WOW Farm Flowers
Where there used to be a large asphalt and gravel parking lot, today rows of amaranth, dahlias, sunflowers, zinnias, and cosmos grow in front of the h…
Regions: Northern California
Nor. Cal
Roses Popular in California in the 1850s
The three earliest nurseries in California were established by A.P. Smith of Sacramento in 1848, William C. Walker of San Francisco in 1849, and Colonel…
Winning Gardens
Each year at the Northwest flower & Garden show and the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show a panel of local judges presents an award…
Before Western Hills
Lester Hawkins (1915-1985) and Marshall Olbrich (1920-1991), founders of Western Hills Rare Plant Nursery in Occidental, California, came from distinctly different worlds and backgrounds. Born…
All in the (Horticultural) Family
Nancy Schramm remembers one of the West's great plantsmen—her dad.
What Remains
Above me a red-tailed hawk soars silhouetted against voluminous clouds suspended in the afternoon sky. Dotting the green hillside and impossibly nestled in hard rock…
Western Hills Rare Plant Nursery
In 1959, Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins left professional careers and a San Francisco apartment to homestead three acres of pastureland 70 miles north of…
A Plantsman’s Legacy
A companion piece to "All in the (Horticultural) Family" by Nancy Schramm
Habitat Gardens
Gardening connects us to nature. It also invites us to think like scientists. The garden is our laboratory where experimentation, observation, and eva…