World of Plants Nurtured at Garden Show

The Johannsens got there early.

Janet Johannsen pushed 7-month-old Jennifer’s stroller up the Los Angeles State and County Arboretum’s spruced-up garden path. Husband Dave Johannsen tried to keep up with Jeffrey, 7, and Jonathan, 4, as they bounded past designer Chris Rosmini’s fanciful wooden interpretations of eucalyptus, willow, liquidambar, maple, cyprus and palm--giant-sized abstracts that lined the pathway into the sixth annual Los Angeles Garden Show, which continues through this weekend.

Ideas, Advice and Plants

Ideas, advice and plants for the buying fill the three acres of botanical gardens in Arcadia that are turned over to “Fall Fantasies”--the 10-day, 10 a.m.-to-6 p.m. event, which concludes Sunday.

When the Johannsens reached the first white-tented trade mart exhibit and sales area last Saturday, Jennifer insisted on being brought up to touch-and-sniff level at the Cactus Ranchito’s corner booth. Owners Ed and Betty Gay directed the small girl’s fingers toward a “petting cactus.”

“We came to get ideas for landscaping our backyard,” Janet Johannsen said while Dave kept an eye on their two other adventurers. “We want advice on how to plan a garden that is safe for children--with nonpoisonous plants--and still have pretty landscaping.”

Weekend Crowds

The quest for “pretty landscaping” ideas last weekend drew more than 8,800 to the outside, out-of-the ordinary garden party, where nearly three dozen purveyors of specialized plants, tools, soil amendments and gardening books set up temporary shop.

“We come to the arboretum all the time,” Charlene Spencer of Long Beach said. “But this is like Disneyland overnight. They’ve created a phenomenal little place.”

Exhibitors like John Meigs, who normally sells his orchids “to the decorating trade in Los Angeles,” was making them available to the public for the first time. Like other plant specialists, Meigs was offering not-your-ordinary-garden-variety varieties at comparatively reasonable prices ranging from $3.50 for a dollhouse-size African violet to $15 for two dendrobian orchids to $20 for an Israeli “Anna” apple tree.

His cymbidiums, cattleyas and oncidiums drew Kay Ono’s eye. As she tenderly balanced her 1 1/2-year-old sleeping grandniece, Kimberly Saito, over her shoulder, Ono poked among the exotic yellow, green, pink (and yes, orchid) blossoms. “I was born and raised in Hawaii and we had a backyard full of these,” she said, gesturing with her eyes, careful not to disturb the still-slumbering Kimberly. “This is usually the only place I can go to feel like I’m back home again.”

Others discovered that they could go home again--if only for the brief moments invoked by a remembered floral fragrance, beloved blossom or exotic fruit.

“Que magnifico, “ exclaimed Ann Hidalgo of Sun Valley as she paused at David and Tina Silber’s inviting Papaya Tree Nursery booth. “Le gusta algun jugo? “ (Would you like a little juice?), Tina inquired, offering Hidalgo a container of juice squeezed from the babaco papaya, native to Ecuador.

Flavor From Home

Hidalgo relished the paper tumblerful, as much for the relief from the slightly warming day as for the rich flavor, which took her back to her native Costa Rica. “It’s like being back home,” she said, happily surveying a table full of sliced guavas and Surinam cherry.

“I love it--the greenery, all the different trees and plants from all over the world. I could be here every day!” In fact, she was planning to come back the following weekend with a carload of friends.

John D. Gonzales, former mayor of South El Monte, and his wife, Ruth, like many, were drawn to the booth set up by the Theodore Payne Foundation, a pioneer in the promulgation of drought-resistant native plants. “We already grow asters, miniature dahlias, camellias and azaleas,” Ruth Gonzales explained as her husband questioned propagator Jan Busco about natives that would do well in the San Gabriel Valley. “We’re now thinking of putting in native flowering trees.”

Jana Ruzika, a landscape architect from Laguna Beach, was hatted and dressed for plant foraging. She and Steve Kawaratani, a retail nurseryman, sought “new discoveries.”

“We came here to find out more about grasses and native plants,” she said. “We saw quite a few at the Monrovia Nursery display. (One of the 2 1/2 dozen outdoor displays, it won the sweepstakes prize.) We also liked the miniature coral bell trees at the Payne Foundation.”

A World of Specialists

“When you work at a retail nursery, there’s a restricted number of plants that you’re dealing with,” Kawaratani said. “When you come here, it’s a whole different world. As a retailer, you’re a generalist. These,” he said, looking around him at the plant providers, “are specialists.”

The proliferation of unusual plants attracts a host of amateur gardeners as well.

“We always come with the idea that we’re not going to buy anything,” David Watson said, laughing at himself as he shifted his weight, trying to balance the several heavy gallon cans of cycads he was shlepping carward. He and his plant hobbyist wife, La Vonne, journeyed from Highland, near San Bernardino.

“We like to get here early and grab hard-to-find plants before someone else does,” David said. “Then,” nodding toward both his and his wife’s overburdened arms, “we put them in the car and look at the exhibits, which they tell me are really wonderful this year.”

Prepared for Bounty

Fountain Valley Regional Hospital co-workers Dorothy Maruyama of Huntington Beach and Don Kaczmarek of Laguna Hills came ready for bagging bounty: They brought along a little red wagon.

“We came looking for a royal poinciana tree for me,” Kaczmarek explained. “I saw one in Hawaii and I wanted it.” As he tugged a wagon full of trees and orchids, neither seemed too upset at not yet finding the elusive poinciana. “We may just have to come back next year,” Maruyama said.

Janet Johannsen wouldn’t be at all surprised if Jeffrey and Jonathan brought the Johannsens back next year as well.

“Look at my cactus,” Jeffrey insisted, thrusting forward a bowl planted with a variety of succulents. “I’m going to put this in my room, and they taught me how to take care of it. I give it a few sprinkles of water once a week. But first I have to touch the pot to see if it’s cool or hot. If it’s hot, then I water it a little bit.” Jonathan nodded, holding up his succulents for inspection. It’ll be just a matter of time before Jennifer wants one for her room too.

Los Angeles Garden Show, State and County Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. Admission $4 for adults; $3 for students with ID, those over 62 or between 5-17. Information: (818) 446-8251.