Garden Spot Thrives on Volunteers’ TLC
People who want a place to relax and get away from it all don’t need to look beyond the city limits.
The Conejo Valley Botanical Garden on Gainsborough Road is 33 acres of native and tropical plants.
Founded in 1981, the garden is managed by the Gregor Mendel Botanical Foundation and run entirely by volunteers who donate their time to weeding, planting and making the garden a peaceful oasis.
It wasn’t always this way. Lillian Davies remembers that 15 years ago, when she started volunteering, the south entrance to the garden was filled with 5- to 6-foot-high weeds.
“When I started working here, I couldn’t even get the gate open,” said Davies, 78.
At the front entrance a wooden kiosk, built in 1996 as part of a Boy Scout Eagle project, supplies information about the exotic fruit orchard. The orchard has fruit trees of all kinds, from apple, cherry, apricot and plum to guava, grapefruit, banana and pomegranate.
Sylvia Hicks’ favorite spot is the herb garden her daughter started five years ago. It’s filled with oregano, sage, lemon grass and lavender--Hicks’ daughter’s favorite flower.
Hicks spends a few hours there every day, weeding, watering and planting.
“My daughter got me involved,” said Hicks, 77. “I’m retired, and it’s a lot better than sitting around and watching TV.”
Davies said bird watchers frequently visit the garden.
“In the last few years, we have made significant strides,” Davies said.
One reason for that is Boyd Norton of Thousand Oaks, who has, for the past two years, done much of the heavy work installing irrigation in the lower meadow.
Davies recently completed the upper meadow, filled with oaks, lion tail, penstemon and St. John’s wort. Above that, at the top of a hill, is a tranquillity garden reminiscent of San Francisco’s Japanese Tea Garden.
“It’s pretty up here,” said Hicks. “You can look all around and see into Simi Valley, Newbury Park and all of Thousand Oaks.”
The garden is open every day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information, call (805) 494-7630.
