Friends of the Garden
Welcome to the California Native Garden @ GWC
The place to be for a glimpse of a genuine California landscape. Intriguing plants, beautiful flowers, subtle fragrance, as well as butterflies and birds!
Wonder what all the excitement is over at the Golden West College Native Garden? Did you know we have our own award winning native Garden just west of the Math/Science building? Perhaps you have heard of the Garden but just haven’t been there or you have visited but wanted to know more about the different plants?
Did You Know?
7/2/10
The GWC Native Garden is less than 1 1/2 acre?
Of course when we are weeding the Garden it feels like it is 5 acres! Sometimes people think it is actually larger due to its layout and the many pathways which wind through the Garden. Google map it and use the satellite feature and you can see the outline of the Garden as it is today, the hothouse, and even some of the pathways. This is a very recent image and you can see the new Library (I mean, Learning Resource Center) being constructed. The Garden's original size was about a half acre when started in the mid 1970's. Later, in 1984/85 fellow Groundskeeper David Yetz and I were deciding which plant communities we would be able to cram into its somewhat small area. Foothill woodland, Channel Island, Mixed Evergreen Forest, perhaps. Hmmmm… How could we fit some of our southern Californian plants into this mix? We needed more room. =
Then in 1989-90, College President Judith Valles, gave Co-Director, Rod Wallbank and myself the green light to expand the Garden southward to the boundary you see today. We arranged for Bud Greenleaf, from Greenleaf Construction to donate several hundred cubic yards of soil and do a good rough grading job with a large D-9 caterpillar grader. Rod even got a chance to drive one of these huge monsters and really enjoyed it. This meant we could expand the Garden and add some of our southern California plant communities. That is why today on the slopes and hills in the south part of the Garden we have Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, and Southern Oak Woodland plant communities represented.
This Year on May 25, 2010 we have presented the Oak Award to Donald Lindsay.
Don has been a chief source of inspiration and direction for the Biology Department and a warm friend and stalwart supporter of the GWC Native Garden from its beginning in 1975. A faculty member in the science department who was there when the idea of a garden was originally suggested and who for many years both as a faculty member and as Department Chair backed early Garden development and later it’s expansion.
He encouraged Garden Co-Directors to use a free hand in designing the Garden and its features, pushed for funding from the Biology Foundation Account (when the Garden had no other real funding), and helped restore and reopen the hothouse. Don has prompted other faculty to utilize the Garden in their class curriculum, gave valued advice and encouragement to Garden staff, and happily played in the dirt during our annual planting parties. Don has definitely helped make the Golden West College Native Garden what is it today.
Arrange a Tour of our GWC Native Garden
With Garden Director, Dan Songster
Wonder what all the excitement is over at the Golden West College Native Garden? Did you know we have our own award winning native Garden just west of the Math/Science building? Perhaps you have heard of the Garden but just haven’t been there or you have visited but wanted to know more about the different plants?
Although spring is the best time to see the Garden in bloom, all seasons have their particular points of interest. Winter rain begins the greening of the Garden after summer’s drought and the Manzanita, Currants, and native bulbs begin to bloom. Spring is a riot of color with both perennials and annuals in bloom for most of the period. Summer is a dry period with several outstanding bloomers like the California Fuchsia and Desert Willow and others in full flower despite the heat. Fall is that time of year when the design structure of the garden is laid bare and the Garden’s heart rate slows as late fall rains threaten and the wildflower seeds are sown.
Just like a museum you will enjoy the Garden more when you understand its “art” more fully. Ask your native plant questions and learn about these great butterfly and hummingbird attractors. If you can arrange to have 4 people or more commit to a tour, Dan will (his schedule permitting) set aside an hour for your personal tour on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon.
And of course, whether you are having a tour or not-you are always welcome in the Garden. Come for a few minutes or an hour, stroll the pathways, and inhale the scent of real California landscape, with Sage, California Lilac, Buckwheat, and more.
Questions about the Garden?
Contact Dan Songster at 714-892-7711 x52181 or email dsongster@gwc.cccd.edu