Insight on historical plants
Festival of Historic Farm Gardens features tours in Wheatland
Plants that are descended from those brought west with the Donner Party will be showcased as part of a garden tour in the Wheatland area later this month.
The Festival of Historic Farm Gardens, which is presented by the Wheatland Historical Society, kicks off at 8 a.m. on Saturday, July 27, and will feature tours of several gardens, some of which are located at old homes.
“Some items in some of the gardens literally came from plants that were brought across the country in a covered wagon many years ago,” said Mike Boom. “The antiquity aspect of the tour is pretty special and we’re very excited.”
Boom is the president of the Wheatland Historical Society and said the tour will offer people some insight on what plants looked like in the mid-1800s.
“They brought seeds, plants and slips, which are cuttings that they could re-grow or re-graft once they arrived,” he said. “This was around the time of the Donner Party.”
Club secretary Sandy Gilbert said the tour is a natural progression in a series of fundraisers they have hosted – all which help bring awareness to the area’s history.
“This is our major fundraiser for the year and the funds raised are used to promote awareness of the history that surrounds
us,” she said. “We do this by maintaining our museum and look toward it’s expansion in the future.”
She said the club also presents programs in Wheatland classrooms, print copies of self-guided cemetery and city tours that identify the people, businesses and homes of historical interest in the area.
“We’ve done events on the Gold Rush, the Donner Party, the Hop Riots and the lawsuit between the miners and the farmers – the first class action lawsuit west of the Mississippi,” she said. “We will hand out a brochure on the background as part of this tour – it’s going to be very interesting.”
Gilbert said one garden on the tour has about 250 different kinds of roses and another has an oak tree that’s estimated to be more than 500 years old.
“They are all located on local farms,” she said. “The owners have been more than gracious and enthusiastic to not only spruce their gardens up, but will
have samples of their main-stay crops as well as their vegetable gardens.”
Master gardeners from the University of California-cooperative Extension, Sutter-yuba counties, will be on hand to offer more specific scientific information about the plants that people will see on the tour.
“The support of the master gardeners, under Janine Hasey’s leadership, is an extra special treat,” she said. “They’re geared up and ready to help novice gardeners visiting by identifying specimen plants and answering garden questions.”