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American Begonia Society
National Convention 2007 Tour Details
"Begonias in Paradise"
California Style
Hawthorne, California
September 4 through September 9
Tour #1: Tuesday, September 4, 2007. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. North to the
Westside. Julie Newmar Cottage Gardens – Will Rodgers House and Gardens
– South Coast Botanic Garden
We head immediately for the home of a Hollywood star, award-winning actress Julie Newmar,
immortalized for her performance as TV’s Catwoman, who will graciously host us at her
Cottage Garden in Brentwood with its series of garden rooms. Ms. Newmar was both a friend
and a customer of the much-loved Rudy Z. We’ll spend most of our time in her back garden,
which offers a tropical feeling and showcases Ms. Newmar’s rare and specimen quality
begonias.
We will then head west from Brentwood to the ocean and visit the former home of
another star from a different era, Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades. We’ll
tour Will’s rustic 31-room ranch house, which preserves its authentic1920s charm and preserves
Rogers' original furniture and mementos. Beautifully situated on 186 acres tucked into the
foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains, the ranch offers riding and hiking trails with
breathtaking vistas of both the Pacific Ocean and local mountains as well as the only outdoor polo
field in Los Angeles County.
From the Roger’s ranch we’ll motor south to the Palos Verdes
Peninsula and the remarkable South Coast Botanic Garden. Once a landfill, its 87 acres were
miraculously transformed in the 1960s by Los Angeles County and the community and is now
the idyllic home to over 150,000 landscaped plants and trees from approximately 140 families,
700 genera, and 2,000 different species, It is particularly rich in plants from Australia and South
Africa including a wide variety of begonias.
Tour #2: Wednesday, September 5, 2007. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. North to the
Santa Barbara Area. Lotusland
– Mike Flaherty’s Gazebo Plants & Flowers
Day two takes us up the gorgeous California coast to the Santa Barbara area. There in nearby
Montecito, the late Madame Ganna Walska, an eccentric Polish opera diva spent her
considerable fortune to indulge her considerable passion for plants. We’ll visit her former
home, now a priceless horticultural treasure known as Lotusland, a 37-acre estate garden unlike
anything you’ve ever seen.
Lostusland offers an astonishing collection of plants from around the
world and displays them with unconventional splendor. Lotusland has over 400 mature
specimens of cycads, with ten of the eleven living genera and more than half of the known
species represented. The begonia gardens, designed by the renowned William Paylen include
many contributions from Rudolf “Rudy” Ziesenhenne.
Just a few minutes away, also in Montecito, Mike Flaherty’s Gazebo is almost as famous as Lotusland and just as uniquely
magnificent. Our renown ABS Convention Banquet Master of Ceremony, Mike is usually busy
attending to his rich and famous clients like Oprah, but this day he will be dazzling us with his
brilliantly innovative begonia displays created exclusively for our visit. Prepare to enjoy begonia
shopping heaven.
Tour #3: Thursday, September 6, 2007. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm. North and Inland
a Bit. Huntington Botanical Gardens –
Descanso Gardens
Traveling north and east to San Marino out by Pasadena, our destination is Henry Huntington’s
former estate where he began developing his Huntington Botanical Gardens back in 1903.
Today, over 15,000 kinds of plants from around the globe make up the botanical collections,
including the Desert Garden one of the largest and oldest assemblages of cacti and other succulents in the world. The new Conservatory for Botanical Science features a Tropical Forest
Rotunda, Cloud Forest, Carnivorous Plant Bog, and Field Lab.
The Huntington Library and Art Collections holds its own treasures including the manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a
copy of the Gutenberg Bible and the folio edition of Audubon's Birds of America, and
Gainsborough's “The Blue Boy.”
From Huntington’s estate we’ll travel to nearby Descanso
Gardens, the former home of gardener E. Manchester Boddy, whose passion was Camellias, the
evergreen flowering shrubs from China and Japan. Boddy began planting in 1941 and today the
160-acre Descanso Gardens hosts more than 100,000 camellias in more than 600 varieties,
blooming under a canopy of California oak trees. Other highlights include the 9-acre
International Rosarium, with hundreds of varieties. Descanso is a peaceful, tranquil oasis with
winding paths and streams that travel through the towering forest, past a lake, bird sanctuary,
Japanese Garden & Tea House, and the Boddy House art museum.
Tour #4: Thursday, September 6, 2007. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.
South To San Diego Area.
Ades & Gish – Kartuz Greenhouse
Down the Southern California coast we go to wonderful San Diego County where our first stop
in begonia paradise is Chuck and Joan Ades' Ades & Gish Nursery. Chuck Ades is well known
to ABS members, as is his love for begonias and expertise in hybridizing and growing them.
Touring this glorious nursery is a begonia lover’s dream come true with aisle after aisle of one of
a kind wonders and amazements. Many other beautiful potted flowering and foliage plants also
live here.
Only a visit to Kartuz Greenhouses in nearby Vista could rival our first stop, so it’s
to Michael Kartuz’s legendary home of begonias we head next. Another of the begonia world’s
greatest hybridizers, we’ll see many of Michael’s creations along with Brad Thompson’s and
Patrick Worley’s among others. With additional specialties of the house including Gesneriads
and rare flowering plants and vines the shopping experience will be beyond compare.
Tour #5: Friday, September 7, 2007. 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. North Up the
Coast. Getty Villa
We’ll make the morning drive to Malibu up the coast to oil magnate J. Paul Getty’s newly
renovated and expanded Getty Villa modeled after the partially excavated Villa dei Papiri in
Italy. The Villa overlooks one of the most famous views of the Pacific Ocean and now houses
the Getty’s Antiquities Collection.
Gardens are integral to the setting of the Getty Villa, as they
were in the ancient Roman home. Open spaces around the site feature bronze sculptures,
fountains, and lush plantings of trees, herbs, and flowers used by the Romans. With advance
tickets required and limited numbers of visitors permitted, a visit to the Getty Villa is a rare
opportunity to get an exclusive look at a Southern California landmark few locals have yet to
see.
Tour #6: Friday September 7, 2007. 11:30 pm – 5:00 pm North Up the
Coast. Getty Villa
An afternoon version of our morning Tour #5, detailed above.
Tour #7: Friday, September 7, 2007. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm South to San Diego
Area
Ades & Gish – Kartuz Greenhouse
For those who missed our Thursday Tour #4, or those who just didn’t get enough. See above.
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