Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 21

No 198 Jail 120 SECTION Far EDITOR: JOANN KOLONICK, 429-2436 GARDEN CALENDAR C2 COMICS C4 CLASSIFIED C6 FRIV HOME GARDEN SANTA CRUZ STYLE 001d 2 A garden in your SOAP DISH SANTA CRUZ BAROQUE FESTIVAL'S MUSIC IN THE GARDENS TOUR Spring was slow to arrive this year. Many of us haven't yet spent time grooming our gardens. Many of us, truth be told, never will. For those late bloomers out there who need a creative nudge when it comes to dealing with the yard, inspiration is right around the corner. There is nothing like a tour of someone else's lovely spring plantings to start your own green thumb a- twitching.

For those who never will get around to planting their petunias, spending a day enjoying the fruit of someone else's labor is also a memorable way to experience spring. Grab your best straw hat and spend a Sunday afternoon strolling through five different gardens scattered around the Santa Cruz area. Enjoy live music while sampling food and drink provided by some of our local businesses. WHAT: Music in the Gardens Tour WHEN: Sunday, 1-5 p.m. COST: $25 DETAILS: 831-457-9693 Garage sales cash in on desire for simplicity By LAURA DEMPSEY COX NEWS SERVICE DAYTON, Ohio Sheila Moore scanned the card tables set up in her garage, straining under the load of flotsam and jetsam of her Beavercreek family's life.

There were dishes and books, -shirts and shoes, knicknacks galore. Each item was tagged and it was all for sale even some of the tables as Moore prepared for her first garage sale after 17 years in the same house. The tide of conspicuous consumption seems to have started turning about a decade ago, victim of a movement toward scaling down the quest for material possessions. "I know where every one of these things came from, and I'm embarrassed to say that when I bought them, I really thought I could use them," she said, shaking her head. She picked up a small, purple, cutglass basket, smiling.

"We got this on vacation I think it was in Michigan somewhere. My daughter thought it was the cutest thing, and it sat on a bookshelf for years, really just collecting dust," she said. "It's time to find it a better home. Maybe somebody See GARAGE on PAGE C2 Bill photos Mary Jessen cuts some newly minted soap in her Bonny Doon workshop. Bonny Doon Farm creates a fragrant paradise in the Santa Cruz Mountains By CLAUDIA STERNBACH Looking around it SENTINEL STAFF WRITER this is exactly what The Meehans aren't "The problem," said Gary Meehan, prefer to stick close "was the soil.

It was sandy. Not welcom- Boulder Creek ing to most plants. would spend most "Sheep had grazed for so many years ple took great care on this land that the soil was nearly home's design. ruined," said Meehan. many of the walls in But lavender, his mother-in-law told house.

A fireplace Gary and his wife Diane, would grow. It antlers grace the walls. turned out she was giving the young cou- dows are tucked ple excellent advice. The Santa Cruz chummery (a room Mountains climate is perfectly suited for cultivating plants such as Angustifolia, Provencal and Munstead, all premiere English Lavender species, as well as Lavendula Freda, named for Diane's mother. "She had always been an avid gardener," says Gary, "she knew what she was talking For 30 years, Gary and Diane Meehan have been tending their gardens up at Bonny Doon Farm, turning out some of the most deliciously fragrant soaps and lotions imaginable, made from the results of their efforts.

A visit to the farm is like stepping out of the real world and finding yourself in a fairy tale. Driving down the narrow lane, surrounded by redwoods and oaks, it's as if magic is all around. Coming upon the beautiful Arts and Crafts style lodge, made entirely from Bonny Doon redwood, you begin to believe in fairies and leprechauns. Gary and Diane started construction on their home in 1972. Situated in the middle of a 5-acre parcel, it overlooks rows and rows of lavender.

"Use what you have been given to its fullest. Make the most of what you've got," is a philosophy the Meehans live by. Gary Meehan at his Folly Temple at Bonny Doon Farm. BELOW: A pond offers a shady spot on the grounds becomes evident that they have done. fond of travel.

They to home. Knowing would be where they of their time, the couin planning their Rough hewn logs form the warms the living room, Stained glass winaway in corners, and a for hanging out with See FARM on PAGE C2 Far West Nursery Garden Center PRIDE OF MADEIRA SANTA BARBARA BUMPER CROP FERNLEAF GERANIUM INCANUM fatuosum DAISY LAVENDER This South African native Echium oceanside shrub This Nurseryman's prod- Lavendula pinnata (multifida) has found its second home. A striking Erigeron karvinskianus uct is an organic soil Here it serves as an excelthat reaches 5'-6' tall This is an -care perenni- builder with chicken This lavender has lacy, grey lent low maintenance wide and topped with al that grows in 10" high manure, bat guano, worm foliage that grows to 2' high purple cone-like 2' wide mounds is cov- rice hulls, 3' wi. stems of dark ground cover with green, long, castings, kelp, Long flowers in spring. Must ered in small pinkish white oyster shell dolomite and bluish-purple flowers rise ferny leaves prolific, have full sun, adequate daisies year-round.

Great for now with beneficial above the foliage spring fall. quarter -sized purple blooms borders, rock gardens soil microbes! Plant in full sun low to through summer. 6" 4' 501198 drainage low water, 1209 101 Great for slopes. along walkways. sun, average water.

sun, water. Full wide. Full low PA2 low water. 2 Cu. ft.

Bags Reg. 6.99 Gal. 1 Gal. off 1 Gal. off off 1 Gal.

off Reg, 6.49 off Reg. 6.99 Reg. 6.49 Reg. 6.49 HIGHWAY Hours: Mon Fri 8-5 Sat Sun 9-5 2669 MATTISON LANE, SANTA CRUZ 476-8866 While supplies last Ends FRONTAGE RD. 'HAV West MATTISON GROSS ISI AVE.

RD. 110 101) otnol of Bonny Doon Farm..