Pajaro Valley Magazine October 14 2022

Let’s

this forkin’

SHINY SHOOTS Bamboo Giant and Nursery is inviting guests to wander through their forest at night, now through Dec.

in the Lights FOREST

Bamboo Giant offering first-ever nighttime experience

By JOHANNA MILLER

Located on a busy thor oughfare between Aptos and Watson ville, Bamboo Giant Nursery and Gardens (BGNG) could easily be driven past without a second glance.

But the nursery, tucked into the side of a hill in a rural, forested sec tion of Freedom Boulevard, is actu ally one of the largest displays of timber bamboo in North Amer ica. Trails on the property take you through thick rows of bamboo, over stone walkways to waterfalls, decorative archways and fountains.

NIGHT GLOW A gazebo is illuminated at night at Bamboo Giant Nursery and Gardens.

Photos by Amy Medina Photography

“It’s definitely a hidden gem,” said Leah Leichty, BGNG’s social media manager and coordinator. “We are a living nursery, where peo ple can also walk through and see the different types actually growing. People often tell us when they visit, ‘I had no idea this was all here.’”

A desire to connect more with the community has led BGNG to organize its first-ever Illuminated Bamboo Enchanted Forest WalkThrough. Guests can from now through Dec. 31 stroll through the nursery at night through lighted areas of the grounds, participate in a scavenger hunt, feed the fish in the lily pond, while learning more about bamboo.

Leichty said that the event is the first time that the nursery has ever

been open to the public at night.

“We want people to experience something new,” she said. “People can come in during the day and that’s great, but no one has ever experienced this place in the dark. Especially doing it during this time of year—it makes it a little creepy! If it’s breezy, you hear the bamboo snap and creak against each other.”

BGNG has been under new own ership since January of this year. Leichty’s father, Trevor Medina, took over the business from the pre vious owner after spending a year and a half as general manager.

“It’s been really exciting to do this,” Leichty said. “To know that this is ours. We are incredibly blessed and honored for the oppor tunity. The former owner is a family friend, and we know he had a hard

time selling it. But knew he was leaving his baby in good hands. He still loves this place.”

Together, the family has kept the business going while adding their own ideas. They have plans to open a second location in Santa Barbara soon, and want to increase the num ber of local community events. They have hosted its first two weddings this year, and Leichty’s mother, pho tographer Amy Medina has set up at the nursery for the countywide Open Studios Art Tour.

They are looking into bringing in a yoga instructor to teach classes on site. Educational and cultural events are also a possibility, Leichty said; people have already contacted them looking to teach traditional dances and bamboo flute crafting.

“One of our main things is edu cating the public about bamboo and its cultural aspects,” she said. “We’re white, so we appreciate it when peo ple of these cultures reach out to us with ideas.”

BGNG services customers from Sacramento to San Diego, offering between 13 and 15 acres of solid for est, featuring 117 unique species of both clumping and running bam boo. This includes bamboo sourced from Africa, Taiwan, South America and Japan.

“The species we have aren’t native but they do extremely well here, because we are in a Mediter ranean climate,” Leichty said. “Bam boo is technically a grass. And it is known as invasive—it can some times grow too fast, and is hard to contain.”

BGNG offers both installation and removal, and aims to educate people on how to properly care for

it. Plenty of customers don’t know enough about bamboo before buy ing it, Leichty added.

“Sometimes people want to buy little one-gallon bamboo pots,” she said. “But honestly, it’s like taking home a newborn. You literally have to baby it. It takes a lot of work. Usually, the smallest we offer is a 5-gallon pot, because by then they have started maturing.”

The Illuminated Bamboo Enchanted Forest Walk-Through kicked off in late September and runs through Dec. 31. Tickets must be ordered in advance, as BGNG is staggering small groups 15 minutes apart. Long pants and close-toed shoes are recommended.

Hand sanitizer and clean, sani tized flashlights will be provided to guests.

“We’re cautious of the times,” Leichty said. “We are still in a soft pandemic, as I call it, so we’re trying to be cognizant of that. Yes, it’s out side and open, but we still want peo ple to be safe.”

Guests can also visit the grounds for free during regular daytime busi ness hours to browse, take a walk or just enjoy the grounds.

“We want to build up this place’s legacy especially in the local com munity,” Leichty said. “Knowing it’s been here for 23 years but people just drive past it every day, that’s what we want to change. As long as our gate is open and we’re here, come in and check us out.”

To order tickets to the Illuminated Walk-Through, visit bit.ly/3CRuwWG. For information about Bamboo Giant Nursery and Gardens visit bamboogiant.com.

2022 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

PRESENTSTIMES

THE ULTIMATE GUIDETO LOCAL SHOPPING

Publication date

Wednesday, November 23/December 7

Space reservation deadline

Friday, October 14, 3pm

Electronic ad deadline

Friday, October 21, 5pm

WIDE SELECTION Bamboo Giant Nursery and Gardens carries 117 unique species of bamboo.

Johanna

GARDENING

Too many plants?

Crowded gardens can be burdensome

By KATE RUSSELL

along plants that never seem to thrive? And plants ill-suited to where you live? When summer heat hits, how much time do you have to spend watering to keep everything alive and healthy?

The water may come out of your spigot easily enough, but we all know that it’s a valuable resource. There are limits to what we can responsibly use. This is especially true in drought-prone areas. Install ing plants that use a lot of water means spending time watering those plants. Do you have an hour every morning in summer to water your garden? And is that water well spent?

Whether your garden consists of a strip of balcony or acres of farm land, there is a limit to the num ber of plants your space can han dle. Cramming too many plants too closely together is an invitation to pests and diseases. Preventing those problems can save a lot of time. Yel low sticky sheets and sticky barriers go a long way toward reducing pest problems.

If you have too many plants, especially the wrong sort of plants, you may find yourself wondering why in the world you ever started gardening in the first place. There are only so many hours in a day and taking care of plants takes time. Do yourself and your garden a favor and aim for just the right number and type of plants for you, your soil and your garden with these actions:

• Grow plants suited to your microclimate.

• Provide plants with enough space for good airflow.

• Group plants according to their water usage.

Are there too many plants in your garden?

There’s always room for that new variety of an old favorite, a gift plant from a fellow gardener, and all those vegetable seeds. Or is there?

Is there such a thing as too many plants? Many enthusiasts col lect plants until it gets difficult to find a spot with enough sunlight and soil. But it’s not just a matter of real estate.

Unless your garden is a xeri scape, planted with cacti and succu lents, it will require regular care. If you have too many plants, that care can become burdensome. Vegetable seedlings need frequent watering to get a good start. Shrubs and hedges need pruning to stay attractive and healthy. Having too many plants, or the wrong sort of plants, can take its toll on gardeners of any skill level.

Growing the wrong sort of plants means wasted time, money and water. Do you find yourself nursing

• Remove plants that are not thriving or which require more effort than they are worth.

• Create routines that lighten your load.

• If specific pests arrive every year, make a plan of attack before they arrive.

Rather than feeling over whelmed and exhausted because of too many plants, put your time, effort and water into plants worth having.

Kate Russell is a UCCE Master Gardener.

Kate Russell

PLAN A SCHEDULE Creating routines for your garden can lighten your load.

PHOTO GALLERY

Tom Brezsny’s Real Estate of Mind

Provoking thought since 1990

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Tom Brezsny’s Real Estate of Mind

A few more thoughts on a recent column I wrote, suggesting it was time to stop giving out silly production awards to Realtors - the ones that flaunt dubious metrics and glorify outmoded stereotypes rather than the industry’s highest standards.

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In a social media world where half-truths are constantly being curated and sold back to people as clickbait, we should declare a moratorium on self-congratulatory ads paid for by agents and brokerages, and all accolades proclaiming anyone BEST / MOST / HIGHEST in anything having to do with quantity of sales rather than the quality of service.

Am rerore, si volorio. Nemod quistrum resequu ntiberum quid quas volorenet fuga. Et res sitatus andentem. Cabo. Nobitatia volorero illor rem volest que vendus restis senistota sam hitatur aditiur? Qui dolorro ipsundit occupti busdae necaectium et plam dunt am sim verit quis minum, consenis re sinienim qui aut iur modis as etur?

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Torisquosae repuditas unt ut facia doloribus, utatetur?

Cerrume nienimi ligenducient verum fugitatem im inimus, voluptur? Quiberu ptatur?

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An apt analogy might be confusing McDonald’s with being a great restaurant just because it has surpassed more than a billion burgers sold! Instead, let’s invent new ways to promote excellence and redefine the transactional relationship between brokerages, agents, buyers and sellers. If we don’t focus on the actual value(s) we bring to the table, Realtors will eventually fall victim to their own hype at the same time as traditional brokerages fall by the digital wayside.

The challenge goes back to the identity problem Realtors have always struggled with: are we super-salespeople? Or are we trusted fiduciaries (dedicated to placing buyers’ and sellers’ interests ahead of our own)?

Cerrume nienimi ligenducient verum fugitatem im inimus, voluptur? Quiberu ptatur?

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Are our customers really clients? Or are our clients really customers? Is this a “trade” or is it an actual profession? Or is it both?

Two seemingly incompatible roles married together in a precarious union that requires the Wisdom of Solomon to pull it all off on a daily basis? Depending on who you talk to, the answers vary dramatically and flip-flop back and forth with regularity.

Ique nulparum faccus, is a conestr uptat.

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These days, buyer loyalty to their agents is at an all-time low. It is common for desperate buyers to solicit listing agents directly to represent them, even though it’s hard to imagine anyone would argue that dualagency is a wise idea.

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Why is it happening? Because buyers don’t understand the value of agents, or they think they can get a property for less if they cut them out. Or they think all buyers’ agents are just trying to make a sale, so they willingly choose to abdicate their own best interests by appealing to a listing agent’s greed (because they too, the theory goes, just want to make a sale!).

Ique nulparum faccus, is a conestr uptat.

Alique ma enisi quatet am, audipsa piciaec usandite latur aut dicia quia pa ipsant magnihicid quiate re ad que delibusam ut et ut odicidebit, siment dem quae pori dolorro vitatia quia illatur? Voluptat aspernatum, serupta ecesci res eum restium nonsedipsum eum que dolorem nos dolum lam, etur, cust a duntusdae lam dolorpo rempeliquid modis aut ataerror re volorest optatio dempor aut aut explabo. Nem que recuste posapel

Tom Brezsny

Realtor®

This is one of the ways that “trusted advisor” gets tossed aside by the fear and greed of a heated marketplace, and just another example of the negative feedback loop that’s been created by the real estate industry’s over-emphasis on sales. When in doubt, people revert back to the reigning stereotype - it’s all about those sales numbers!

PAID ADVERTORIAL

Tom Brezsny

LANDMARK The Wall Street Inn glows in red lights on a typical evening in downtown Watsonville.

FOGGY DAY Pampas grass is shown with the Capitola Wharf, obscured by heavy fog.

FIERCE FIGHT Mergansers battle for position on a rock in Soquel Creek.

Tarmo

Hannula

Hannula

Private farmhouse in Corralitos

The six-and-a-half-acre Starry Night Farms is on the market.

Located at 389 Cor ralitos Road, the 3,280-square-foot main home includes three bed rooms and three bathrooms. A detached three-car garage has a 900-square-foot room above it that could be used as an office, guest room or hobby room.

The home, built in 2002, is equipped with a security system

and newer solar system. It also features a 300-square-foot sun room as well as three fireplaces throughout.

The grounds are accessed through a rod-iron, private gated entry. Nearly five acres of organic farmland surrounds the home and is part of the property.

It is listed at $2,499,000 by Windermere Valley Properties. For information, visit tinyurl.com/ rskecswu.

home sits on sizable grounds

for entertaining

STARRY NIGHT This Corralitos home sits on a gated property.