Local interest

Celebrating the Trees of Samarkand

Phila Rogers Local interest, Nature ,

I’ve discovered I’m not alone in choosing to live at the Samarkand for its natural beauty. Located on a knoll with Mission Creek at its base, there are wide views of the mountains and glimpses of the ocean. But mostly it’s for the gardens that bloom and an abundance of trees worthy of an arboretum.

The biggest California Live Oaks on the property once provided the acorns that the Chumash women would grind with their mortars and pestles into the meal that was the staple of their diet. The giant Southern Magnolia and the nearby koi pond date back to the elegant Samarkand Hotel that opened in 1921.

Image courtesy calscape.org


Recently, several of us took a walk around the 16 acres of our campus. We counted approximately 350 trees representing 36 species. Our fellow resident Craig Smith, an engineer who lives with his wife Nancy in Magnolia East, has co-authored two books
on the science behind climate change. Utilizing this information, he computed the amount of carbon dioxide sequestered (absorbed from the atmosphere) by the trees on our campus to be an amazing 14 metric tons annually. He also noted that our California Live Oak is the most efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide.

The Wind in the Trees

Phila Rogers Local interest, Nature , ,

I love the wind, the way it animates the landscape by setting trees into motion and sends clouds scudding across the sky. Samarkand is not only a senior living facility, but also an arboretum, with 350 individual trees representing 35 species, many of them labeled. Here I can further hone my skills identifying trees. As Canary Island Pines sift the wind with their slender needles, they murmur and sigh. With their long leathery leaves, blue gum eucalyptus trees sound in a good wind like falling water. The palms are the noisiest of all, and their colliding fronds remind me of the sound of a downpour falling on a metal roof.

Recently, three of us decided to listen to trees in a different way. We engaged retired doctor Bill Macpherson and his stethoscope to hear the sounds produced by both a redbud and a sycamore tree that were each producing a new crop of fresh leaves. Pressing the cup of the stethoscope against the thin bark, we each got different results. Bill heard a sound like water rushing up a pipe. I heard faint popping sounds and a low-pitched gurgle. Ann Allen, perhaps less susceptible than Bill and I, heard nothing. We plan to wait for a hot day and try again.

On Growing Up in Santa Barbara – SHIRLEY ROBY

Phila Rogers Local interest , ,

Shirley Roby was born at Cottage Hospital in 1942. Home was just around the corner near Oak Park. Before she was a year old, she and her parents moved to Hillcrest Road on the back side of the Riviera. The home had generous gardens, a pond and is still the family home, presently occupied by her daughter and husband.

With no school bus serving children in the hills, most mornings Shirley traveled down the hill to Jefferson Elementary School with her father, who was a banker in town. Her mother was a local historian who wrote regular columns in the Santa Barbara News- Press and authored a book about the Santa Barbara Fiesta.

Shirley started playing the violin at 5 years old and, like Alita Rhodes, played in the city-wide summer orchestra and went to YWCA camps at Pine Mountain and on Catalina Island.

After graduating from Santa Barbara High School, she headed north to attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland, which is where she met her husband-to-be, Kib.

The Eastern Sierra drew the family away over the years, first to Lake Mary and then to – Lake George. Later, Shirley and Kib (assisted by their two children) owned and operated the Rock Creek Lodge – at 9,300 feet, a popular jumping-off place for hikers and fishermen.