Garden Features

A New Future for Western Hills

The future of Western Hills, located near Occidental in western Sonoma County, California, is much more promising with the purchase of the property on July 9, 2010 by Chris and Tim Szybalski. The Szybalskis were introduced to Western Hills a few years ago when investigating nursery opportunities; Chris Szybalski is co-owner of Westbrae Nursery in Berkeley. Their hope was to secure ownership of the garden so they could be a part of a larger effort to bring the garden back to its former horticultural brilliance with rare plants and display gardens. They want Western Hills, created as a rare plant nursery by the late horticulturists Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins in the second half of the twentieth century, to once again be a destination for serious plant collectors and garden lovers.

The Szybalskis will continue to live in the East Bay and spend three days a week tending to Western Hills. A group of volunteer gardeners has organized to help with a wide variety of garden tasks. Immediate goals are to install new irrigation, repair garden structures, bridges and pathways, and conduct a thorough assessment and cleaning of the garden.

The new owners and the volunteers are determined that the garden regain its beauty and magic and that it function as a horticultural mecca for the public. The Garden Conservancy is in conversation with and assisting the new owners and volunteers. The garden will remain closed to the public while repairs are underway; an open day will be announced at a later date. To inquire about volunteer opportunities, please contact westernhills@westbrae-nursery.com.

History of Western Hills
Western Hills is the creation of Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins, who inspired a generation of gardeners to take an interest in new and unusual plants, many of which they introduced into cultivation in North America. The garden is a three-acre collection of trees, shrubs, and perennials, created to fit the rolling topography of the coastal foothills with manmade features of pond, rills, and meandering pathways. Beginning in the 1960s, it became a destination for gardeners from northern California, around the country, and other parts of the world to learn about rare and unusual ornamental plants and innovative garden design. Olbrich and Hawkins took a special interest in plants suited to cultivation in the Mediterranean climate of California’s north coast.

Robert Stansel and Joseph Gatta acquired the garden in 2007 with the hope of establishing it as a public garden and educational resource for the region. They continued to operate the nursery and open the garden to the public. The Garden Conservancy designated Western Hills a “preservation assistance garden” in 2007 and has offered its expertise to help sustain the garden while developing a strategy for its long-term preservation as a public garden. The Garden Conservancy established a volunteer group that has been taking care of the garden and conducted a plant inventory and assessment. A “Friends of Western Hills” group has been organized and is looking for further local support.

Read what Western Hills' founders had to say about their garden, plants, and garden design in general:

"Planting the Plantsman's Garden"by Lester Hawkins in The Pacific Horticulture Book of Western Gardening, edited by George Waters and Nora Barlow, Godine Press, 1990.
Also, "The Garden of Marshall Olbrich" in The American Man's Garden by Rosemary Verey, 1990


Photographs and recent media coverage
Click here to read feature articles from the August 15, 2010 Press Democrat and the March 15, 2010 San Francisco Chronicle.

Click here to view historical and recent photos of Western Hills.