Gotta Get to Gilroy Gardens

There are a few places I'd like to see with my own eyes in this lifetime. One is this fantastic Circus Tree exhibit at the Gilroy Gardens Family Theme park in Gilroy, CA that I just learned about. Seriously? How remarkable are these? Here's what the park's website has to say about them:

An amazing example of man's patience and imagination once known as the Tree Circus has been rescued from a forgotten plot in the Santa Cruz mountains and transported to a new home in Gilroy, California where they are now the centerpiece for our horticulturally based theme park. The collection of unusual trees appeared often during the 1940's and 50's in Ripley's "Believe-It-or-Not," "Life" magazine as well as other publications in the United States and other parts of the world. These trees represent one of the most visible demonstrations of the love of nature by man - first to create and nourish, then to maintain, and finally to preserve and cherish these stunning creatures.

The process that allows for such enchanting trees is called grafting. Commonly used by nurseries to give plants stronger root systems and faster growth, grafting is a precise and delicate art form originally used to propagate fruit trees that otherwise cannot be reproduced "true" to the original cultivar from seed. Learn more here. 

Readers may also be interested in the other exhibits at Girlroy Gardens including but not limited to their: Majestic Gardens, Learning Sheds (modeled after old-fashioned apple sorting and packing sheds), and the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) Exhibit.

And if you happen to be out on the left coast this holiday season, click here for more information about the Holiday Lights and other seasonal attractions.