Regular meetings are held on the 2nd Saturday of the even numbered months. Meetings start at 1:00 and are held at Emma Prusch Farm Regional Park in San Jose.
Feb. 8, 2020 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking.
The guest speaker will be Apryl Uncapher: Garden to Guardian: The Power of a Purposeful Landscape
Transform your garden into a landscape that protects our planet through the use of rain gardens and graywater systems. When traditional gardening methods are paired with modern approaches to rainwater harvesting and water recycling, gardens become an integral component of a thriving watershed by reviving local pollinators and water quality, mitigating runoff and flooding issues, and reducing erosion and drought conditions. We will discuss benefits, planning and design considerations, installation tips and tricks, and maintenance recommendations as well as how local regulations are adapting to our current climate needs. Leave with a fresh perspective on a shared passion for gardening and how gardeners are becoming the front line of individuals healing our planet.
Apryl Uncapher, founder of Native Water Systems, has been designing innovative watershed management systems for over two decades using rain gardens, vegetated roofs and walls, graywater systems, and more to promote the important responsibility landscapes have to be active contributors to a healthy watershed. Living in Marin County, Apryl recently completed the award winning Mill Valley Public Library Smart Garden, the headwater piece of a long-term vision for a city-wide pollinator pathway called PolliNation with the goal of establishing a green belt of rain gardens throughout Mill Valley that intercept over one million gallons of rainwater per year while creating a migratory corridor for native pollinators.
Dec. 14, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking.
The guest speaker will be Terry Huang:
December’s program will be different from anything we have presented before and will be an absolute treat! Terry Huang is a native of the Puget Sound, has a BS in Plant Biology from the University of Washington, a MSc in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants at the Royal Botanic Garden/University of Edinburgh and currently works in the gardens at Filoli. While studying in Edinburgh, Terry became involved with the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas, a group that connects academics and researchers with the general public. The result was his piece about plant reproduction, “Fifty Shades of Green,” which premiered at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and which he will be performing for us! We can’t think of a better way to end 2019 and to get us ready for an exciting CRFG 2020!
Oct. 12, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking.
The guest speaker will be Andy Mariani talking about necarines.
For much of its history, the nectarine was viewed as the lesser offspring of the much celebrated peach yet today California grows as many fresh nectarines as peaches. Although only one recessive gene accounts for the difference, the nectarine is deserving of its own narrative with intriguing origins, history, cultivars and specific cultural needs.
Aug. 10, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking.
The guest speaker will be our own Jesse Imbach talking about Urban Permaculture
June 8, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking.
The guest speaker will be Antonio Sanchez, discussing the ancient and emerging field of California native fruits and their cultivation. Among the more than 6,000 plants native to California, hundreds are not only edible, easy to use and delicious but also drought tolerant. This lecture explores how old ways can combine with new ways to find a place in local gardens and kitchens for native fruits. Antonio has been working with California native plants and native foods for over a decade, and was one of the lead organizers for the 2015 California Native Food Symposium in Claremont. Antonio has worked at various native plant institutions across the state, including Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, The Theodore Payne Foundation for Native Plants, Cal Flora Nursery, Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, and was a cofounder and owner of Nopalito Natives, a specialty native plant nursery in Santa Barbara County.
April 13, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking. Our next speaker will be Ken Litchfield, discussing growing mushrooms as companions to fruit trees and to improve soil quality through the processes of decomposition and mycoremediation (using fungi to degrade or sequester contaminants in the environment).
February 9, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking. The guest speaker will be Lance Walheim, presenting on citrus!
April 13, 2019: Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking. Topic TBA
June 8, 2019: Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking. Topic TBA
August 10, 2019 : Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking. Topic TBA
October 12, 2019: Bi-monthly meeting at Emma Prusch Park in San Jose. Open to all. Meeting starts at 1:00. Come early for chatting and snacking. Topic TBA
CRFG - Santa Clara Valley 