My Favorite Garden at the Show.

The Metropolitan Meadow Garden by John Greenlee was my favorite garden at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show.

My favorite uncle used to have a Nash Metropolitan. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I loved this garden so much. My uncle’s car was so little and cute. It was so much like a toy car. I couldn’t believe he actually got to drive it.

John Greenlee (a.k.a. “the Grass Man”), wrote The Encyclopedia of Ornamental Grasses. A great advocate of xeriscaping, Greenlee has turned away from traditional turf-grass lawns. This type of meadow landscaping uses no pesticides and only one quarter as much water as traditional lawns.

Greenlee is doing his bit to clean up our planet by encouraging people to change the way we think about gardening. He says in his Metropolitan Meadow Garden brochure, “The care required for a traditional sod lawn is a major contributor to world pollution, yet gardens are often overlooked as avenues of change.”

He also doesn’t believe in pesticides. There is information on his website warning that children are six times as likely to develop Leukemia when pesticides are used in the home and garden.

He asks, “Is your garden part of the problem or part of the solution?”

After lecturing in this article about turf grass being bad it’s time for…
True Confessions. I have 4,000 square feet of turf-type grass. I also have two boys and a gaggle of their friends who play sports, run, and swing on it on a regular basis. I know that this isn’t an excuse, but this is what I have at the present. I don’t, however, use pesticides. O.K., I feel better now.

I do have to keep an eye on my husband because he gets sort of a maniacal pleasure out of killing bugs with poison. Especially yellow jacket nests.

Greenlee offers a wonderfully complete plant list that makes up his Metropolitan Meadow Garden. I couldn’t find the list on his website so I manually typed the whole darn thing for you.

Here it is:

If there are mistakes, just pretend you don’t see them.

GRASSY PLANTS (Grasses, sedges, rushes)

Agrostis stolonifera ‘Green Twist’ Creeping Bent Grass
Alopecurus Aureovariegatus Yellow Foxtail Grass
Bromus bennenkenii Brome
Carex ‘Frosty Curis
Carex muskingomensis ‘Oehme’
Carex praegracilis (pansa) California Meadow Sedge
Carex siderosticha ‘Variegata’ Creeping variegated broad leaf sedge
Carex tumulicola Berkeley Sedge
Chasmanthium latifolum Northern Sea Oats
Cyperus diffusus Variegata’ Variegated Umbrella plant
Deschampsia bronzescheiler
Deschampsia caespitosa ‘Northern Lights’
Deschampsia vivipara ‘Fairy’s joke’ Tufted Hair Grass
Festuca mairei Maire’s Fescue
Juncus effusus ‘Quartz Creek Soft Rush
Milium effusuem ‘Aureum’ Bowles Golden Grass
Muhlenbergia pubescens Soft Muhly
Nasella pulchra Purple Needle Grass
Pennisetum messiacum ‘Bunny Tails’ Bunny Tail Fountain Grass
Seslaria heufleriana Blue Green Moor Grass
Seslaria autumnalis Autumn Moor Grass
Seslaria caerulea Blue Moor Grass
Stipa arundinacea Pheasant’s Tail Grass

WOODY PLANTS (Trees, shrubs, vines)
Abutilon megapotamicum ‘Teardrop’ Flowering Maple
Aesculus californica California Buckeye
Akebia quinata ‘Alba’ White Chocolate Vine
Arctostaphylos edmdunsil ‘Rosy Dawn’ Little Sur Manzanita
Clematis armandii ‘Hendersonii Rubra’ Evergreen Clematis
Cornus stolonifera Red-stemmed Dogwood
Coronilla valentina ssp. Glauca ‘Variegata’ Mediterranean Crownvetch
Cupressus macrocarpa ‘lemon Scented’ Lemon-Scented Monterey Cypress
Hedera helix ‘Goldheart’ Ivy
jasminum humile ‘Revolutum’ Italian Jasmine
Kerria japonica ‘Variegata’ Honeysuckle
Lonicera standishii Honeysuckle
Magnolia ‘Sundance’ Magnolia
Mahonia aquifolium ‘Skylark’ Oregon Grape
Mahonia ‘Golden Abundance’ Oregon Grape
Michelia crassipes
Michelia yunanensis
Pandorea jasminoikes ‘Variegata Bower vine
Pandorea pandorana ‘Golden Showers’ Wonga wongo Vine
Rhododendron ‘Lemon Mist’
Ribes aureum var. pracillimum Golden current
Ribes sanguinum ‘Icicle’ Current
Sambucus canadensis ‘Aurea’ American Elderberry
Spirea x bumalda ‘Goldflame’
Weigilia ‘Emerald Gaiety’

Perennials, bulbs, ferns, annuals
Anenome pulsatilla ‘Rote Glocke’ Pasque Flower
Angelica pacycarpa Angelica
Aquilegia ‘Burnished Rose’ Columbine
Bulbinella robusta
Cheilanthes argentea Lip Fern
Clivia Solomone Hybrid Yellow Kafir Lily
Dryopteris erythrosora Autumn Fern
Euphorbia ‘Despin a’
Euphorbia ‘Diamond Frost’
Gaura ‘Stratosphere White’
Gladiolus ‘Lemon Moon’
Gladiolus tristis ‘moonlight’
Gunnera killipiana Dinosaur Food
Hermannia flammea Honeybells
Ipheon uniflorum ‘Album’ Spring Star Flower
Kniphofia ‘Minister Vershuur’ Red Hot Poker
Nemesia ‘Sunsatia Lemon’ Nemesia
Nephrolepis exaltata ‘Tiger Fern’ Southern Sword Fern
Origanum ‘Norton Gold’ Oregano
Osmunda regalis v. spectabillis Royal Fern
Osteospermum ‘Lemon Symphony’ African Daisy
Oxalis ‘Molten Lava’
Pachysandra procumbens Allegheny Spurge
Potentilla atrosanguinea Cinquefoil
Primula ‘Belarina Rosette Buttermilk’ Primrose
Primula polyantha ‘Gold Lace’ Primrose
Sedum palmeri
Sisyrinchium ‘Puerto Gold’ Yellow-Eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium striatum ‘Aunt May’ Yellow-Eyed Grass
Stachys byzantina ‘primrose Heron’ Lamb’s Ears
Stenomesson species – yellow
Thermopsis montana Golden banner
Viola stojanowii Pansy
Viola ‘Etain’ Pansy

Oy, Who the heck names these things anyway?
I think there’s definitely alcohol involved in the naming process.

Comments

[kate]

Hi Chigiy,

I had fun checking out all the plant names in this gorgeous display ... I guess the cute car is a garden ornament.

There is an amazing book called 'The Naming of Names' by Anna Pavord (available at amazon.com) that traces plant names from ancient times - she also has another wonderful book, 'The Tulip'...
both great reads!

[chigiy]

Kate,
The little 1955 Nash Metropolitan belongs to Greenlee's wife. It runs and I'm not sure but I think it is an eco friendly car for it's age and that is why it is part of the garden.

[astroturf perth]

I agree with you Kate, I also enjoyed reading and checking the names of the plants. I even checked some of them on the internet to see the exact pictures. Amazing collection of plants. I thank you for having listed all the plants that are used on the presentation. Great Job!