Rhododendron & Vireyas Garden -

Tucked in a back corner of the garden, under a special wooden shelter, we have the largest outdoor collection of Vireyas in the continental United States. Come visit soon, and prepared to be stunned!

Vireyas are a special kind of tropical rhododendron native to islands between Asia and Australia, and they flower throughout the year in coastal California.

They love a frost-free environment. So, we house them in a special sheltered environment in The Gardens at Lake Merritt, in the back of the garden near the citrus grove and the succulent garden. We highlight locally produced hybrids, and selected plants from areas generally unavailable to botanists.

Numbering over 300 species, Vireyas can be found in the wild growing across much of SE Asia, principally in New Guinea, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines. Although these are tropical regions, the plants grow mostly in the cool mountainous areas, either as epiphytes in the tall trees of the cloud forest, or in open ground as shrubs. These low altitude vireos are idea for our Oakland climate. As anyone who has visited the San Francisco Botanical Garden’s Cloud Forest area knows, the Bay is most hospitable to these beautiful plants.

The beauty of the vireya has long attracted hybridizers and many excellent cultivars have been developed.

The next time you visit  the Vireya and Pollinator gardens, you will see something new: Permanent, botanical garden-quality plant identification signs engraved with the common name, botanical name, and plant family of each plant!

You also might see Gardens intern and Merritt College student Elaine O. placing the signs and taking notes about which plant placards still need to be engraved. I recently caught up with Elaine while she was making her rounds to find out more about her work on the signage project.

Intern Elaine O.

Elaine is quick to mention an additional benefit of the Plant ID signage project. She also is making a plant inventory which will be available to visitors as plant lists organized by garden and plant family. While the plant ID signs educate visitors in the Gardens, the plant lists will be available on this website for ongoing reference.

After all, we want people to be able to create amazing pollinator habitats in their own back yards. While our Pollinator Garden demonstrates the concept and showcases the amazing results –monarchs, hummingbirds, and bees everywhere! — our plant lists will help people choose and purchase the right shrubs and perennials for attracting the specific pollinators we consider Oakland locals.

This signage project is sponsored by the Hillside Gardeners and Merritt College and is just the beginning of an effort to bring permanent plant ID placards into all the Gardens at Lake Merritt. Directional signage for the gardens is also a top priority, says Oakland Public Works Park Supervisor Tora Rocha. In addition to assisting visitors, proper and thorough signage is important to groups like the Trust for Public Land, which can be instrumental in helping the Gardens raise much-needed funds for additional maintenance and improvement projects.

“Professional-looking, permanent plant ID and directional signage is a big step toward the Gardens earning a botanical garden classification,” says Rocha.

A special thanks to Laney College Roundtable Club students for their terrific enthusiasm and hard work.

The American Rhododendron Society, California Chapter, presents it’s Spring Show and Sale at the Lakeside Park Garden Center, 666 Bellevue Ave., Oakland. The Saturday, April 9, 2011 Sale will be from 10-4pm, the Show will run from noon-4pm. Admission is Free.

The Show will feature a splendid floral display representing a wide array of rhododendrons. In addition, many plants will be for sale including fragrant Maddenias, subtropical Vireyas and low growing cultivators suitable for small gardens.

And don’t miss seeing the Vireya Display Garden, located adjacent to the Garden Center, in the Gardens at Lake Merritt. This garden is home to the largest outdoor collection of Vireyas in the United States, where they flower throughout the year.

Lepidoptera is the insect order that contains the butterflies andmoths. The Lepidotpera are the most recently evolved order of insects, havingarisen (presumably) from the caddisflies. Butterflies and moths are some of themost conspicuous and beautiful of insects, and they are among the few “bugs”that nearly everyone likes, although some are significant agricultural pests. Thetalk will focus on the evolution and ecology of butterflies and moths, and thelepidopteran species that are frequently encountered in the Bay Area.

Professor Washburn taught at UC Berkeley, and although retired, he is still very active and engaged in his life research. Among his many extensive accomplishments, he is an engaging docent at the UC Botanical Garden, where he can be found inspiring our next generation of entomologists!

Photographer and plantsman Ted Kipping is a Certified & Consulting Arborist who has spent 40 years studying and working with woody plants and their associates. He has journeyed to many parts of the world to botanize and photograph plants and gardens to gain a better understanding. There is a plethora of lovely and visually engaging Rhododendron species to hold our interest YEAR-ROUND! Let us take a look at them together.  Sponsored by the California Chapter, American Rhododendron Society

Thursday, September 16, 7:30pm

Lakeside Park Garden Center

666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland

Contact: Elaine Sedlack  510 527-7592

On Tuesday August 10th afternoon, a highly motivated group of volunteers from Kaiser Medical Group weeded and sheet mulched a bed in the Rhododendron Garden in the Gardens at Lake Merritt.  There was great support from Oakland Public works in providing tools, cardboard, mulch and making several trips to cart away the green waste.