Linda Russo’s Garden
Linda is Turtle Bay’s Senior Horticulturist / Nursery Specialist and, no surprise, an avid gardener. She has also been (again, no surprise) one of our nursery’s most loyal customers over the years, long before she held her current position.
Pet-friendly memorial gardens: Linda’s family includes many non-human members, including Peaka and Murphy, featured in some of her gardens’ photos. The individual garden areas were created as memorials to family members who have passed on, both humans and an area for pets. The gardens live and grow as lasting tributes and evidence of the therapeutic, beautiful, positive, creative ways Linda has found to work through difficult times.
Silver Centaurea gymnocarpa Velvet Centaurea, Arbutus unedo strawberry tree in large pot, along with Lonicera spp. Honeysuckle bush, Acer palmatum Japanes maple, Cercis canadensis eastern redbud, et al, make up this secluded corner in Linda’s plantings
Centaurea gymnocarpa blossom closeup. (A member of the Asteraceae family, a favorite plant family of pollinators.)
Fast-growing, drought-tolerant xChitalpa tash- kentensis ‘Pink Dawn’ tree blooms through the summer. Chitalpas are an intergenus hybrid of our native desert willow and eastern U.S. Ca- talpa trees. (Unlike either parent, Chitalpas don’t usually produce the long, pea-like seed pods produced by both parent species.)
Puppy perches: Linda’s gardens over the years have developed a shady tree canopy and there are multiple places for pets to watch as she gardens, including one large boulder she calls “pride rock”, as it is used by pets to survey the surrounding gardens.
Wildlife habitat: the layers - trees, shrubs, perennials, in Linda’s gardens make wonderful spots for wildlife to nest, hide, and find pollen, berries, etc. for food.
Green moss growing on boulder under shaded tree canopy makes a soft blanket for Peaka.
Peaka on boulder in foreground: Opuntia sp. cactus in background.
Murphy (in front) and Peaka (in back) pose by newly clipped, fast-growing Carex divulsa Eurasian sedge. A Phlomis sp. Jerusalem sage, and a native Calycanthus occidentalis spice bush along with verdant weeds (thanks to this year’s rain) that are headed for the compost pile.
Lycnis coronaria rose campion in front of pomegranate tree and misc. shrubs
Where’s Lycnis coronaria rose campion? The pink of the rose campion and the red flowers of the pomegranate make a counterpoint to all of the surrounding shades of green.
Again, where’s the rose campion ? The bright pink of the rose campion adds depth of field to a relatively compact garden site, making the gardens appear much larger than they are. Jasminum mesnyi Primrose jasmine is in the foreground of the photo, growing as a large cascading shrub (but it can also be trained as a vine).
California natives— Philadelphus lewisii and Vitis californica grow with minimal water needs.
Tomatoes prefer uncompacted soil with room for their root systems to grow, and the heirloom tomatoes growing in the 2’ x 4’ remade/reconfigured tree boxes have plenty of room to reach their full potential.
Vegetable gardening in large wooden boxes: Linda salvaged old tree box parts and remade them as larger containers for growing vegetables.
The tomatoes she purchased during our Spring Plant Sale love all of the room they have to grow!