Garden History Garden News NEW! Garden Information Docent Program Gardener's Reference Sheets Garden Tours and More Garden History The extensive sixteen-acre formal garden was planned and planted as construction of the house neared completion. The lawns and shrubs around the house were planted by the fall of 1917. The woodlands and the undeveloped Crystal Springs Watershed lands surrounding the estate provide a magnificent backdrop for the formal garden. The garden survives today as one of America’s finest historic gardens. The Bourn family asked Bruce Porter, known for his interiors, murals, stained glass windows, and garden designs, for help in making design decisions involving the layout of the site, the garden, and the outdoor structures. Porter shared Mr. Bourn’s appreciation of the natural California landscape and designed the formal garden to enhance the natural beauty of the landscape. Porter and the Bourns envisioned the house and garden as complementary units, with the north-south axis of the garden echoing the line of the Transverse Hall. Inspired by European influences, the garden is a succession of garden rooms, containing parterres, terraces, lawns, and pools, arranged between the two parallel north-south walks. The southern most point, the High Place, affords views of the garden, house, and fields. As you walk through the garden, notice the fantastic detail work with art imitating nature and nature imitating art, which epitomizes the essence of a pleasure garden. Isabella Worn supervised the planting of the Filoli garden. When Filoli was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William P. Roth in 1937, they retained Worn to continue her work. Under Mrs. Roth’s patronage, Worn enriched the garden with a variety of plants, including hundreds of Camellias, Rhododendrons, Roses, and many Magnolias. Her ingenious designs and great sense of color were hallmarks of the garden that Mrs. Roth continued to follow even after Worn’s death. As the garden gained worldwide renown, Mrs. Roth was awarded several honors, including the Distinguished Service Medal of the Garden Club of America for her achievements as a collector and propagator of plants. The formal garden at Filoli is named the Lurline B. Roth Garden in her honor. Today the garden is maintained by fourteen full-time horticulturists, student interns, and over one hundred garden volunteers. Garden News The Most Disease Resistant Roses at Filoli All articles are in PDF format and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in to view. Download Acrobat Reader >> The Most Disease Resistant Roses at Filoli by Lucy Tolmach, Director of Horticulture at Filoli In an effort to reduce the use of toxic fungicides and to improve the display quality of the rose garden, we have been selecting disease resistant and fragrant roses, and removing roses which perform poorly under our conditions. Because of El Niño, 1998 was one of our worst years for growing roses, however, it was a good test year to make observations and discover which roses are susceptible and resistant to black spot, rust and mildew. View the list of roses that perform best at Filoli >>>>   Garden Information Docent Program at Filoli “How do you get your camellias to look so healthy?” asks an excited visitor. Questions like these are commonplace in the Filoli garden and our Garden Information Docents are here to help! These specially-trained volunteers can answer your questions about Filoli’s horticultural practices and plant collections, and help you find information for your own garden. Hours beginning mid-March: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Location: Lath House in the Garden Shop Courtyard Filoli is proud to be in partnership with the Master Gardeners from the University of California Master Gardener; San Mateo and San Francisco Counties Program. For additional information about the Master Gardeners program, please visit their website at www.mastergardeners.org. You can select your county of residence. For San Mateo county residents, there is a gardening Help Line staffed Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.: 650 726-9059, extension 107.     NEW! Gardener's Reference Sheets This NEW series of Gardener's Reference Sheets was developed by Lucy Tolmach, Director of Horticulture, and Megan Richards, Horticulturalist 1, Area 2. They were developed for the Garden Information Docent station with the intended use of public reference. All are beautifully laid out and contain important information about the gardening practices at Filoli. All reference sheets are in PDF format and require the free Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in to view. Download Acrobat Reader >> Camellias Citrus Compost Dahlia Care Formal Hedges Fruit at Filoli Hydrangea Care Knot Gardens Lichens Life of a Bulb Peonies Planting the Parterres Pollarding Pond Life Rose maintenance Roses Mauve to Pink Roses Orange to Apricot Roses Reds Roses Yellow to White Turf Management Water Management What does it take Wisteria
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