The Garden Conservancy's Open Days in the Bay Area

If you've ever wanted a sneak peak into some of the finest private gardens in the country, you should be checking out The Garden Conservancy's Open Days program. Since 1995 this program has organized self-guided tours through gardens that you would never otherwise get a chance to view. There is a $5 admission fee to each garden but you don't have to register or buy tickets in advance.

In the East Bay two private gardens in Lafayette and one in Oakland will be open on May 31. These gardens appear to be a great combination of plants, sculpture, and amazing design concepts. Check out the East Bay Open Day page for information and a couple photos of what's in store.

In Marin County you can visit four gardens in Belvedere, San Rafael, and Tiburon on June 7. In addition to great landscapes, these gardens also offer some sweeping views of the bay and beyond. Check out the Marin County Open Day page for information and photos.

San Francisco's Open Day is June 21 and it offers up five gardens that show just how exciting and creative urban gardening can be. Most of these gardens are really tucked-away secret spots you'd never even know about but they have been expertly designed to make the most of limited space. Check out the San Francisco Open Day page for details on this tour.

Get Ready for Fall Planting!

Now that it is officially autumn, it's time to shift gears in the garden. While in other parts of the country, gardeners are closing up shop for the year, here in the Bay Area, the autumnal equinox just signals that it's time to garden differently. There are different food crops to grow, bulbs to dig in, and lots to clean up.

I'm participating in a few events in the next few weeks that will be a fun way to get us all motivated for the seasonal shift. First up, I'll be speaking this Saturday, Sept. 28th at an all-day event called "A Garden for All Seasons: Edibles" at the Marin Art and Garden Center that's sponsored by the UC Marin Master Gardeners and The Garden Conservancy. The entire program runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and I'll be speaking from 2 to 3 p.m. on the best fruits and vegetables to grow right now and into winter in the Bay Area. This event also features presentations by Leslie Bennett and Stefani Bittner, authors of The Beautiful Edible Landscape, and  Merrilee Olson, founder of Preserve Sonoma. Get more info and register for this event here.

Leslie Bennett and I will be talking with Lyons Filmer of KWMR (90.5 Point Reyes Station / 89.9 Bolinas) about this Saturday's program "A Garden for All Seasons: Edibles" this morning at 11:00 a.m., so tune in to get a preview of what we'll be covering.
 
Next month on Saturday, Oct. 19, I'll be at the Los Angeles County Arboretum at a program called "Live Long and Landscape." This event, also co-sponsored by The Garden Conservancy, is focused on the part that gardening plays in healthy living. In addition some other great speakers, I'll be talking about the healthy fruits and vegetables you can grow this season. Get more info and register for this event here.

I'll be posting more this week on some of the great gardens I visited this summer in the Bay Area during the Garden Bloggers Fling in June and in Montreal and Quebec City last month while at the Garden Writers Association Symposium. So many great gardens! So many photos to organize! Be sure to check back.