The large tree of buff colored limbs covered with creamy yellow flowers against a darker line of Coastal Redwoods is our native tree, Arbutus menziesii, called Madrone or Madroño by the Spanish. The California gold-rush author, Bret Harte wrote a poem about it which inspired the name for this section of my rose garden: Madroño by Bret Harte
Captain of the Western wood, Thou that apest Robin Hood ! Green above thy scarlet hose, How thy velvet mantle shows ! Never tree like thee arrayed, O thou gallant of the glade!
When the fervid August sun Scorches all it looks upon, And the balsam of the pine Drips from stem to needle fine, Round thy compact shade arranged, Madroño Not a leaf of thee is changed!
When the yellow autumn sun Saddens all it looks upon, Spreads its sackcloth on the hills, Strews its ashes in the rills, Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff, And in limbs of purest buff Challengest the sombre glade For a sylvan masquerade.
Where, oh, where, shall he begin Who would paint thee, Harlequin ? With thy waxen burnished leaf, With thy branches' red relief, With thy polytinted fruit,— In thy spring or autumn suit,— Where begin, and oh, where end, Thou whose charms all art transcend.
In 2015 here at the foot of this handsome tree I decided to begin consolidating my far flung collection of species roses with specimen trees and other old roses. Roses blooming in this photo taken on May 4, 2021 are ‘Mutabilis’, Rosa foetida, ‘Austrian Copper’, “General Vallejo’s Yellow Banksiae”, ‘Heart’s Desire?”, Rosa helenae, ‘Purezza’, ‘Golden Chersonese’, Rosa primula, and Rosa watsoniana. Specimen trees visible are Mexican bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla), Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonian robusta), and Hickories (Carya sp.).
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Madrone Garden
The large tree of buff colored limbs covered with creamy yellow flowers against a darker line of Coastal Redwoods is our native tree, Arbutus menziesii, called Madrone or Madroño by the Spanish. The California gold-rush author, Bret Harte wrote a poem about it which inspired the name for this section of my rose garden:
Madroño
by Bret Harte
Captain of the Western wood,
Thou that apest Robin Hood !
Green above thy scarlet hose,
How thy velvet mantle shows !
Never tree like thee arrayed,
O thou gallant of the glade!
When the fervid August sun
Scorches all it looks upon,
And the balsam of the pine
Drips from stem to needle fine,
Round thy compact shade arranged, Madroño
Not a leaf of thee is changed!
When the yellow autumn sun
Saddens all it looks upon,
Spreads its sackcloth on the hills,
Strews its ashes in the rills,
Thou thy scarlet hose dost doff,
And in limbs of purest buff
Challengest the sombre glade
For a sylvan masquerade.
Where, oh, where, shall he begin
Who would paint thee, Harlequin ?
With thy waxen burnished leaf,
With thy branches' red relief,
With thy polytinted fruit,—
In thy spring or autumn suit,—
Where begin, and oh, where end,
Thou whose charms all art transcend.
In 2015 here at the foot of this handsome tree I decided to begin consolidating my far flung collection of species roses with specimen trees and other old roses. Roses blooming in this photo taken on May 4, 2021 are ‘Mutabilis’, Rosa foetida, ‘Austrian Copper’, “General Vallejo’s Yellow Banksiae”, ‘Heart’s Desire?”, Rosa helenae, ‘Purezza’, ‘Golden Chersonese’, Rosa primula, and Rosa watsoniana. Specimen trees visible are Mexican bigleaf magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla), Mexican Fan Palm (Washingtonian robusta), and Hickories (Carya sp.).