News from the Garden

Issue 41 I April 2026

How a garden becomes a gathering place.

April felt like one of those months when the larger purpose of Western Hills Garden came into focus. Not just as a place of plants (though the collection certainly put on a great show), but as a place where people come to learn, notice, celebrate, and be together.

Ecology considers the relationships between living things, which feels like the right lens for this moment. Over the course of the month, we witnessed many ecological intersections.

Miles and Teresa Tuffli led an early morning birdsong walk that identified 28 different species. Scott Kildall, our April artist in residence, shared his thought-provoking Performing with Plants presentation orchestrating a piece of music from Western Hills Garden tree and plant sensor data. We constructed a giant curly willow bird’s nest adorned with handmade papier-mâché eggs that were decorated by day visitors. And through it all, the daily beauty of spring unfolded around us. Each experience was different, but all shared the same foundation: a cared-for landscape inviting curiosity and connection.

Two new Arbor Day additions now root into the future: Cercidiphyllum japonicum ‘Red Fox’ and Leucodendron argenteum. Planting trees is one of the clearest ways we express belief in what’s to come—offering beauty, habitat, and shade for years we may not be alive to see.

That spirit of gathering continues in May. This Saturday, collaborators Tess Taylor (poet) and Irenka Pareto (printmaker) will guide us through The Art of Noticing (a few tickets still remain). We’ll welcome Mother’s Day Photo Sessions with award-winning photographer Stephanie Rausser, whose eye for beauty and family connection is remarkable. Anna Gatmon’s Wisdom in the Wild class (rescheduled from April due to weather) will offer a chance to settle in and commune with the plants and trees. Michael Alliger returns to teach The Art of Pruning Japanese Maples.

And on May 23, we’ll host our first—and only—Gather in the Garden fundraising dinner of the year at Western Hills. It promises to be an extraordinary evening of food, music, and generosity in support of WHG’s ongoing preservation, programming, and partnership work. We have an incredible lineup of chefs, beautiful wines, and an intimate cello performance inspired by time on the property. Please join us.

A healthy ecology creates abundance. We’re seeing that here. In beauty, in participation, and in the growing community gathered around this place. Thank you for being part of it.

Justin’s Hort Report.

With the rainy season over, our attention turns to irrigation. Although our plant collection began with Lester and Marshall’s interest in (obsession with?) low/no-summer-water plants of Australia, South Africa, and other Mediterranean climate regions, many of our plants today, especially those from Asia, thrive with regular summer watering. The issue is complicated when we consider that many of those water-loving plants sit smack next to our aforementioned summer-dry plants. “Hydrozoning” was not a concept used in the creation of Western Hills.

The overall result is that delivering the right amount of water to each plant when they need it is quite tricky. (Ask ten horticulturists how best to irrigate, and you’re likely to get ten different answers.) For me, solving the irrigation puzzle means knowing each plant’s moisture requirements, regularly checking soil moisture in different parts of the garden, closely observing plants for signs of wilting, and anticipating oncoming weather patterns.

One piece of irrigation advice I’ve heard over and over is that infrequent, deep watering is preferred over more frequent, light watering. So this year we’re reprogramming our controllers to deliver more water over fewer days. We’ll adjust the irrigation schedule for hot spells or damp days, and we’ll supplement with hand watering when necessary. All this while remembering to conserve as much water as possible.

Working with plants is a relational endeavor, so you need to stay present and listen. Try things, observe, adjust, repeat. In the end, irrigation is really just our best guess. After all, it's hard to know exactly where the water really ends up. It’s all part of the noble experiment we call gardening.

Learn, settle, document, share.

Shout out to Scott.

Scott Kildall’s Performing with Plants listening session invited us to experience the garden in a completely different way. Drawing from his 12 days at WHG as an artist-in-residence, Scott explored how trees can be understood not just as visual forms, but as living systems with signals and rhythms that can be translated into music. Using sensors and simple technology, he demonstrated how subtle biological processes, often invisible, can become something we can hear and engage with.

What made the experience especially compelling was the shift in perspective it offered. Participants heard about his process and research, saw wavelengths moving in real time, and got to listen closely to the sounds of 12 plants and trees. It was an opportunity to see plants not as static objects but as active participants in our shared environment. It was playful, a little surprising, and ultimately a reminder that there are many ways to connect with the natural world.

Seasonal snaps.