Napa Master Gardener Column

Recently I visited the home of a fellow Master Gardener who lives near Napa's eastern hills off Third Avenue. She has majestic native oaks in front of her home, and I asked her how old those trees might be. She said maybe 200 years.

When the European explorers first came to the New World, they were interested in Native agriculture. Famine was a familiar presence in the old country, and even when times were good the ordinary person's diet there was neither varied nor abundant.

Until a few years ago I considered myself an avid gardener. When it came to gardening, I felt that anything worth doing was worth doing to excess. Most people would have been satisfied with just a few raised beds for vegetable gardening, but I had thirty.

Four years ago, the City of Napa's Parks and Recreation Department and the UC Master Gardeners of Napa County reached an agreement to create a learning garden at the Las Flores Community Center in Napa.

Why do I love dahlias so much? They are the perfect summer flower blooming in a wide range of forms and colors, from brilliant reds and purples to variegated pinks and lovely whites.