WOODSIDE LIBRARY NATIVE PLANT GARDEN 

When the Woodside Library was built in 1968, the county announced they would fence off the sloping land behind it, but talented members of the Woodside Atherton Garden Club had a better idea, and with vision and hard work, they created the Woodside Library Native Plant Garden.

Now California species flourish in a redwood grove, an oak woodland setting, a sunny chaparral area for plants that need well-drained soil in winter and dry summers, and a small section for coastal plants.  Garden specimens have labels with botanical and common names, and the library keeps a book with relevant photos and further information.

WAGC members prune, weed and care for the garden that’s enjoyed by library patrons who can sit on the landscaped terraces or wander along the wood chip paths.  Local landscapers donate their time to assist with heavy landscape work and high tree pruning. 

WAGC’s popular Plant Sale takes place in the garden in conjunction with the library’s annual April book sale.  Almost any time of year, the space becomes an outdoor classroom that attracts school children up to college landscape design classes and  gardeners from around the country who are  interested in the native flora of California.

California Native Plant profile:   Romneya Coulteri, Matilija Poppy

Thomas Coulter (1793-1843) led a adventurous life that took him from Ireland to Geneva to Mexico and the US.  His medical studies and natural curiosity found an outlet in plant collecting.  “Coulter walked across a hundred miles of California desert to become the first botanist to collect in Arizona.  Along the way he found the Matijila Poppy growing along the San Luis River.  The British botanist who later named this plant Romneya Coulteri, wrote that he would have named the genus Coulteri, but such a genus already existed....[so]...as the next greatest respect that I can pay to Dr. Coulter’s memory, to bestow upon this fine plant of his discovery, the name of his most distinguished and one of his most intimate friends, I inscribe it to Rev. T. Romney Robinson, the Astronomer of Armagh.”

The Matijila Poppy grows 8 feet tall, with gray-green leaves and large white crinkly petaled flowers with  bright yellow stamens.  Native to southern California, it is found inland along the coast in dry washes and canyons below 4,000 feet, often with chaparral.