News from the Garden

Issue 27 I February 2025

Laughing all the way.

If you missed the news last month, we convened the Western Hills Horticultural Advisory Committee (WHHAC), who will ensure we steward Western Hills Garden with the best care possible. We hosted this group for its inaugural meeting this past weekend - two days of dreaming, strategic thinking, connecting (+ re-connecting) and laughter. 

It’s a testament to the significance that Western Hills holds for so many that these arborists and educators, editors and designers, botanists and lifelong plant nerds from landmark gardens, nurseries, and beyond gave up their weekends to think about this three-acre corner of western Sonoma County. 

This could be an intimidating group, given their talent and accumulated knowledge, but the WHHAC members are the warmest and most generous people you could meet.

Our Horticultural Manager, Justin Berthiaume, guided a robust discussion towards developing a curatorial vision for Western Hills. Many factors were considered, including Lester Hawkins and Marshall Olbrich’s original vision and zest for experimentation, the important specimens that are here amid diverse companions (some more welcome than others), as well as critical resource conservation and climate adaptation strategies.

We learned a lot, laughed a lot, and thanks to Kat Gritt's black light, took a night walk to view the many biofluorescent millipedes and lichens that inhabit the garden. We all walked away with a sense of excitement about Western Hills' next chapter.

Many thanks to all the WHHAC members who are sharing their decades of expertise about trees, plants, and Western Hills Garden's storied past to help write its future!

Upcoming Programs

After a short break, we are back to planning small workshops and gatherings at Western Hills with some special seasonal sessions ahead for the whole family. Come visit and discover, wander, and wonder.

Justin’s Hort Report.

“Partnerships help us do more and are an important part of our strategy — across all areas of the garden’s operations. One exciting new partnership is with Nicole Schlumberger, Associate Faculty at Santa Rosa Junior College in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Program. Nicole teaches several landscape planting classes at SRJC with a particular focus on propagation and greenhouse management. Last week Nicole came to Western Hills Garden to take cuttings of some of our plants. The next day, I joined her and her students in sticking the cuttings at their state-of-the-art Shone Farm facility. Students will grow these cuttings through the spring and return them to Western Hills to either plant out in the garden or sell in our nursery. It's a big help to us, as our historic propagation facilities are limited. Moreover, it supports our mission of providing hands-on educational opportunities in the garden. Thank you Nicole, and thank you to the students of SRJC!”

Follow us on Blue Sky

If you haven’t made the switch from X/Twitter yet, this is the reason to do it. Western Hills Garden co-owner Michael Mechanic, who is an incredible journalist and author is curating the WHG feed there. He re-posts interesting things and shares great content about the garden. Make sure you're following along!

Shout outs.

Another new partnership we love is with We Players, a small theater company that produces site-specific works in natural settings — extending performance beyond the stage and into the public realm. We are scheming up some very cool happenings at Western Hills Garden for later this year and next. Definitely stay tuned. And in the meantime, get your tickets now for one of their most ambitious projects yet, an adaptation of MacBeth at Fort Point April 11 - May 18 at 6pm.

Featuring a fierce, all female cast, this is Shakespeare's classic as you've never seen it! The audience follows the action as it traverses all three floors of the historical civil war fortress beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. And botanical relevance abounds!  The three witches, inspired by the lichen growing on the fortress walls, are ever present. The "Double Double Toil and Trouble" spell they cast is, in fact, full of herbaceous inspiration. Eye of Newt, for instance, is a reference to mustard seed! Likewise, Toe of Frog meant Buttercup and Wool of Bat were holly leaves- a much less sinister potion! The play is certainly a cautionary tale for our times. Not to be missed!