THE COASTAL GARDENER:

What do you say to your idol, your hero?

For nearly 20 years I have been enamored by Dan Hinkley. I have walked in his garden near Seattle on four occasions. I have spoken with him once while standing in his spectacular garden, considered by many as the most significant private garden in North America. I have read every word of his books, his magazine articles and his catalogs. For me and many others, he is the nation’s ultimate plantsman. Hinkley is the Sir Edmund Hillary of horticulture.

So I was overwhelmed when I received a call that he wanted to visit with me and talk about plants and gardening. I was mystified. What do I say?

Perhaps you don’t recognize the name. Hinkley searches the world for plants that will enrich the our gardens. When he discovers a candidate, he adds it to his garden and the gene pool of his more than 10,000 varieties.

Hinkley is an extraordinary person, always on the move. His passport is riddled with stamps, from places like Korea, Japan, Nepal, China, Taiwan, Chile, Tasmania, South Africa, Turkey, Sikkim, Bhutan or dozens more.

When he finds a plant, perhaps on a cliff overhanging a remote mountain pass, he first sets out to understand its home and its neighbors.

What is its natural habitat? Its soil? Its fondness for sun or water or nutrients? Perhaps this plant might have a comrade with variegated leaves or another flower color?

He collects copious amounts of seed, almost never harming the wild plants, and labels them carefully with exacting detail. When back in his garden, he grows, tests, evaluates and ultimately shares it.

The plants Hinkley brings back from these distant places are not for the meek or mild. These are plants from the far reaches of the world. I have had the fortune of stepping into countless gardens, with striking plants in spectacular arrangement. You would recognize the names of these picturesque gardens, both private and public: Huntington, Longwood, Kew, Butchart and others roll from the tongues of avid gardeners.

But at Hinkley’s gardens the plants are not only beautiful, they are unique; frequently unknown. The plants in his gardens are true rarities; not one or two here and there, scattered among the recognizable mainstays that make up nearly all gardens. At a Dan Hinkley garden, the entire garden is rarities. His gardens are a horticultural trivia of the plant world.

Years ago, when I first walked into Hinkley’s Heronswood garden on Washington’s Kitsap Peninsula, I spent half of the day investigating the first 20 feet of plants, and there were five more acres to go. It was overpowering. The plants were foreign. These were aliens. They were plants from another world; with unpronounceable names, artfully combined and masterfully grown. A flood of texture, fragrance and blossom that filled the senses. Imagine an artist, toiling for years to create beautiful works of art on canvas panels. Then, in one moment, after years of labor, a dozen new colors you had never known of or even thought about were handed to you. Imagine your enthusiasm. That is how I felt.

Hinkley’s stature in horticulture is unparalleled. He speaks throughout the world. He is profiled in The New York Times. Martha Stewart gushes about him. He writes for Garden Design Magazine. Yet, for weeks at a time he still sleeps in simple conditions in a tent in the mountains of Nepal or perhaps in a river valley in Tasmania, eating local fare and rising before sunrise to explore nature’s hidden gardens.

What could Dan Hinkley want to talk to me about?

Turns out, he just wanted to talk about plants; and that’s what we did. We walked and talked, stopping at interesting plants along the way. We talked about the plants, touched them and smelled them. We shared stories of where they came from, what their neighbors were, how well they grew and maybe other forms of the plants that we had heard of and lusted over.

In the end, Hinkley remains a plant explorer. He came to Newport Beach and found a few more plants, learned about them, learned of their neighbors and learned their stories.

ASK RON

Question: I so enjoyed the timely article on Japanese Camellias in today’s L.A. Times! Thank you. Do you advise no fertilizer at all; using only mulch to maintain a proper pH balance, or would you advise fertilizer only during the growing half of the year, April to September?

Lauren

Answer: I suggest feeding lightly during the first half of the growing season, beginning about April. Use organic cottonseed meal, and do not cultivate it into the soil. Of course, always maintain an acidic mulch over the roots as well.

ASK RON your toughest gardening questions, and the expert nursery staff at Roger’s Gardens will come up with an answer. Please include your name, phone number and city, and limit queries to 30 words or fewer. E-mail stumpthegardener@rogersgardens.com, or write to Plant Talk at Roger’s Gardens, 2301 San Joaquin Hills Road, Corona del Mar, CA 92625.

RON VANDERHOFF is the Nursery Manager at Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar.