Queen's Tears, a type of bromeliad, are epiphytes in the wild, but may be grown in containers or gardens. They produce striking multicolored flowers.

Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

The Garden Conservancy plans garden tour events

By Tony Tomeo

During the recent Bay Laurel Nursery open house, it was very gratifying to hear what visitors said about the landscape. Although the landscape is actually a collection of stock (parent) plants and field-grown specimens, it requires as much maintenance and resources as a very elaborate garden. It's rewarding to know that all the work is appreciated.

Every spring, many other elaborate landscapes and home gardens in the Bay Area are also accessible during The Garden Conservancy's Open Days. The first two Open Days are the San Mateo County Garden Tour on May 12 and two Marin County Garden Tours on May 12 (Bolinas and Stinson Beach) and May 19 (Kentfield and Greenbrae). Additional Open Days feature gardens in Contra Costa, San Francisco and Alameda counties.

The Garden Conservancy was developed in 1989, as a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of America's exceptional private gardens, and to ease the transition from private to independent, not-for-profit ownership. The Open Days program was established to continue this tradition, as well as to display the gardens that benefit from the work of The Garden Conservancy.

The Garden Conservancy Open Days national directory is available at most book stores for $15.95. For an additional $4.50 shipping and handling charge, the directory may be ordered by calling 888.842.2442 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Eastern time), or by sending a check to P.O. Box 219, Cold Spring, N.Y. 10516. (If ordering directly, Garden Conservancy members need only pay $10.95, plus $4.50 for shipping and handling.) Additional directories may be ordered for $1.50 each.

Participants select the gardens they want to visit from the directory and pay the $5 admission at arrival. No reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased in advance (at the number above) in books of six for $25, including one free garden visit. (Garden Conservancy members receive six tickets for $20, including two free visits.)

The Open Days Directory describes each garden with corresponding travel directions as well as the dates and times each garden is open. Many public gardens within each area are also listed.

Those who would like only to visit local gardens may obtain a local directory free of charge at a specific address within each of the Bay Area tours. These addresses are: San Mateo County, May 12, at Bergstrom Garden, 149 Hawthorne Drive, Atherton; Marin County, May 12, at Sally Robertson's Garden, 284 Cherry, Bolinas; Marin County, May 19, at Geraniaceae Gardens, 122 Hillcrest Ave., Kentfield; Contra Costa County, May 20, at Annie's Annuals Nursery, 2717 Goodrick Ave., Richmond; San Francisco County, June 2, at Harmony Hill, 1629 Taylor St., San Francisco; Alameda County, June 3, at Our Own Stuff Gallery Garden, 3017 Wheeler St., Berkeley.

For information call 415.453.2427.

Flower of the Week: Queen's Tears

I do not often feature rare species, but many garden enthusiasts grow this bromeliad (Billbergia nutans) for its small, but intriguing, pendulous flowers and tolerance to shade. The green flowers with blue margins hang vertically from arching bright pink stems. In shade, the dark green leaves may be 18 inches long, but will be shorter and lighter green with increased sun exposure.

Shoots that bloom eventually die and should be removed as leaves are abscised (shed). New shoots that replace these may become dense and weedy if not thinned. Shoots that are removed by thinning root very easily.

Because they are epiphytic in the wild, Queen's Tears require only minimal growing medium. They are easily grown in pots, but may also grow in rotting wood, if initially covered with sphagnum moss. (Epiphytes should not be placed on live trees, if rot will be enhanced or initiated by irrigation.)

Although Queen's Tears are not commonly available in nurseries, friends and neighbors may be happy to provide shoots removed from established plants that have become too large. Many garden enthusiasts have acquired Queen's Tears with a new home, but do not recognize them and consequently neglect them.

In fact, I found mine at a home in Los Osos while I was in college. They were in a clump too densely overgrown too bloom, but were easily divided into about 80 healthy plants. A few I did not give to friends are still blooming, and producing pups 12 years later.

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Horticulturist Tony Tomeo may be contacted at 408.358.2574.

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