The Road to Digging Dog

(Aug. 23, 2007) A couple of weeks ago, I took the long way home from the Bay Area and drove through Mendocino. Before I left, I made an appointment to visit Digging Dog Nursery, source of all good things in the universe. Well, my universe, anyway.

I have been a Digging Dog junkie for years. I keep their thick, black and white catalog by my bed and read it from beginning to end, the way you’d read a novel. The entries are always entertaining, and it helps thatall the plants are suited to the California coast. I never suffer the disappointment that comes from reading all the way through a catalog description, only to find that the plant requires a hard freeze or a hot summer. But back to the writing — consider this colorful description of Aster ericoides hyb . “Ringdove’:

Digging Dog’s gardens.

GALLERY >

Our anticipation soars as we wait for round buds to finally unfurl a galaxy of small starry blooms twinkling in rose-tinged lilac shades. Beneath the profuse late season display, tiny green leaves stay fresh for months, garnishing stiff branching stems, which angle out and form a well-mannered mound. Illuminated by citron-yellow centers with red streaks, the dainty daisies easily gratify companions like Achillea “Hella Glashoff” or Origanum “Bristol Cross’.

Or what about this description of Euphorbia “Jade Dragon”?

Evoking images of viridescent dragon scales, the pointed, blue-green leaves create a compact, deer-proof assemblage that’s infused with reddish purple tinges. This robust, tidy-looking Milkwort shoulders summer blooming chartreuse flower heads nearly one foot across. Consorts such as Panicum “Heavy Metal” and Eupatorium “Gateway” enhance its colorful hues.

1 2 NEXT PAGE >SHARE