I saw this in Sunset magazine website What a “time machine” for 1959 - the early days of back to land escape from Berkeley (And soon Alice Waters was popularizing local source slow food) It’s in the hills near Bodega Bay (The Birds, anyone?) Link Western Hills Garden for Sale: Why I Dream of Buying the California Landmark - Sunset Magazine
It's amazing that those 3 acres of property are selling for US$1.8 million. That's about the price of a shack on a small lot in western parts of Vancouver.
My curiosity is piqued by Dan Hinckley name / quote mention in article I like heuchera leaves Talk about PacNW gardening ———— And To think Hitchcock was nearby in 1962/3 On a diff note - i wonder how many of us fine gardeners here in coastal Cascadia (made of sugar, of course) are melting in THE RAIN!!!!!!
There were many cutting-edge gardeners and horticulturalists up and down the west coast in the later 20th century; some extolling the beauty of native plants. Off the top of my head, I remember being very influenced by books written by Arthur Kruckeberg and Salvadore Mineo and, in Canada, was always impressed by the likes of David Tarrant and Thomas Hobbs. There were many, many others - Gerald Straley, Alleyne Cook, the Griegs, AR Willis, Wilf Nicholls, Douglas Justice and his father, Clive Justice; I'll probably spend the rest of the day thinking of more and more names of influential garden experts such as Henry and Marguerite Kuypers who started Mandeville Gardens in Burnaby and John Murray who started Murray Nursery in Vancouver; carried on my his daughter Betty. I just stumbled on this website: Northwest Garden History Home that I've only scanned but will read more thoroughly later. It looks interesting. I wonder if the BCLNA has a list of notable members.
I try not to think about it. My family's 2-1/2 acres near Deer Lake in Burnaby is worth kazillions now but, you know what? The best decision we ever made was to move away when we did to an area that reminds us so much of what rural Burnaby was like when we moved there in the early 1950s. Fresh air, dark streets, weeds in the ditches, frogs and garter snakes . . . a safe, quiet, friendly neighbourhood is far more important to us than proximity to a metropolis. Western Hills Garden must be a gem - and terribly undervalued.
