CONEJO VALLEY : Garden Is a Refuge for Plants, People

Nestled between condominiums and a shopping mall, the Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, with its chaparral-covered hills and winding nature trail, is an urban refuge for both woodpeckers and people.

Attracting an average of 60 plant enthusiasts, joggers and bird-watchers each weekend, the garden remains one of Thousand Oaks’ best kept secrets.

Organizers say the absence of a defined boundary makes the garden appear to be just an extension of its neighbor, Conejo Community Park.

Volunteer gardeners hope to clear up the confusion by installing a fence around the northwest portion of the garden later this summer.

Funding for the fence, about $3,000, will come from a recent $10,000 grant from Exxon.

“With a fence, people will be corraled into the garden,” said Barbara Song, treasurer of the nonprofit Gregor Mendel Botanic Foundation Inc., which manages the 35-acre grounds.

“We also need more signs because people get off in the wrong direction. We’re hoping this will do it.”

The fence should also help reduce vandalism and create a protected area where gardeners can grow more sensitive plants.

Until now, the foundation has hesitated to exchange seeds with other gardens out of fear that the plants would never get a proper chance to sprout.

Children who use the garden as a shortcut to and from school knock over sprinklers and plants, Song said. The gate on the fence will be locked at night.

Organizers say they plan to expand the collection, which includes olive trees, holly oak trees and Aleppo pine trees.

The expansion will focus on drought-resistant plants so that the garden’s twice-weekly watering schedule will not have to be increased.

When the Conejo Valley Recreation and Park District was given the land in 1973 by the Klingbiel Corp., it was little more than a hill covered with dry brush.

The Gregor Mendel Botanic Foundation was formed to manage the grounds under a $1-a-year park district lease, said Jim Gilmore, development planner.

With water provided by the park district, the foundation spends about $1,000 annually on repairs, relying mainly on contributions and volunteers to expand and maintain the garden, Song said.

The garden contains 200 species of plants and trees, including a small orchard and a section for succulents. The Conejo buckwheat, which is Thousand Oaks’ official flower and is on the endangered list, has also found a home at the garden.