Saso Herb Gardens Saso Herb Gardens Saso Herb Gardens
St. Fiacre, Patron Saint of Gardens
Happy 2000 to all of our herb gardening friends.
We have finally retired to Santa Cruz... The Gardens are no longer open to the public.
We will continue to offer workshops and our monthly free lecture and tour of the herb gardens, April through September. Louie will continue to teach his Planning an Herb Garden workshop in April and Virginia has found a way to continue offering a variety of wreath and craft workshops by sharing the preparation and teaching duties with daughter Mary Lou Saso. Betty Rimbach, our friend and volunteer for over twenty years, will continue to assist with all of the workshops.
You will notice in the schedule of events that we have added one new craft workshop on decorating hats with everlasting flowers and herbs as well as a workshop led by herbalist and herb gardener, Darren Huckle. Using herbs for teas, tinctures, bouquets and broths will be among his topics. He is extremely knowledgeable in many areas of herbalism and herb gardening. He started and operated an herb garden and education center with herbalist Christopher Hobbs for over two years. He is currently studying to become an acupuncturist.
We often receive emails asking where to obtain certain herb plants and seeds that are not readily available. Three very good sources are the catalogs from the following companies:
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com, http://www.richters.com, and Horizon Herbs catalog at http://www.chatlink.com/~herbseed.Saso Herb Gardens Apprentice Program...
In April, 1994, we finally realized that we and our gardens needed
more help. The weeds were taking over the gardens and our lives! Louie came up with the
idea of an apprentice program. We worked out the details and started in April with six
very eager apprentices. We still use the same format today. The sessions are eight weeks
long, starting at 8:00 in the summer months and 9:00 in the winter months. The day usually
starts out with weeding in the gardens until 11:30 followed by tea and a snack. The rest
of the time, until 1:00 is filled with instruction. This could be identifying herb plants,
making compost, learning methods of propagation or learning about whatever needs to be
done in a garden that day. Our first session starts mid-February to mid-April, second is
Mid-April to mid-June, third is mid-June to mid-August, fourth is mid-August to
mid-October. This is a work-exchange program. If you are interested please call us for an
interview at 408-867-0307 or email: herbgardens@saso.com.
This year Louie is adding a new apprentice program for those interested in starting an herb business. It will be limited to two apprentices and will be held 9am to 1pm Monday or Thursday. This will also be a work exchange program. Please call the above number for more information.
We are very grateful for all of the help the apprentices give to us as well as the continued help from past apprentices who have become volunteers. We thank you all!!
Our Calendar
We will continue the same schedule as last year with a free
lecture tour one Saturday a month—April through September. Check the schedule for all
of the information. Special appointments can be arranged—make them at your own risk
as we just might put a hoe in your hand when you come to visit the gardens. We wish you a
healthy and peaceful 2000 and we are looking forward to sharing our gardens with you.
Welcome to the Saso Herb Gardens. We are located in the Village of Saratoga, California, one hour south San Francisco. The area in which we live was once called "The Valley of Heart's Delight." Years ago Santa Clara Valley was alive with orchards bearing an abundance of fruit trees, prunes, apricots, cherries, pears and more. In the spring the valley was filled with the beauty and fragrance of these blossoming trees. Most of the orchards are gone today and the valley has a new designation, "Silicon Valley." Yes, computers have taken over our valley. On our little acre we are trying to show what can be done in a small area to bring back some of the beauty and fragrance that gave so much pleasure to so many in the years gone by. For the past twenty-four years our business has included an herb nursery. The maintainence of both the gardens and the nursery has become an overwhelming task. Our solution was to close the nursery operation and concentrate on maintaining the gardens and to continue offering a limited number of workshops. Of course, we cannot stop propagating entirely so we will have a select number of plants for sale on the days that we are open. Please check the calendar of events for the dates when we are open. Free lecture tours of the gardens will continue on one Saturday a month, April through September. We look forward to sharing our gardens with you.
Saso Herb Gardens
Last Modified:May 2001
