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April 2014 Bringing Back the Natives: Gardens Good for Life By Jody Morgan
Each of the 35 gardens on the Tenth Annual Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour offers a different perspective on how the owner’s lifestyle has been enriched by trading a traditional home landscape for an eco-friendly habitat. Open free from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, May 4th, gardens range from new installations professionally designed to mature masterpieces created over the course of decades by self-trained amateurs. More than 40 short talks offered throughout the day touch on reducing water bills, luring birds and butterflies to your yard, eliminating the need for pesticides, and choosing native plants to suit your personal priorities. Requisite pre-registration gives participants a chance to thoughtfully plot their self-guided day. Kathy Kramer had no idea that organizing the event would evolve into a full-time volunteer job when she launched the first tour as a reaction to her own frustration at the lack of readily available information. “After Bringing Back the Natives founder, Kathy reading Sarah Stein’s Noah’s Ark in Kramer, relaxes in her own garden. the early 1990s, I was eager to turn the small garden space around our home into a habitat for wildlife,” Kramer recalls. “Unfortunately, at that time, finding native plants and advice on which native plants to select proved difficult. I wanted to make the process of gardening with natives easier for others.” A tour of pesticide-free gardens in Portland, Oregon inspired her to develop an East Bay version, focusing on the use of locally appropriate native plants to create water-conserving, pesticide-free, wildlife-welcoming gardens. Kramer characterizes the startup process the first year as “horrific,” but her diligence was rewarded by an overwhelming response. Aiming to get 1,500 attendees, Kramer was delighted when 5,000 people registered for the inaugural tour. What can you save by adhering to principles exemplified in tour gardens? A nine-year study of two adjacent Native Osmia bee feasts on Phacelia bolanderi. Santa Monica bungalows found the native plant garden used 83% less water, generated 56% less green waste and required 68% less maintenance than the
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Serving Alamo and Diablo “Shady Way” Park in Alamo’s Future? By Sharon Burke
At a special meeting convened on March 13, Alamo’s Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) gave the go ahead to the County Real Estate department to negotiate on its behalf to purchase the ¾ acre vacant lot located at the southwest corner of Danville Boulevard and Hemme Avenue. The lot is currently owned by the San Ramon Valley (SRV) Fire Department. SRV Fire purchased the lot in January 2006, intending to develop it as a fire station to serve westside Alamo. Those plans were abandoned in late 2008, when the Fire Department purchased a lot at the corner of Miranda Avenue and Stone Valley Road. The fire department has declared the Danville Boulevard lot surplus property and is required by state law to offer it to other government agencies before placing it on sale to the general public.
Photo of matchbook cover of the Shady Way Inn in Alamo, provided by Frank Kelsey.
SRV Fire paid $925,000 for the 0.70 acre lot in 2006, generally acknowledged to be the height of the real estate market. As a comparison, three half acre residential lots currently available for sale in Alamo are priced from $400,000-$650,000. The lot is an interesting piece of Alamo’s history. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, a roadhouse restaurant called the Shady Way Inn occupied the property, offering respite to travelers along the then Highway 21 or the Danville Highway. The Inn was named for the “tree tunnel” of Dutch Elm trees lining both sides of the highway, creating a shade canopy. The trees were planted after World War I as a memorial to soldiers who died in that conflict. Three Standard Oil gas pumps were added to the restaurant in 1936. The Shady Way Inn briefly became a nightclub in the 1960’s before closing for good around 1965. David Barclay, Chairman of the Alamo MAC, noted the MAC reviewed a comprehensive list of all vacant parcels in Alamo before making its decision to move forward with the fire department lot. Part of the MAC’s decision was the location of the lot directly adjacent to the Iron Horse Trail, generally acknowledged to be the most used recreational facility in Alamo. MAC member Susan Rock stated at Sup. Andersen’s Alamo Liaison meeting on March 17 that trailside amenities for pedestrians and cyclists on the trail Volume XIV - Number 4 3000F Danville Blvd. #117, are a possibility for the lot, if it can be Alamo, CA 94507 acquired for a reasonable price. These Telephone (925) 405-NEWS, 405-6397 could include picnic tables, restrooms Fax (925) 406-0547 and possibly a “tot lot.” Alisa Corstorphine ~ Publisher Opposition was expressed at the Editor@yourmonthlypaper.com MAC meeting from an Alamo resident Sharon Burke ~ Writer based on the former use of the propsburke@yourmonthlypaper.com opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do erty as a gas station and the possibility The not necessarily reflect that of Alamo Today. Alamo Today that underground gas tanks could have is not responsible for the content of any of the advertising
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herein, nor does publication imply endorsement.