Western Hills Garden

Western Hills Garden Landmark garden in Occidental, CA.

Major collections include: Australians, Camellias, Conifers, Dogwoods, endangered Chinese Maples, Hydrangeas, and Rhododendrons.

June is here, and with it comes a couple of exciting events and opportunities to spend time in the garden.This month we’...
06/03/2026

June is here, and with it comes a couple of exciting events and opportunities to spend time in the garden.

This month we’re kicking off Wine & Wander, our new member gathering series. Join us for an evening of Sonoma County wines, seasonal garden highlights, and after-hours access to explore the collection with a glass in hand. It’s a chance to slow down, connect with fellow members, and experience the garden in a different light.

Later in the month, we’re welcoming back longtime instructor Natalie Joy Tremblay for a cyanotype workshop inspired by the beauty of Western Hills. Using sunlight and foraged plant materials gathered from the garden, participants will create their own botanical blueprints while learning this historic photographic process.

We hope you’ll join us for one, or both, of these special June gatherings. Visit the link in our bio for details and registration.

The coral tree is in bloom at Western Hills and a beauty to behold. Planted sometime around 1964 or 1965, this tree has ...
05/21/2026

The coral tree is in bloom at Western Hills and a beauty to behold.

Planted sometime around 1964 or 1965, this tree has been part of the garden almost since the very beginning. In 1968, when Lester and Marshall hosted a field trip for the California Horticultural Society, the garden was still young but this tree was already stopping visitors in their tracks.

Known botanically as Erythrina crista-galli, coral trees are native to parts of South America and Africa, and are rarely seen this mature so far north. Their blooms are shaped by the birds that pollinate them—some opening outward for hummingbirds, others folding inward for birds that perch along the branches.

Standing beneath it now, buzzing with bees and lit up in bloom, it feels less like a specimen and more like a witness. One of the old souls of the garden, still flowering all these years later.

What if the guidance we are seeking is not only within us, but quietly present all around us?We recently sat down with A...
05/12/2026

What if the guidance we are seeking is not only within us, but quietly present all around us?
We recently sat down with Anna Gatmon for a conversation on listening, relationship, and the living world — speaking about what becomes possible when we begin slowing down enough to notice the ways nature responds, reflects, and communicates.
On May 17th, Anna will join us at Western Hills for Wisdom in the Wild: Reawakening Through Nature’s Consciousness, a restorative half-day workshop exploring practices of attention, immersive presence, and deeper relationship with the natural world.
Through guided reflection, conversation, and time spent within the garden, participants will explore what it means to approach nature not simply as backdrop, but as something alive, perceptive, and worthy of relationship.
May 17 • 10am–2pm
$55 • all materials included
Light vegan lunch provided
We hope you’ll join us.

Gather around the table. Our Gather in the Garden spring community supper is an evening created in celebration of the re...
05/08/2026

Gather around the table.

Our Gather in the Garden spring community supper is an evening created in celebration of the relationships that help places like this continue to thrive — the growers, gardeners, plant lovers, artists, and neighbors who care deeply for the living world and the communities that surround it.
We believe Western Hills is a place where beauty, conversation, creativity, stewardship, and connection can take root. A place where people gather not only around gardens, but around shared values, shared meals, and shared care for one another.
Join us for an intimate evening in the garden featuring a seasonal dinner by Chef Mariana Carvallo, dessert by Chef Michele Fanucchi, Arnot-Roberts wines, and a live cello performance by Michael Fecskes featuring works created during residency at Western Hills.
This gathering also serves as a fundraiser in support of the ongoing preservation and future of the garden.
When we gather at one another’s tables and walk through one another’s gardens, something larger is cultivated.
May 23 at Western Hills at 5pm 
Tickets available through the link in bio.

Chef:
Chef:
Wine:
Cello:

May in the garden 🌿
A month of gathering, learning, and celebrating all that is in bloom.Join us for Mother’s Day in the...
05/01/2026

May in the garden 🌿
A month of gathering, learning, and celebrating all that is in bloom.
Join us for Mother’s Day in the garden with Stephanie Rausser, printmaking with Tess Felix, Wisdom in the Wild with Anna Gatmon, and a hands-on Japanese maple pruning workshop with Michael Alliger.
We’ll close the month gathered around the table for our Gather in the Garden supper series.
The garden is also open for visits Saturdays and Sundays, 10–4.

We hope you’ll join us—
to learn, to connect, and to spend time in the living landscape.

Link in bio to join or sign up 🌱

So often, mothers are the ones behind the camera—
holding the moment, but not always held within it.This Mother’s Day, w...
04/27/2026

So often, mothers are the ones behind the camera—
holding the moment, but not always held within it.
This Mother’s Day, we’re making space for you to step into the frame.

Join us for Mother’s Day mini photo sessions with award-winning Sonoma County photographer Stephanie Rausser 
Candid, natural portraits for families, couples, and individuals.

May 10th
10am–4pm | 20-minute sessions | $100
Reserve your spot today at our site. Link in bio

In honor of our new arboretum status we celebrated Arbor Day by planting two new trees.Cercidiphyllum japonicum ’Red Fox...
04/25/2026

In honor of our new arboretum status we celebrated Arbor Day by planting two new trees.

Cercidiphyllum japonicum ’Red Fox’ and Leucodendron argenteum. Both special and unique and now part of our nearly 750 tree sanctuary.

The Arbor Day Foundation is a wealth of information about this particular holiday.

“While most holidays celebrate something that has already happened and is worth remembering, Arbor Day represents a hope for the future. The simple act of planting a tree represents a belief that the tree will grow to provide us with clean air and water, cooling shade, habitat for wildlife, healthier communities, and endless natural beauty — all for a better tomorrow.”

Earth Day reminds us that diversity is not an idea, but a living practice.
In the garden, nothing exists in isolation, e...
04/22/2026

Earth Day reminds us that diversity is not an idea, but a living practice.
In the garden, nothing exists in isolation, each plant, insect, and organism holds a role, a rhythm, a quiet contribution to the whole.
When we slow down enough to listen, the earth shows us that value isn’t hierarchical, it’s relational.
Everything belongs.
At Western Hills, this way of seeing takes root.
Diversity is honored here—not only in the collection of plants, but in the way we listen to how nature is guiding us, shaping what grows, and how we tend.
And just as the garden is diverse, so is the community that gathers within it.
We’re continually learning and growing alongside one another—held in shared curiosity, care, and a deepening relationship to this place.
A reminder, today and always, that we are part of this living system, too. 🌿

04/16/2026

Celebrate Arbor Day with us 🌿
As the light softens into evening, we’ll open the garden for a slow wander among the trees - some rare, some storied, all holding their own quiet presence within the landscape.
From the Wollemi Pine, once known only through fossils and now growing here in living form,
to the shifting colors of European Beech in spring,
to the wide, luminous canopy of our White Gum Eucalyptus. This is an invitation to come closer.
To look up, to touch, to notice.
Join us for cider tastings with OZ Farm, informal tree talks, a simple scavenger hunt for kids, and a chance to meet artist Scott Kildall, whose work listens to the hidden languages of trees.
Come spend golden hour with us.

April 24th 5-7pm
$35
link in bio to join

It’s April showers this weekend here at the garden but there is still so much in bloom. The wisteria, Cala Lily, iris an...
04/11/2026

It’s April showers this weekend here at the garden but there is still so much in bloom. The wisteria, Cala Lily, iris and viburnum are showing off.

Open Saturday & Sunday 10-4

Address

Occidental, CA

Opening Hours

Saturday 10am - 4pm
Sunday 10am - 4pm

Telephone

+17078725463

Website

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