultural Society; admission to Members’ Day at the Chelsea Flower Show (one day prior to general admission); the Alnick Grden with an exclusive lecture by Her Grace The Duchess of Northumberland’s landscape designer Ian August; Sissinghurst; Great Dixter; a lecture by the Great Dixter’s head gardener and one of this year’s Chelsea Flower Show judges, Fergus Garret; a talk about Scottish plant hunters by John Bagnasco and Sharon Asakawa, being filmed for British national television at Wisley and ending our trip with a picturesque barge cruise. Contact us for information about upcoming garden tours and feel free to send us a travel wish list.

Day-long Trip to Jackson & Perkins and Suntory Research Center
April 2009

Every year, John Bagnasco, Bruce and Sharon Asakawa lead exciting shorter one-two day trips to visit gardens or research centers not normally open to the public. In ,2009 they led an exclusive private tour to the Jackson and Perkins Research Center and Suntory plant displays near Somis, California where we met with world-renowned rose hybridizer Dr. Keith Zary. With our show’s Roving Rose Reporter and Jackson & Perkins Marketing Director Debbie Zary, we viewed their special rose display gardens and Suntory’s Louie Aguirre let us ooh and aah at the eye-candy landscapes filled with annual and perennial plants that are being trialed for 2010. We were also escorted to the rose seedling greenhouses for a behind-the-scenes peek at how roses are bred and the unbelievable process of winnowing out hundreds of thousands of seedlings in order to select a mere handful of new public rose introductions. Best of all, we were allowed to look, touch and smell the new up and coming roses for 2010 and possibly 2011. Contact us for information about upcoming special events.