Heather Farm Park - Walnut Creek, California

The Gardens at Heather Farm are a set of gardens located at Heather Farm Park in

Walnut Creek, California Walnut Creek is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States, located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, about east of the city of Oakland. With a total population of 70,127 per the 2020 census, Walnut Creek ser ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The gardens have a view of

Mount Diablo Mount Diablo is a mountain of the Diablo Range, in Contra Costa County, California, Contra Costa County of the eastern San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. It is south of Clayton, California, Clayton and northeast of Danville, Califo ...

, and are open to the public 7 days a week during daylight hours.

History

In 1967, Walnut Creek city park director Ruth Wallis called a meeting with the presidents of three local garden clubs to discuss the possibility of a gardening association for Walnut Creek. This group then asked the city for the use of part of the planned Heather Farm Park. The Heather Farm Garden Center Association was incorporated in 1971. Members of HFGCA included Philip and

Ruth Bancroft Ruth Bancroft ( Petersson; September 2, 1908 – November 26, 2017) was the creator of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. A native of the Bay Area, Bancroft began the xeric garden in the 1950s on land originally purchased by ...

, who donated land for Heather Farm Park and founded the Ruth Bancroft Garden. A groundbreaking ceremony for the gardens was held on August 12, 1979. The HFGCA's headquarters, the Heather Farm Garden Center building, opened in 1983 after being funded by plant sales, donations, and grants.

Gardens

Gardens at Heather Farm currently include: * Black Pine Garden (1989) – a small garden, including a

bonsai Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce ...

Japanese black pine ''Pinus thunbergii'' (syn: ''Pinus thunbergiana''), also called black pine, Japanese black pine, and Japanese pine, is a pine tree native to coastal areas of Japan (Kyūshū, Shikoku and Honshū) and South Korea. It is called () in Korean, () ...

, and bonsai

Colorado blue spruce The blue spruce (''Picea pungens''), also commonly known as green spruce, Colorado spruce, or Colorado blue spruce, is a species of spruce tree. It is native to North America, and is found in USDA growing zones 1 through 7. It is found naturally ...

. * Butterfly Garden (1996) – includes a hedge of

escallonia ''Escallonia'' is a genus of shrubs and trees in the family Escalloniaceae. They are native to North and South America. Taxonomy Currently valid species in ''Escallonia'' are: * '' Escallonia alpina'' * '' Escallonia angustifolia'' * '' Escal ...

with

milkweed ''Asclepias'' is a genus of herbaceous, perennial, flowering plants known as milkweeds, named for their latex, a milky substance containing cardiac glycosides termed cardenolides, exuded where cells are damaged. Most species are toxic to humans ...

, passion vines, and

Mexican sunflower Mexican sunflower is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * '' Tithonia diversifolia'' * '' Tithonia rotundifolia'' {{Short pages monitor