Bernardo Gardeners Club
Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California
Abraxas High School Garden Tour and Cooking Demo October 23, 2024
Rancho Bernardo Library Entrance Renovation
Summer, 2024
Westwood Elementary School
What an amazing sight! We toured the garden first. Everything was beautiful and healthy. They compost all leftover clippings and run their own recycled water. The pond (pictured below) is loaded with large Tilapia and their droppings are turned into nutrients that clean the water. The finale was in the beautiful outdoor kitchen where we made and sampled Green Avocado Salsa.
Abraxas is a continuation high school with a focus on hands-on education. The two teachers who led the tour were knowledgeable and passionate about Abraxas Garden.
Our members had a great time.
Dian Higginbotham
Bernardo Gardeners School Garden Coordinator
Penny Pines
Our members and guests participate in this worthy reforestation project through the California Garden Clubs, Inc. by donating money at our monthly meetings. Donations, in increments of $68, are used to purchase one plantation, which consists of approximately 350 trees on almost one acre. Our donations, in conjunction with Federal funds, are used to replant burned trees that are native to our area or repair damaged forests throughout California, wherever there have been destructive fires. The devastation in these areas suffered during the 2003 and 2007 fires was immense. As of July 2019, our club had purchased approximately 98 plantations. All the national forests in California that receive donations send our club certificates of appreciation. For more information, go to the Penny Pines website. Honor a special someone or an event by making a contribution.
May 2024
Monterrey Ridge Elementary School
Operation Secret Santa
In 2023 we adopted military families at Christmastime. We contributed $100 to each of the twenty families along with gifts for the families. The funding came from our annual Garden Tour funds.
Rancho Bernardo Library Flower Arrangements:
Beautiful plant and flower arrangements are donated and placed in the entryway every week by our club members. When you visit the library, check them out. For nearly 20 years, this project has been expertly and lovingly performed by members of the Bernardo Gardeners Club.
Park Village Elementary School
Garden Therapy
The Garden therapy group meets every quarter: March, June, September and December. We visit the Pacifica (formerly Gateway) and Belmont Village retirement communities. We bring flowers for the assisted living residents to make arrangements for their personal rooms. It is a time of fun and conversation with the flowers bringing smiles and joy.
Sometimes we meet ahead of time to prepare flowers and to use our creativity to plan for the next visit. It is a great way to get acquainted with other members of our club.
If you would like to participate please contact Joleen Jordan.
Rancho Bernardo Library
This side area was once a bare strip, but it now hosts beautiful succulents.
Projects:
Rancho Bernardo Library Entrance
Conceptualized and Installed by Club Members
Summer, 2024
It all started when club member Sylvia Ginsberg had an idea that the front garden of the RB Library needed a little facelift. A budget was approved and she purchased 3 blue, column vases, which she filled with new plants, and a couple of pillows for the bench. Voilà! The area definitely looked better and it did spruce up the area.
Club members Jo Cornell and Susan Shaw decided to take the renovation one step further. After seeing a few vignettes at The Last Bookstore in the Los Angeles area - where they got their inspiration - they decided they would kick the facelift up a notch: they designed a book-related vignette for the RB Library.
Jo and Susan did all the research and spent hours, days, weeks locating old books to use for their vignette. They purchased a new chair, painted it a pretty blue color, and added a cute straw hat to enhance the vignette. They enlisted the help of the woodworking crew at the RB Swim & Tennis Club to drill holes through several books in order to attach them to a column. With lots of hard work and muscle they placed much-needed stepping stones in the area for our members who water the library's plants - another Community Outreach project we've performed for the library for many years. All this work was done with the approval of the RB Librarian and the city. The end result is a fantastic, welcoming feature for all patrons of the library to enjoy for many years to come.
Rancho Bernardo Library
Children's Garden
Rancho Bernardo Library
Club members created the Children's Garden and renovated the side area at the Rancho Bernardo Library.
School Gardens 2024
Bernardo Gardeners awarded four garden grants this year. Three elementary schools received checks of $750 each. New this year is the garden at Abraxas High School, which will receive $500.
The schools all have unique gardens:
- Westwood School has raised bed gardens placed all around the school and their after-school garden club has many children actively participating in gardening.
- Monterey Ridge has a combined garden with the community and all are in raised beds. It was great to see a pomegranate tree full of fruit. I was thrilled to participate in a fifth grade garden class where some kids were hauling new compost for the beds while others were using their math skills to figure how much fertilizer to use in each bed.
- Park Village has raised beds also. They have a farmer's market in the spring where they sell their produce.
- Abraxas has a lovely garden that many of you have seen as you drive by on Pomerado Road. Their garden is a combination of the school and community garden.
These grants come from the hard work and efforts of the club members at our annual Spring Garden Tour. It is a delight to see our money being put to good use.
Dian Higginbotham
Bernardo Gardeners School Garden Coordinator
Civic Beautification
The Bernardo Gardeners Club is active in various civic improvement activities within the community.
October 2023