Garden Tour Grows Funds for La-Honda-Pescadero Schools

A redwood gothic-style greenhouse. A native hedgerow that attracts beneficial insects. Fields of wildflowers, rows of flowering plum trees and beds of country cottage roses.

This is just some of the many plants, landscapes and ornamental garden features that the public is invited to experience tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., when 13 Pescadero property owners open their private gardens for the 8th Annual Gardens of the South Coast tour.

The self-guided tour is sponsored by the Pescadero Education Foundation, which supports enrichment programs for the more than 275 students at the K-8 elementary and middle schools of the La Honda-Pescadero Unified School District (LHPUSD). All proceeds of the event will benefit LHPUSD sports, drama, art, music, Spanish language development -- even school facilities. 

“The Pescadero Education Foundation is based on supporting our excellent teachers to create well-rounded, smart and confident people,” said Gardens of the South Coast event organizer Jodi Behrens, who credits Monique Hodgkinson for starting the fundraiser eight years ago. “We are all volunteers, including the gardeners who open their gardens to the public for this event,” she adds.

For this exclusive one-day event, gardeners from cottage gardens to large private ranches open their gates, offering the public a unique opportunity to experience the horticultural beauty of some of the Coast’s most unique gardens. It’s also a chance for gardeners to celebrate some of the challenges and opportunities of gardening in a maritime Mediterranean climate such as Pescadero.

“Living near the coast, there are weather and animal challenges like fog, deer and gophers,” said Behrens, who has attended the garden tour in the past and always appreciates seeing and learning “how other people living in this area deal with [the challenges] and make it work for them.”

Behrens, with the help of co-coordinator Tara Ballard, seeked out the gardeners who wanted to participate this year, a big part of their volunteer duties for the event in addition to creating the booklet for the tour as well as the marketing and advertising. Luckily, many of the gardeners participated before and know the ropes.

“This is my second year, and I’ve made great improvements since then,” said gardener Janice Moody, who became a Master Gardener for San Francisco and San Mateo counties in 2010. 

Moody initially decided to participate in the fundraising event because “it’s not only good for our local schools, but also motivates me to make my home a more beautiful place to live,” she said.

She hopes visitors to her six-acre garden set in an inland valley once called "Sunnyside” will remember it most for “a sense of serenity and contagious enthusiasm for gardening.”

On Moody’s property, cedar, plum, Meyer lemon, English walnut, and heritage apple trees dot the landscape with roses and clematis growing over an arbor gate. The house, which features a two-level deck running around the east and southern sides, has a raised-bed vegetable garden nestled below.

The lower deck has a Japanese theme: bamboo and bonsai, water features and a delicate art deco wisteria growing up the posts of the pergola. On the upper level there are a wide variety of plants that thrive in containers from geraniums and variegated pelargoniums to succulents, blue spruce, star jasmine and Japanese maple.

For Ann Fresquez of LeftCoast Grassfed/TomKat Ranch, this is her fourth time participating in the garden tour.

“We have a strong vision and belief of supporting our community and our local schools,” Fresquez said.

There are a variety of cottage gardens throughout the ranch, including a rose garden, a native butterfly garden, herb gardens, vegetable garden, and the newly- added native hedgerow.

“This hedgerow will attract beneficial insects as well as act like a corridor/pathway for wildlife, including birds,” said Fresquez, who promises a fun surprise at the North Street garden.

Other highlights on the tour include the gardens of Janet Murphy and Ann Timm, teeming with roses.

David Lustig’s whimsical garden and Karen Walker, who uses recycled material in her space, have gardens out of town “that are terrific,” said Behrens.

“It's been rewarding getting to know the gardeners,” she adds. “Gardeners are the most optimistic people around. They plant and know that they will see beauty when the rest of us tend to focus on the crazy negative part of the world.”

If you go: Gardens of the South Coast is May 21 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Continental breakfast at the Native Sons Hall from 9-11 a.m. Admission for one, $25. Admission for two, $40. Tickets available at gardens.eventbrite.com or starting at 9 a.m. at the info booth located by the Pocket Park in front of the Pescadero Post Office at the corner of Pescadero Rd. and Stage Rd. No dogs. Children must be supervised by an adult. For more information, call 650-879-0877.