Garden of Dreams Comes True at Healdsburg Senior Living Community

Healdsburg is home to some beautiful gardens and some of the most beautiful belong to the Healdsburg Senior Living Community.

The gardens weren’t always grand and gorgeous at this Grove Street location tucked between the street and the freeway. But with the vivid imagination and quick sketches by advice from friends including the imitable , and with the dint of hard labor of gardeners Lino Montebello and Javier Castro the glorious gardens are now enjoyed by residents, staff and visitors alike.

Fisher, a neophyte gardener, enlisted the help of many people to make the vision a reality. Revered Healdsburg gardener McPheeters laughs delightedly when asked about Fisher. She says that Fisher is “passionate.

“He’s a genius,” continued McPheeters.

Now, this nearly ¾-acre plot teems with color and life. Hummingbirds, goldfinches and other birds abound, they sip nectar from flowers and eat seeds from the feeders. Wasps and European honeybees draw nectar and distribute pollen.

The gardens are Tony Fisher’s vision, including the gazebo as focal point and the greenhouse, installed this past spring to nurture freshly started seedlings for the garden. Community residents planted seeds in flats to provide the seedlings for the vegetable garden. And plant they did—more than 700 tomato seedlings turned into the 350 verdant tomato plants that are flourishing in the gardens.

A number of residents are regular visitors to the gardens. Georgene LaRue and Eleanore Wigger sat under the gazebo to enjoy the sights.

“In the evening, I come out,” said LaRue. “I love the gazebo—I look at the birds and relax.

“I had a rock garden,” LaRue continued. She gardened in Sebastopol where she had rocks and shade, not conducive to a lot of plants.

“We did have a veggie garden—it was a lot of garden for two people,” LaRue said.

LaRue also like to cook her favorite vegetables, tomatoes and eggplant. She grilled eggplant on the stove and made two kinds of eggplant parmesan.

“I get a thrill out of it,” said Wigger of the gardens. “The color of the flowers is inspiring.

“I never had a vegetable garden,” she said, “but it’s interesting, fascinating.

“We grew grapes, not veggies,” Wigger stated.

“Oh, but I did have roses,” she continued. “That was my pet thing.

“Now, I walk around a lot and enjoy all of it [the gardens],” she finished.

Wigger’s rose garden and grapes were in the Napa Valley.

Charlotte Steiner, Barbara Baxter and Merna Petersen joined the other ladies under the gazebo.

“I love [the gardens],” said Steiner. “I grew up in a big city, Chicago.

“My only contact with gardens was the bouquet of flowers I bought in a store,” she continued. “I lived in an apartment building.

“This is such a pleasure for me, to be here,” Steiner went on. “To see all the greenery against the blue sky is such a treat.”

Barbara Baxter, well-known for her work with the , owns a large sheep ranch. She’s been involved with livestock since she came to the ranch as a bride in 1947. She has extensive gardening experience, as well.

She has deer resistant flower gardens and a fenced-in area with her vegetable gardens.

“I’m used to wide open spaces,” said Baxter. “[These gardens] mean a great deal to me.

“I admire Tony [Fisher],” she continues. “Look what he’s done.

“He has such a mixture here in the barrels,” Baxter said. “The bees don’t bother us at all.

“Tony has an eye for growing a garden.”

Merna Petersen is the jokester of the group. She quips and laughs and has a lot of fun.

“I love it,” said Petersen of the gardens. “My sister-in-law’s son was in at the beginning—Rich McClish.

“My husband was the gardener,” she continued. “Look at the varieties of sunflowers!”

The women continue to chat.

“The birds are wonderful,” said Baxter. “I feed a lot of birds out at the ranch.

“Tony put in the new greenhouse this year,” Baxter continued, “Tony has extended the gardens.”

Tony Fisher is self-deprecating when complimented on his gardening prowess.

“This is a community effort,” he said. “I had the help of many people.”

“Rich McClish’s gardening experience; Andrew Renslow, the previous engineer, helped design the garden and build the gazebo,” Fisher continued. “Ray Rexford [new engineer] has helped.

“Marsha McPheeters taught me about weedcloth,” Fisher said. “She also did the cacti and succulent garden.

“Everything is organic and heirloom,” Fisher went on. “We have four kinds of watermelons and about 300 sunflowers of five different varieties.

“We use the produce in the kitchen,” said Fisher, “and those residents who can, prepare them in their kitchenettes, too.”

“We believe in sharing,” Fisher sums it up.

Anyway you look at it, the gardens at the Healdsburg Senior Living Community provide nourishment for body and soul.