Want local flower inspiration? Event to showcase SLO County demonstration garden
When people talk of gardens, visual images flood the imagination.
From a container patio in a high-rise apartment to the elaborate gardens of an English estate, gardens come in infinite variety. Defined as a place or plot of ground where plants are cultivated, there are as many ways to design and create a garden as there are people who tend them.
The Master Gardeners of San Luis Obispo County’s demonstration garden, will be open on May 17 from 10 a.m. to noon.
The Garden of the Seven Sisters is dedicated to providing science-based horticultural education for successful home gardening. This outdoor classroom features more than 15 garden plots, showcasing various sustainable gardening techniques.
One plot features water-wise grass alternatives, with a variety of colors and textures, from the fine blue-green blades of fescue to the silver-green mat of dymondia.
In another area, native trees and shrubs provide a medley of textures, heights, colors that shelter birds and other local fauna. Toyon, manzanita, narrow-leaf milkweed, and ceanothus attract monarch butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects with minimal water needed after the first year.
Master Gardeners will be at each plot to educate, answer questions and offer tips to help your patch of earth thrive. Short lectures will cover summer pruning, gopher control, vermiculture and others.
The Master Food Preservers will be on hand to talk jam. They will test your canner gauge for free, just bring the lid. The path winding through the garden will end at a sale of native plants and garden art to take home for your own garden.
Family friendly activities will include making seed balls to attract birds in your garden. Please note that payment is by cash or check only.
For more information
The UC Master Gardeners of San Luis Obispo County’s next Advice to Grow By workshop on invasive plants and pests will be May 17 at 2156 Sierra Way in San Luis Obispo. Please check our website for more information.
Visit our You Tube channel at San Luis Obispo County UC Master Gardeners for more informative gardening videos.
Visit our website at ucanr.edu/sites/mgslo/ or email questions to anrmgslo@ucanr.edu.
UCCE Master Gardener Helpline offices:
- San Luis Obispo: 805-781-5939 (Monday and Thursday, 1 to 5 p.m.)
- Arroyo Grande: 805-473-7190 (Wednesday 10 a.m. to noon)
- Templeton: 805-434-4105 (Wednesday 9 a.m. to noon)
This story was originally published May 11, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Want local flower inspiration? Event to showcase SLO County demonstration garden."