Touring the Hyatt Grounds I

I conclude my week in CA today, and I am looking forward to returning to Oregon for the rest of my summer. This was a family reunion weekend in CA, but I stretched it to a week so that I could explore trees of Palo Alto and Stanford Univ. I have written about some of those experiences here and here. But as my vacation wore on, I decided I would like to know about the rich tree and plant/shrub environment around the Classic Residence by Hyatt ("Residence") near the Stanford campus, where my mother lives.

I thought that would be an easy thing to do. After all, there are buildings & grounds people, a "b & g" committee of residents, retired landscape people who live here, etc. etc. I had my mother ask around, but no one seemed to be able, or want, to help. They really didn't know what was there, they said. So, in desperation we contacted the b & g manager for the Residence who decided that he would shut me up by giving me the architectural plans for the entire facility. He delivered a 70-page document to me, 18" X 24", with the most detailed drawings of every conceivable thing about the Residence you could imagine. I could figure out where all the storm drains were, all the kinds of rock used in the construction, where the archaeological site on the property is, etc.

Then, I found what I was looking for. Tucked near the back of the drawings were 9 detailed diagrams, each of which mapped a section of the grounds and buildings. Preceding the 9 diagrams were two pages giving lists of each species of tree, shrub, perennial, groundcover, and vine that was on the property. To be more precise, this was the list of all of these things that were brought in by the landscapers in 2004 and 2005 to the grounds. Many of the old trees are not labeled--on the detailed maps it just might say "EUC" for a eucalyptus tree or "QUE" for an oak (Quercus). Because I am an inveterate counter, I decided to begin by counting all the species of each. There are about 50 species of trees planted by the landscape company and around 160 species of plants/shrubs, etc. Thus, what we have here is a a mini-world of Western horticulture. It was difficult at first to tell exactly which part of the grounds was portrayed on each, but after studying the diagrams for about 30 minutes, you get the "hang" of how they are put together. But then, the fun begins.

The Real Fun

The fun and the difficulty began at once. I decided to work through the map of alongside of "F" building and on the perimeter road in the back, separating the Hyatt from the San Francisquito creek. Here is the problem. The map designates the plantings with two three-letter Latin words. For example, if a California Gray Rush is planted (Juncus patens according to the Linnaean system), all it would say on the diagram/map was JUN PAT, with a long arrow reaching from the letters to a particular place where you were supposed to find this Rush. Since maps are quite busy, which is actually an understatement, I first had to find a place on the map where I knew I was (not an easy task with arrows all over the place), then find an arrow, which led me to an abbreviation. Then, I had to go back to the index of species to find what species I was looking at. Because the diagram/map book is so cumbersome, I was constantly flopping it open, losing my place, dropping it on the ground, etc. In addition, since the philosophy of all cultivated spaces today is to make them unwalkable (except on a paved path) by watering them too much, I managed to get mud all over myself, which I promptly tracked into my mother's apartment later, when I was still on my "high" because of identifying all the plants. Thus, it really took me two walks until I had developed a comfortable method to help me learn what was before me and actually somewhat enjoy the walk. My fun, however, was not shared by everyone.

Causing a Problem

So, I began to walk around the Hyatt grounds with the master plan for the entire facility. I would stop every few feet to make sure I knew what I was looking at. I noted the "theory" of the landscaper. First you plant a low-growing plant, something like star jasmine, then a higher bush, such as coffeeberry, then a higher bush/shrub against the wall of the building. At times they would combine a Mahonia (Oregon grape--familiar to me from my home state) with another prickly-leaved plant, such as the Sarcococco (new to me). Other times they would put a few varieties of Pittosporums next to each other--with the dwarf being in the middle, surrounded by the variegated. Thus, it created a sort of "tiered" approach to the landscaping. There were about four or five different ways to make a tier. Sometimes a grass, such as a fescue, would be next to the walk, or other times it might be an Arctostaphylos (manzanita), and larger plants would be further and further away from the walk. It was all very much fun to learn this.

But my mere presence attracted attention. I am sure that the thought running through many people's minds was "What is a middle-aged white male in the Silicon Valley doing looking at plants? He must be the one who is going to tear it all down..." So, residents would come up to me to give me a complaint, even before they knew who I was. The staff of the Hyatt looked at me, wondering why I was carrying around plans for the building. But the real controversy began when the gardening folk saw me. Unknown to me at the time, Thursday is the "big gardening day" at Hyatt. Ten gardeners from the San Jose outfit with the contract to maintain the grounds were scurrying around, cutting fescue, trimming trees, mowing the lawns, etc. I could tell that my presence was making them nervous. They gathered in small groups, with hushed talk. They went about their work, but cast a wary eye over towards me.

Finally, the Anglo woman who seemingly was their supervisor came up to me and wanted to engage me in a conversation. The next essay tells about that encounter...

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