The treasures of Tilden

At the summit of Mount Whitney feet there s a big sphere of purple-blue flowers with an intense musky smell It s exposed nowhere else on earth Nobody can drive to see it It requires time and effort trekking through the wilderness at the highest peak of the contiguous United States just to catch a glimpse It s called Sky Pilot announced Michael Uhler gardener at the Tilden Regional Park Botanic Garden It s the holy grail of alpine plants in California If I ever bloom that I m retiring A meager years ago Uhler obtained permission to collect Sky Pilot seeds from the National Parks He s been trying to grow it at Tilden Park ever since This isn t just a garden vanity project To him this is about preserving plants before they disappear Circumstances change is the game-changer for alpine plants he explained We don t have a lot of time to learn as much as we can To help Uhler have a chance at growing the rare purple-blue plant among other unique California natives Tilden Park started its newest feature the crevice garden in In the present day it grows new flowers and alpine plants that would otherwise have no chance to at this low an elevation The garden made with -foot-tall -to- -inch thick slabs of slate and schist collected from Mariposa Slate Quarry uses the rocks as protection for the plants which are grown in the space between the slabs The plants roots can then grow deep into the ground becoming drought-resistant while able to withstand extreme weather conditions Plants grow among the rocks in the crevice garden at the Tilden Regional Park Botanic Garden in Berkeley Calif on Tuesday July Jane Tyska Bay Area News Group Crevice gardens are unique explained Bart O Brien director of the botanic garden They started becoming globally known in the s They came out of Czechoslovakia When the Denver Botanic Gardens started the United States first crevice garden in other botanic gardens took notice And a scarce years ago O Brien sent Uhler to Denver to get a sense of what might be realizable These crevice gardens provide superb drainage which majority alpine plants require O Brien commented And what preponderance people don t realize is because the Sierra is a Mediterranean context on one side and desert on the other side it doesn t ever freeze deeply So typically the soils will only be frozen an inch or two And with a lot of soil still unfrozen a lot of the plants have roots that survive the entire year But trying to replicate those growing conditions in a normal garden isn t doable At low elevation there s too much heat in the summer or too much rain in the winter O Brien explained So with the crevice garden we can mimic the conditions of the high altitude but without snow on top of it Uhler has gotten to know the alpine plants quite well over the years When he s not working full-time at the botanical garden he s usually hiking off-trail in super remote high locations in the Sierra He s also developed a good relationship with the National Parks who gave him permission to collect seeds of rare plants and attempt to grow them in Tilden Park You need a special habitat to grow these plants Uhler stated The crevice garden becomes a natural display situation It s beautiful Before this we were not able to grow a lot of these plants And there are a large number of species here true alpines that have never successfully grown to a bloom cycle Has the crevice garden worked We ve been able to grow more species from the Sierra than anyone else anywhere has ever been able to grow O Brien explained Walk around the crevice garden and you ll find labels of several of the high-altitude plants Uhler has been able to successfully grow down here in the East Bay The Alpine Buckwheat Frosted Buckwheat and Lobb s Buckwheat are among his favorites at this moment in bloom though he recommends going to see them as soon as doable they won t be in bloom long He also recommends checking out the Sierra Columbine plant a radiant flower that looks alive with its pointy legs and insect-like features Everyone likes the alpine plants O Brien announced They re tiny but usually have big flowers and they remind people of the mountains The bulk people walking through the botanic garden in Tilden Park stumble into the crevice garden by accident Uhler revealed It s got a certain gravitational pull he mentioned Visitors wander through the Tilden Regional Park Botanic Garden on their way to the crevice garden in Berkeley Calif on Tuesday July Jane Tyska Bay Area News Group Briefly the Sky Pilot was on display But it didn t survive the change in seasons It s stressful Uhler stated You spend a lot of time growing these plants then they re gone Now he s trying again this time in the nursery heritage It s the holy grail and it may be unachievable he reported I grew it in the crevice garden but in the winter the plants go dormant and should be under snow We may not be able to grow this exposed to the outdoors Related Articles Former residents remember Russell City after historic passage of reparation fund Horoscopes Aug Michael Ealy strive for brilliance Word Championship Aug Asking Eric My cheating husband failed the polygraph but still he says I m making things up Dear Abby I want to dance and hike He wants to get drunk in the garage Elsewhere in the -acre botanic garden celebrating its th anniversary this year there are species of plants representing roughly half of California s native flora More than of them are rare threatened or endangered species Countless of them won t be here this time next year A few of our iconic collections are aging out O Brien disclosed But the garden is constantly growing new plants to replace the old creating a time capsule to celebrate specific of the largest part beautiful plants in California Our mission is to grow the greatest diversity of California natives as doable Uhler mentioned It s a challenge And it s a lifestyle for sure I m leaving the coming day days backpacking above the level the trees grow I ll see Sky Pilot I ll see Alpine Gold If I don t ever grow them I m OK with that too It s so nice to visit and see them I really appreciate their beauty Especially when I realize you can t just put this in a pot and grow it Details Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden is free to enter and open daily a m to p m at Wildcat Canyon Road Berkeley https www ebparks org parks tilden botanic-garden Red-spotted Clarkia grow among the rocks in the crevice garden at the Tilden Regional Park Botanic Garden in Berkeley Calif on Tuesday July Jane Tyska Bay Area News Group