Private oasis hosts events to support local charities
Mirrors along the fence capture the light (and redirect energy) in Huei's Garden in Davis. Debbie Arrington
It’s a little slice of feng shui paradise, just off the public bike trail but a world away.
See for yourself during upcoming tours of Huei’s Garden, a very special private garden that has helped raise funds for several local charities.
Huei Young, who created her Davis oasis at 234 Luz Place, is hosting fund-raising tours of her private garden at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25 and Oct. 3. Proceeds from the Sept. 25 tour will benefit the local Rotary Club. The Oct. 3 tour will support Davis Farm to School, which sponsors garden-based education in Davis schools as well as supplies fresh produce from local farms to school cafeterias. Reservations are limited; email Huei to check for availability at hueis.garden@yahoo.com.
Through her tours, Young has raised thousands of dollars for local charities. She also welcomes garden clubs and is now scheduling spring tours. Suggested donation is $25 per person.
Internationally known, her private garden – as well as the public Huei’s City Garden she started on the greenbelt adjacent to her mid-century modern home – have been featured on television, in magazines and books as well as local newspapers and blogs.
During the pandemic, Young made several additions to her gardens. She planted fragrant roses along with the scores of perennials and shrubs, nestled under mammoth redwoods.
In October 2019, a windstorm dropped huge limbs from one of those redwoods onto her beloved feng shui garden, wiping out her large covered patio along with a mirrored wall and water features. While staying safe at home during 2020, Young channeled her abundant energy into rebuilding her garden better than ever.
For more than 30 years, Young has been working on the City Garden as well as her own landscape. Open daily to visitors, the City Garden runs along the bike and walking path in her neighborhood in east Davis at the end of Luz Place near Grande Avenue. In 2020, a permanent bench was added in memory of her late husband, Frank. In addition, the City of Davis installed an official sign designating that section of the greenbelt “Adopt-a-Park Huei’s City Garden.”
But her private garden is private – except when Young hosts a tour. To arrange a tour, email Young at hueis.garden@yahoo.com.
Details and photos: www.hueis-garden.com.
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.