Ever Green
Despite its proximity to the coast, Corona del Mar may well be the Garden City of Orange County. (Apologies to Garden Grove.) Sherman Library and Gardens encompass a full city block along East Coast Highway; have lunch at its new Cafe Jardin (that’s French for “garden”). And though it may still be October, it’s been Christmas for weeks at Roger’s Gardens.
LATE MORNING 1
Sherman Library and Gardens was founded about 30 years ago by Arnold Haskell (1895-1977), who shunned personal publicity and named it for his mentor, Moses Sherman (1853-1932). The two-acre venue is known for flower beds and hanging baskets, but it also includes a cactus garden and tropical conservatory.
Near the rose garden is a bo tree (Latin name, Ficus religiosa). The tree is considered sacred by Hindus and Buddhists, for it was under a bo tree that Siddhartha is said to have gained spiritual enlightenment and become the Buddha. Note the exquisitely elongated leaves.
Thyme flies in the herb garden, which boasts several varieties of that herb as well as chocolate and orange mint, tri-color and society garlic.
Orchids in the tropical conservatory include some with mottled coloring and others with ends frayed like endive. Smell the cattleya! Nearby are moosehorn ferns. Look at the size of those koi! There are more than a dozen of the carp, each sporting a little fu manchu.
Herons in the central gardens are sculpted from concrete and driftwood. In an adobe is a scale model of Mission San Juan Capistrano.
The research library is devoted to the history of the states of the Pacific Southwest. Included are Los Angeles city directories back to 1888, phone books to 1946 and lots of books on the Sierra and on California wine-making. Among others are “The Oil Conquest of the World,” a prophetic work by F.A. Talbert (1914); a completely revised and enlarged “Tomatoes and Cucumbers” by A.A. Richards (1967); and “The Advance of the Funghi” by E.C. Large (1940). Displays include “Wires That Fenced the West,” 20 styles of barbs dating to 1876.
The “All I need to know about life I learned from gardening” T-shirt ($17) in the gift shop lists aphorisms such as “It’s okay to be a late bloomer” and “Always try to be outstanding in your field.”
LUNCH 2
Mimi Olhats, wife of Pascal Olhats of Pascal Restaurant fame, oversees the “coastal garden” cuisine at Cafe Jardin. You can sit on the patio beneath a Ficus benjamina and take in the flower beds and aforementioned herons.
On the modest menu are appetizers including the Gardener Snack (a basket of radishes and French saucisson, $6.75) and “garden raw” vegetables with tapenade and aioli dip ($7.50). Among entree salads are seasonal mixed greens with warm goat cheese and tapenade ($8.95); the sandwich du Jardin is herb-marinated vegetables with tomato and basil on onion bread ($8.95). The “fine” apple tart with caramel sauce ($5.95) is fine indeed. Exotic multi-course afternoon teas ($25, one-day advance notice) are served after 2:30 p.m. on a terrace nearby.
AFTERNOON 3
You’ll no doubt want to continue your garden activities at home. Roger’s Gardens is a retail nursery three or four times the size of Sherman Gardens, where you can still pick up eyeballs, rats, hands that move and skulls that speak in time for Halloween; in the gallery you’ll find renowned ornament designer Christopher Radko’s Frankensteinian creation.
But Radko is better known for his Christmas ornaments and Roger’s for its Christmas Fantasy, in its 22nd year and already in full bloom (with plenty of Radko items, of course). In the front entry are Dickensian figurines from an original display window at Harrod’s in London circa 1910.
In the outdoor gardens are topiaries and 75 Canary Island pines crowned with stars and draped with a quarter of a million miniature white lights.
Inside are 40 decorated trees, each with a distinctive theme; the Tuscany tree, for instance, has grape clusters. There are also Hanukkah ornaments for sale.
Santa Claus will hold reign (and the reins) starting Nov. 28 in the Disneyland Gazebo, where Roger’s will introduce an ornament called Mickey’s Sleigh Ride.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
1) Sherman Library & Gardens
2647 E. Coast Highway, (714) 673-2261.
Gardens and gift shop open 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Library open 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
2) Cafe Jardin
2647 E. Coast Highway, (714) 673-0033.
11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday for lunch and 2:30-4 p.m. for tea.
3) Roger’s Gardens
2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, (714) 640-5800.
9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.
Parking: There is free parking in lots at each location.
Buses: OCTA Bus No. 1 runs along Coast Highway with stops at MacArthur Boulevard and Newport Center Drive. Bus No. 65 (Santa Ana-Balboa) stops along Coast Highway at Jamboree Road and Newport Center Drive and at the corner of San Joaquin Hills Road and San Miguel Drive.
