November 2007 Vol. 26. No. 11

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Creativity in the Garden
Medicare’s annual enrollment period
Not quite a scam
Public safety
Alzheimer’s Month
Veterans Day

Pick up a copy today! Better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue!

Brought to you by

Creativity in the Garden

DelBiaggios win “outstanding and superlative” award

by Ellin Beltz

Carol and Henry (“Hank”) DelBiaggio. Photo by Wileeta Philbrick, Ferndale Garden Club

Oriental carpets record the weaver’s view of the Persian word “paradise,” their colorful patterns record private walled gardens nourished through difficult climate on the harsh high plains, called “E.din” by the neighboring Sumerians. Ever since Eden, creativity expresses itself in the act of gardening — when plants are grown not merely for sustenance, but for their effect on our hearts and minds.

Creativity flourishes with a particular intensity in Ferndale, a tiny town nestled in a fertile valley, a veritable land of milk and honey just minutes off busy Hwy. 101. Visitors describe the cow-dotted fields as bucolic and delight in the tidy, colorful Victorian homes surrounded by gardens as diverse and spontaneous as the people who nurture them.

The Ferndale Garden Club was founded almost 70 years ago and has always recognized the efforts of superlative gardeners in town and the surrounding area. Every year they award the highly coveted Garden of Merit Award, but only to a non-member’s yard.

In a series of award-winners, the garden created by Carol and Henry (“Hank”) DelBiaggio is “outstanding and superlative,” according to selection committee chairwoman Julianne Sink.

Even at 55 miles per hour, you can’t miss the profusion of color surrounding the trim blue bungalow with a distinctive red roof. But if you slow down a bit, you’ll catch a glimpse of paradise in the DelBiaggio garden.

In season, borders of North Coast staples such as California poppies, calla lilies, camellias, calendula and lavender draw the eye, but beside these a diverse banquet of blooms nestle along the borders of the sunken garden between the house and the river.

Every garden has flowers and plants. What sets the DelBiaggio garden apart is an ever-changing sculpture display that reflects the activities and creativity of the rest of the community — including holidays, the Kinetic Sculpture Race, horse and dog shows, the champion Wildcat football team, fishing, hunting and gardening. Hank creates these displays by rearranging a cast of characters which include two male figures, a horse, a dog, his own lawn furniture and tools, hand-painted signs, a homemade alligator and several sizes of plywood salmonid fish.

For the best view of the DelBiaggio garden, drive out of Ferndale and go past Port Kenyon Road where Hwy. 211 crosses the Salt River. Slow down and glance right into the sculpture garden. The floral border continues for several hundred feet past the house and can be seen from the outbound side of the road. Remember 211 is a busy road — if you pull off, pull way over on the shoulder and use extreme caution if you open your doors and get out.

Ellin Beltz, author of Frogs - Inside their Remarkable World, lives in Ferndale and is busily at work on her next book. Her e-mail is ebeltz@ebeltz.net.