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Future Events
4th to 6th October - Regional Gardens of California’s Central Coast
The Central California Branch invites all members of the MGS and in particular those travelling to the 2008 AGM in Monterey to join a three-day pre-AGM event including garden tours and discussions about regional gardening in our climate.
California’s San Luis Obispo County has a diverse mediterranean climate from the mild coastal plains, with a year around temperate climate, to the interior just over the coastal hills that has minimal rainfall and greater extremes of hot and cold temperatures.
The Central Coast Branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society has created this event to illustrate unique responses to regional landscape style from three successful local landscape designers. Nurseryman Dave Fross will share with you his vast horticultural knowledge of California native plants for gardens. Juxtaposed with our tour of the created landscapes is our visit to Oso Flaco Lake, providing an opportunity to experience the natural landscape of the California coastal dunes with an experienced docent.
Saturday 4th October: we will visit the spectacular gardens of local landscape architects Jeffery Smith and Christy O’Hara overlooking the coastal plain and the ocean. The garden visits will be followed by a panel discussion on Regionalism featuring four local designers: Carolyn Gilman, Patricia Cullinan, Jeffery Smith, and Christy O’Hara. The Panel Discussion will be followed by an optional dinner at local favorite: Giuseppe’s (Italian) restaurant.
Sunday 5th October: our day begins with a guided hike at Oso Flaco Lake (a unique dune area, near the town of Guadalupe), followed by lunch and a lecture at the Dunes Center in Guadalupe. The afternoon event features a presentation by David Fross of Native Sons Nursery entitled ‘California Plants for Your Garden’. Participants will be able to tour Native Sons Nursery, Dave’s personal garden and purchase plants from the nursery. The presentation will be followed by the opportunity to sample local wines.
Monday 6th October: we begin the final day with a tour of Leaning Pine Arboretum at Cal Poly University. The Arboretum features the five mediterranean plant communities of the world and is a teaching tool for the University’s students. Coffee and snacks will be served here. Next we will drive to the town of Santa Margarita to a working sheep and cheese-making ranch with a garden designed by Carolyn Gilman in a very different climate from Saturday’s gardens. Traveling north into the Paso Robles wine region, we will enjoy an optional lunch at Lone Madrone Winery prepared by their gourmet chef. The last event of the day is a garden tour of another of Carolyn Gilman gardens, Tablas Creek Winery, where we will see how they practice sustainable farming and gardening, and there will be optional wine tasting.
We have acquired a block of hotel rooms in Pismo Beach with a special discount rate for our group should you need accommodation. For more information and registration, please contact:
Laurel Golling, Treasurer Central California Branch MGS.
Tel: 805-459-1170.
Fax: 805-541-2127.
Email: lldunning@yahoo.com
The Participants:
Christy O’Hara is a licensed Landscape Architect and a member of the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Landscape Architecture Department. Christy has done specialized work on the Frederick Law Olmstead, studying under David Streatfield at the University of Washington. She also has a private landscape practice.
Jeffery Gordon Smith is a Landscape Architect with offices in Los Osos. His firm specializes in both residential and commercial landscape projects, including the recently completed 5,000 square foot "Cal Poly Engineering Plaza". His work has been extensively published and in 2003 he won the Garden Design Magazine Golden Trowel award. For more on Jeffrey G. Smith, click here.
Carolyn Gilman is part owner in Bay Laurel Nursery in Atascadero, one of the largest mail-order fruit tree nurseries in the US. She has been designing, and advising on, commercial and residential gardens for over 20 years. Currently she is creating a garden at her new home, in Paso Robles, dealing with deer and poor soil.
Patricia Cullinan, the co-branch head of the Central California MGS, is a landscape designer working in central and northern California. She is a Board member for the Sonoma League for Historic Preservation and recently completed the design and installation of the garden in Sonoma at the Maysonnave House-Heritage Center in a 1910 style.
David Fross is the founder of Native Sons Nursery, a Central California nursery noted for growing California native plants. David, in addition to being a noted speaker, is a well-known author, recently co-authoring ‘California Native Plants for the Garden’, he also co-authored ‘Ceanothus’ with Dieter Wilken. Native Sons Nursery has more than 8 acres of growing grounds and David has an extensive Ceanothus collection
The Places:
San Luis Obispo County
The Dunes Center
Native Sons Nursery
Tablas Creek Winery
Lone Madrone Winery
Paso Robles
The Haynie Residence (please scroll down the web page)
(Please note that your travel arrangements are not included and must be organized by you. There are limited spaces available for the tours. Priority will be given to participants in the AGM until August 15th, after that date we will have open registration.)
Online Community for our Branch
View of Morro Bay, California
November 2004
The Central California Branch of the Mediterranean Garden Society has formed a new online community on "Yahoo!Groups," to facilitate communication with members of their branch. Our "Yahoo!Group" name is:
"Central CA Mediterranean Garden Society"
This web site will basically function as an "Online bulletin board." It will allow registered members to post messages to the whole group at once, share photos and files, maintain a group calendar, and more. It should prove to be an invaluable tool for planning and promoting the activities within our group. Members may personalize their settings to receive "Individual emails" (all posts), a "Daily Digest" (1 email a day maximum summarizing all posts that day), only posts designated as "Special Notices," or "No Email" (They can still view any messages when desired by visiting the group web site). Membership will be open to any member of the Mediterranean Garden Society. To register (free, and it takes just a few minutes), please follow this link, and click on "Join this Group!" |
