The Native Garden was the first demonstration garden installed after completion
of the new Howard Center and Entry Garden in late 1983. Native Plant Society
members were among the earliest supporters of creating a regional garden
center in the Heather Farm park site. They wanted to make a garden to
show how well selected native plants will succeed in Zone 14. Certain
features of the site had to be considered: the slope down toward the east,
the variations in soil types, the morning sun, and the afternoon shade.
The original planting was done by Jill Tyler and volunteers, starting
in the accessible from (south) end along the parking lot. After the asphalt
path was added in 1990 by Nature’s Own Landscaping, the back of the
garden was completed. The irrigation system was installed by Dave Cox
and his students of Diablo Valley College. Les Scharmer & Son added
the electrical connection. To start, each plant was placed in a hole with
a Grow Power pellet and covered over with top soil mixed with Agriform.
For the first two years they were irrigated twice a week. In the third
year they received 50 minutes of watering each week. The garden was irrigated
twice a month until renovation began.
The recent
renovation, 1997-1998, took into account that the garden receives much
less sunlight than at the start and new plant varieties were selected
accordingly. Ron Lutsko, who planned the 1984 garden, contributed to the
selections. It may take several years to locate specimens for planting.
Walter Koop oversees the planting and maintenance.
The Native Garden is probably at its best in winter and spring months,
as rain triggers new growth and flowers emerge before the hot summer conditions
arrive.
RIPARIAN
GARDEN
The
word “riparian” means by the side of the stream or lake. In
the Gardens at Heather Farm, a seasonal creek separates our gardens from
the greater Heather Farm Park. Flowing from a culvert laid under Marchbanks
Road, the sometime stream heads north parallel with the Children’s
Adventure Garden and the Rockery, and then beyond the gateway between
the park and gardens and past the Rose Garden until it enters the park’s
lagoon.
Along the creek is an informal collection of plant life, a mixture of
intentional plantings and some “parked” there after being removed
from another garden. A number of original valley oak trees add majesty
to the bank. The corkscrew leaf willows, the birch, the purpleleaf plum,
the liquidambar and vine maple, as well as the buddleia and ochna, have
been introduced. Some plantings are memorials.
A major contribution to this narrow bank is the collection of hemerocallis
removed from the backyard of Jack S. Romine soon after his death in 1992.
A hybridizer of note, Jack was well-known to daylily, iris, and daffodil
societies in the area. Robert Engelke, a past board member, brought the
collection here where volunteers replanted them. Each of these daylilies
was Jack’s creation.
In the winter/spring 1999, plans are being considered to transplant the
daylilies where they will get more sun, and other uses put to the shady
area along the stream.
ROCKERY
(1990)
Early in 1973 , twelve truckloads of large boulders intended for this
garden-to-be were donated by contractor Henry Matsutani, who was removing
them from a yard he was landscaping in Alamo. The rock was relocated several
times before 1990 when the garden planting was begun. The recontoured
site was given a special soil mixture suited to scree plants. (Scree:
a slip or slide on a mountain side, or material resulting from it, as
in glacial till or gravel exposed when glaciers recede in an alpine setting.)
The boulders were reset together with several special moss boulders. Also,
drip irrigation was installed, and a wide flagstone walk and steps placed
to bisect the garden for easy viewing.
The garden’s contractor was John Nishizawa. The California Landscape
Contractors Association, Contra Costa North Chapter, were the sponsoring
group and volunteer labor. The Rockery illustrates an alpine garden, presenting
selected small hardy plants combined with stone over an uneven surface.
Virginia Hanley-Rivett, who has worked for Navlet and Tassajara nurseries,
is the Rockery’s curator, succeeding the original curator, Bill Folkman.
She selects suitable rockery material to fill occasional bare spots as
needed. Dedicated garden grooming volunteers keep weeds at a low level.
Miniature trees and conifers as well as non-thirsty perennials emulate
high elevation vegetation-- the creepers, cushions, and crevice types.
Because this area is one of the warmest in the Gardens, this garden must
use plants which can survive the heat and dry conditions of Zone 14 climatic
conditions and yet look alpine or appropriate in scree situations.
The Lion Club’s contribution of raised beds, a Dan Dykes water fountain
and more than 75 fragrant herbs and texturally exciting plants make this
garden a place where young and old can meet plants at waist height for
pleasurable sensual experiences.
A memorial to Jane Moore was created with donations from her husband, James
Moore and the Happy Valley Garden Club. Plants and a bench were installed
in the spring of 1997, followed by the addition of the handsome sign. This
garden is midway along the Allee just before the meadow garden. It is a
hemisphere circumscribed by a concrete path. A “stroll” garden
is one of the magnetic details that invites the visitor to take slow steps
in order to absorb its beauty. The installation was supervised by Mary
B. Connor when she designed landscapes for Singer and Hodges. They also
designed the Diablo Ascent Garden, installed at about the same time, also
under the direction of Mary B. Connor.