Photograph by Shari Kaplan
This bright and cheery sunflower, currently in its prime, will later produce an abundance of seeds for the birds that visit local resident Pam Manes' garden.
Tour des Fleurs treat for local flower fans
By Tony Tomeo
Most people are familiar with cut flowers available in retail markets, but few ever get the chance to see acres of flowers at one time. This is because wholesale growers are not usually open to the public.
But the Tour des Fleurs, coming July 28, gives flower lovers a chance to sneak a peek at these wholesale growers' collections.
Hosted by the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce and Visitors' Bureau, the Tour des Fleurs lets guests select from six package tours, which include visits to three each of the 11 hosting horticultural establishments. Guests drive to each of the three locations to attend a one-hour guided tour.
It seems hard to believe that many years ago, Santa Clara County was the second most productive in America for horticultural crops. Alameda County was also among the top 10. Although urban sprawl has replaced almost all of the agricultural land, San Mateo County is still considered prolific in horticultural crops.
The Tour des Fleurs gives visitors a chance to glimpse the area's former glory days of horticulture. Nurseries open for visits include Oku Nursery, a century-old grower of premier cut roses as well as field flowers. Another, Año Nuevo Nursery, adjacent to Año Nuevo State Park, produces violas, daisies, calla lilies and other cut flowers. The vast greenhouse ranges of T & E Pastorino produce still more roses and cut flowers.
The greenhouse ranges of Pastorino Gifts and Plants and Repetto Nursery will be featured during the tour as well as their cut flower fields and pumpkin fields. Fields of dahlias, herbs and produce may be toured at Daylight Nursery. More field flowers may be toured at Cozzolino's Nursery.
Jacobs Herb Farm/Del Cabo is an organic farm that grows peppermint and spearmint for Tom's of Maine toothpaste and also various herbs for Whole Foods. Money's Mushrooms was originally the Campbell's mushroom plant and now produces more exotic types. Thomas Fogarty Winery is the only winery of the tour and exhibits acres of vineyards.
Yerba Buena Nursery (one of my favorite nurseries) is a very specialized retail nursery that grows California native plant species and ferns. Yerba Buena Nursery, as well as Thomas Fogarty Winery, T & E Pastorino, Pastorino Gifts and Plants, and Repetto Nursery are open to the public, but production facilities may only be toured during the Tour des Fleurs.
Reservations for the Tour des Fleurs are $15 and should be made early. Box lunches are available for $11 by reservation and will be served at the conclusion of the first of the three tours. The Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce and Visitors' Bureau may be contacted at 650.726.8380, ext. 15 for more information or to make reservations.
Flower of the Week: Sunflower
The worst thing I ever did with sunflowers, Helianthus annus, was cut a few mature ones to put in a large vase in the dining room--and leave the window open. I later returned home from work to find a herd of small birds had invited themselves over for lunch. They quickly departed when I entered, but left behind a broken vase, spilled water and shredded sunflowers.
If left in the garden to dry, sunflowers are very attractive to birds. The largest variety, "Mammoth Russian" or simply "Mammoth," may also attract large, less desirable birds such as crows unless the flower heads containing mature seeds are removed and roasted for human consumption.
There are many varieties of sunflowers. Mammoth has been one of the most popular and can produce single 10-inch-wide flowers on stalks as high as 10 feet. Most smaller flowered varieties grown for cut flowers are well branched and produce many flowers from late summer to autumn. Colors range through all shades of yellow and orange as well as some shades of red, mahogany, brown and pale white. Many exhibit smaller centers with larger outer petals. Others have very large centers with diminutive outer petals.
Most sunflowers tolerate poor soil with average irrigation. The larger sunflowers, however, prefer rich soil with regular, generous irrigation. Sunflowers are beginning to bloom now but should be sown as seed in spring in direct sun exposure.
Horticulturist Tony Tomeo may be contacted at 408.358.2578 or LGHORTICULTURE@aol.com.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
