8/8/2019 San Jose Mercury News: Montalvo

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Y NEWSDelmar cComb,he singingardener,"nvisionsurninghesprawlingontalvostatento rue rboretum.

8/8/2019 San Jose Mercury News: Montalvo

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8/8/2019 San Jose Mercury News: Montalvo

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E6 BAYARLA URUUPt r - . IMontalvo ,"I:',ltl3?1i"#ffi"0,n"ilcb"tt"'df," "s" :1?;,.'i;ii#lt3la'3?i,lli-wise advancing the generalasks,referencing the Wood- restoration. He imagines aside estate enowned or its newlylandscapedWestLawnformal public gardens. "It's adjacent to the Lilian l'on-filled with what I'm talking taine Garden Theatre, theabout - and why not go for center's outdoor amphithe-ithere?Thescaleofitdoesn't ater. A five-flguregift fi'omput me off, so et's dream.We Joan Fontaine - the Oscar-iould put this place on the winning actress of yore, andmap." daughter of the late Lilian,A "paint with bold strokes Montalvo's first artistic di-guy" who spent 20 years as rector - wiil jump-start thathead gardener of a private project, though other f'undingWoodsideestate,he is now will be needed br McComb'sidentifying the "big bones" projected "blue garden" toon which a master plan will the south, opposite he Car-hang. For instance,he and riage HouseTheatre.Mceonnell would like to es- There, circling a largetablish Montalvo as a true Spanish fir, with foliagearboretum - it's identifled gleaming a deep reflectiveas such on signs leading blue in the sunlight, he hopesup to its stone entty gates to design another oasis, illed- by planting a collection of with blue-tinged plantings.rare and unusual rees. This He is establishing t nursel'vwould be in keeping with the foi'thern, and mentionsthtrt aphilosophy of the late U.S. localf3oyScout troop is readvSen. James D. Phelan, who to heip with the work: "Srrbuilt Montalvoas his country this becomes the blue gar-home n 1912,tocking t with den," he sitys,standingnearexoticplantings. the fir', throwing his armsOne such out wide and

iiSt;tl$|- Dels eawakcningilll?T"Ji?Ji?bunya tiee eVefVOnC tO the his - gartlenlTaoiftffipotentialftne i:iii' ;;?'icenterpiece OlaCe. SO mefnV allthese the-of Montal- r'*- - """J leulshades['vo's Great COnCefnS an[t blue."kiilT;,*jlfinterestsadbccn h,'$lf" ,1;i^-lio'f "i shoveled to thc side callshimsell'the historic c "awild-eved"ijl gi"i'rj. fbryears.All that is cl'e,rner..',oncePhelan'sbeinU brOtreht alivc A"l'tt'r' ,Jl,q u a r t e l ' s . . - r , u l v l n l i l l v o sM gQlg b agaln." lean operat-and McCon- n ^ , I t : , - - . - - . - Ing bur lgetnell plan a -^Dotlf a.Lrtttlutlltatttt'iniludes onlyfundiaising a saratogo attos('opc S80,0()0 lbr'c am p a ig fr destgn,en,vlolloluo,ttetrgnDot'trnnuul gii l..to ieeride ond.uoltlt:If.e' !o/:o!l'l! denexpenses,the ja*n, resLorelattuttataL'ora?n in udditioneliminatins to McComb'sa gazillion salarY fbrgopher holes and making it working three days a week'ilsir-friendlv for hish-heeied "Part-time work and full-concertgoers time passion" s how McCo-Artists and ensembles nnel1 describes McComb'sfrom Willie Nelson to Sym- mission.phony Silicon Valley have She seeshim gradually re-performedonthelawn,which, grooming the grounds, put-after regrading, should flow ting a steady and all-encom-smooth-as-a-playing-field o- passing focus on them fbrward its eastern terminus. the flrst time in years, evenThere,inthepastthreeyears, decades. he broader idea svolunteershavebroughtback to bring Montalvo - cominga classic Italianate Garden, back from several years ofoncea disheveled,deer-trod- depleted arts programmingden disaster,but now an oa- andshakybudgets-intoline

arts activities happen amidlush gardens which them-selvesare works of art. In anew twist, today's Montalvolandscapes temporarily dot-ted with large sculptures,numerous of them recentlyinstalied by artists from thecenter's Lucas Artists Resi-dencyProgram.The history of the placeappeals to Mc0omb, whogfew up in Stocklon, hisparents historians at StrnJoaquinDeltaCo1lege.herewas aifirririlv ciibin in the Si-erra, with lhe attondant fish-ing and hiking. 'fltere wns ztChristmaspresentat age9 orso: a bonsaigi'owingkit tliatlascinated iim^And there wits a inonth inEurope, whiierhis {irther wason sabbatical one s,lmmer"Ther nmilv visiteclVersaillesiinti Kew (iar"tlens,with iLs"glass honses and tropicalwater' lilies," McComb re-membets. "Thcv'i'e ftlttr oi 'five lbet acll)ss. A hr.rmanbeing^could pracl,ically si tin l,hern I couk.ln'tberlievsomcthitrg could gi'ow likc:lhaL. So there's dcfinitely athre:itl therreL

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con Vallev arts groups) and astreamof volunteers will addup to a new vision."Del is reawakening ev-eryone o Lhepotentialof theplace,"saysDonnaGuldimann,a Saratogaandscape esigner,Montalvo neighbor and sparkplug among the small groupof volunteers who helped re-store the Italianate Garden."So many concernsand inter-ests had been shoveled o theside or years.All that is beingbrought alive again."McComb is startinpwith baby steps, tearinfout deadwood, filling emptypots around the villa. "Evervsingle ontainer r plot hasaplanting,and that's Del,"Mc-Connellsays."And when he'ssinging out in the. gardens,evelyone opens tnerr wln-dows."The singing gardener- atenor who coincidentalivsanghe role of Tamino in aproductionof Mozart's "The

Magic Flute" at Montalvo,shortly after his ob interview- has much bigger goals.For insti ln('e, improvingmanagement of Montalvo'sovergrown oak-wood fbrestand hiking trails, which arepartially maintained by thecounty. (The trails are freeand open o the pubiic,as isthe entireestate.)A preacherfor sustainability, he alsowondels l ' ainwater unningdown from the hills can betemporarily captured in hold-ing tanks and cycled throughthe gardens.But first, there's the bluegarden and the broader chip-ping away at Lhosenore im-mediate problems and oppor-tunities, connecting the dotsso that what emerges is "aregional garden, somethingthat says, 'You're in Califor-nia, in the Bay Area.' Mostgarden styles in Californiaare imported from Asia orthe East Coast, ncluding our

DelmarMcComb,Montalvo'sewgarden urator,transfers omeof heplantsnhisnew blue"garden t heSaratogastate.KAREN .BORCH[RS,/MERCURYEWS

iilacs and hvdrangeas. f3utwhat is the stvle of Caiifornia?That fascinatesme."This garden shouid havea terroir to it," McOomb says,using the winemaker's tennfor thaLmagicalqualitvol 'awine that identifies ls ori-gins in a speciflcgrape anciaspecificpatch of soil. "l wantto try and pull out atrl thethreads and tie it all togetherinto something that fits thisplace.So someonecan havean inner experience whenthey walk through this place,so peoplecan feel rea115rs11-tent and linger and not evenknowwhy."It's a lot of foundatioiralwork right now," he sumsup."We're sort of chiselingat t,hefoundation, etting thingsr,etso that in two months, or tlvoyears - whoosh! - it'I1 iillspring up."ContactRichqrdSchetninat408-920-5069.