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Gardening in Fort Bragg, California

by DIG-IT

Rosalie Stanley began building her garden when she and partner, J.P. Mohn, started building their house. The property was a construction a lot. This long-time gardener didn’t stop collecting plants and her gardening customers and friends didn’t stop giving.

Even while Rosalie built part of the house with her own hands, she plotted her garden and created beds around the edges. When the house was done, she plunged into building two pools and beds around the house. Her artistry and carpentry skills are well put to use in her gardens.

“What I really love is while I was gardening, so many old gardeners now dead gave me plants left and right. So now when I’m watering I have so many memories. I can’t go 10 feet without thinking about those people.”

These days watering is tough for Rosalie who lives in Fort Bragg, California. With the ongoing drought she hand waters young rhododendrons and azaleas and occasionally the older ones. Overall, the plants are doing well. “We’ve had this kind of drought before,” she says of the late 1970s.

Judy and Bob Mathey built their home among the coast redwoods just south of Fort Bragg. Their garden is a showcase for collections of conifers and rhododendrons with over 300 specimens each. Bob’s rusted railroad artifacts are scattered throughout and serve as garden art.

The Matheys treasure their garden, known as The Gardens at Harmony Woods, and they enjoy sharing it on the Garden Conservancy’s Open Days Program. All plants are researched, cataloged and labeled; education is part of their gardening effort.

The Gardens at Harmony Woods has been accepted into the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Gardens.


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published August 21, 2014

Photos to enlarge


Gardens under cut and burned coast redwood stump and sprouts, Rosalie Stanley's garden


Burned out coast redwood and second growth sprouts, Rosalie Stanley's garden


Mia Kitty enjoying succulents in Rosalie Stanley's garden


A quiet place in a fairy ring of coast redwood sprouts, Rosalie Stanley's garden


Rosalie's handmade art and Nature, Rosalie Stanley's garden


A young calla lily grows on its own in Rosalie Stanley's garden


The home and garden that Rosalie Stanley built


Golden Breath-of-Heaven, Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Rosalie Stanley's garden


Driveway to Judy Mathey's garden


House in the woods, long lawn and conifer collection, Judy Mathey's garden


Phormium and coast redwoods in Judy Mathey's garden


Tongue Fern, Pyrrosia lingua, Judy Mathey's garden


Tiptoe thru the rhodies on harrowing discs, Judy Mathey's garden


Rhododendron 'Xenophile' in Judy Mathey's garden


Rhododendron maddenii subsp crassum, Judy Mathey's garden


Clintonia andrewsiana, native to Northern California along the coast in discreet locations in the coast redwood forest. Judy Mathey's garden


Anthriscus sylvestris 'Ravenwind',


Acer palmatum 'Villa Taranto', Judy Mathey garden

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