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Whether you’re looking to hone your gardening skills, explore local historic points of interest or learn about local flora and fauna, you’ll find plenty of opportunities on the Peninsula. Check out our July home & garden events calendar.
Sunset hikes at Filoli
6-7:30 p.m.., Wednesdays & Thursdays, July 10-Aug. 15, Filoli, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside | Registration and information.
Explore the natural lands beyond Filoli’s formal gardens during a guided sunset tour along the estate’s newly opened Spring Creek Trail loop. The 2-mile trail, which opened in June, follows a scenic creek bed and historic flume built more than 100 years ago by William Bourn, the industrialist who constructed Filoli.
The 90-minute hike takes guests uphill on winding paths through towering redwoods, fern-covered understory and ever-changing flora and fauna.
Caring for succulents
6:30-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 3 | virtual. Hosted by Menlo Park Library | Free | Registration required
The hot, dry summer season is the time to pay attention to succulents. Join local experts to learn about the many varieties of succulents and how to grow and propagate them.
The Menlo Park Library holds Garden Talk events on the first Wednesday of each month. More information.
Summer on the farm
9 a.m. – noon, Wednesdays & Saturdays, July 6, 10, 13, 17,20, 27, 31| Hidden Villa, 26870 Moody Road, Los Altos Hills | Registration required.
Help Hidden Villa’s farm team care for food grown in the fields for the local community. Volunteers are needed to help remove weeds from the farm fields as well as assistance with other tasks. Participants should come ready to get dirty. The farm recommends wearing clothes that you’re okay with getting dirty, sturdy boots and a sun hat. Bring a water bottle and snacks, if you like.
Volunteers meet at the front of the property at 9 a.m. and then head out to the fields from there.
Hidden Villa grows on about 7 acres of land, producing food for the community and donating 25% of the harvest to the food bank at the Community Services Agency of Mountain View. Anyone under the age of 18 will need to be accompanied by a guardian.
Earthquake walk
1-3:30 p.m.., Sunday, July 7 | Los Trancos Preserve | Free | More information
Take a 2-mile hike along the San Andreas Fault with docent naturalist Paul Billig while learning about the wonder of plate tectonics and examining remnants left by thousands of major earthquakes. The fault stretches about 750 miles along California from Eureka to Bombay Beach in the Salton Sea. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in the Bay Area and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Southern California all took place along the fault.
Families with engaged children who are attentive listeners and capable of hiking several miles are welcome on this leisurely paced outing.
Meet at Los Trancos Parking Area on Page Mill Road (across from Monte Bello Preserve).
Learn how to grow plants in containers
6:30-7:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 9 | Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin St. | Registration recommended
From no or little land to excess shade on garden beds to unamended adobe soil, there are many reasons to grow vegetables in containers. During this one-hour workshop, Master Gardener Ann Burrell will teach garden container basics, including how to choose the right size and shape for your containers, what to put in them, fertilizing regimens and how to successfully grow fresh herbs and vegetables, flowers and even fruit trees.
Seating is limited. Walk-ins are also welcome.
Explore historic sites along the Peninsula
Saturdays & Sundays, July 20 – Aug. 25| various locations throughout San Mateo County | Free
To complement its Victorian Days at the Old Courthouse, the San Mateo History Museum is coordinating a series of free walking tours throughout the Peninsula this summer from Daly City down to Menlo Park and coast side to Pigeon Point. Visit cemeteries, museums, barns, stables, downtown sites, interesting residential areas, a historic railroad depot, a dueling site, a jail, a slot machine collection and a lighthouse.
Upcoming excursions scheduled for the Victorian Days Walking Tours program include Woodside’s early 1900s Folger Stable (July 20) and Menlo Park’s Allied Arts neighborhood that was mapped in 1892 (July 27). Tours vary in length. Some require reservations. More information.
Garden art walk
10 a.m.-7 p.m.., Saturday, July 27 & 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, July 28 | Filoli, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside | Cost is $38 (general admission), $36 (seniors), $28 (children) | Tickets and information.
Wander among the summer blooms in Filoli’s garden while browsing original artwork from more than 40 hand-picked local artists during the historic property’s summer Art Walk. Paintings, prints, ceramics, jewelry, textiles and more will be on display and available for purchase. There also will be art demonstrations in ceramics, origami, watercolor and other mediums throughout the day. Art Walk is included with Filoli admission.
In July, the gardens are popping with color from roses, lavender. fruits, hydrangeas and a variety of cutting flowers. To find out more about what’s blooming in the gardens, see Filoli’s Bloom Calendar.
Learn how to make ‘creative containers’
9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, July 27 | Gamble Garden, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto | $130 members, $165 nonmembers | Registration required
Instructor Katherine Glazier, a floral arranger at Gamble Garden who co-led the floral design program at Filoli gardens for eight years, will demonstrate how to create a very natural and organic container using rosemary and other seasonal botanicals complimented with blooms from the summer garden, as well as additional ways to create unique containers using leaves, ribbons or branches. Teens and adults are welcome.
Free summer seeds at local libraries
Not sure what to plant in your garden? Head to your local library. Several public libraries on the Midpeninsula include seed libraries stocked with vegetable, fruit, herb and native flower seeds that residents can bring home and plant for free. You can find the seeds stored in old library card catalogs at most libraries that offer this service – and you don’t need a library card. Available seed varieties are rotated seasonally according to optimal planting times for our area.
Rinconada, Menlo Park, Belle Haven, Mountain View and Redwood City public libraries are among those that operate seed libraries in the area. Contact your local library for more information.