Around Town: Three Woodside gardens on tour Around Town: Three Woodside gardens on tour (May 11, 2005)

Three Woodside gardens and two in Los Altos Hills will be open to the public on Saturday, May 14, as part of the Open Days program of the Garden Conservancy. All the Woodside gardens are new to the tour.

Visitors may begin at Singingwood, located at 218 Family Farm Road in Woodside. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Admission to each garden is $5. No reservations are needed. Gardens will be open rain or shine.

The Singingwood property is a 14-acre oak woodland. When the owners bought the property in 1994, they asked landscape architect Susan Edwards Ogle of Menlo Park to help architect Glen Dodds site the house and design the gardens.

The house sits on the highest knoll of the property. The front gardens contain a large variety of deer-resistant plantings. Ms. Ogle created a 200-foot creek bed planted with native plants. The rear terrace overlooks a garden with roses, rhododendrons, hellebores, hydrangeas, bearded iris, clematis, delphiniums, daylilies, and many other plants. Ms. Ogle will be in the garden to answer questions most of the time.

The Aldila garden was designed around a historic stone building that once housed La Questa Winery in Woodside. Stone walkways snake around the property, from the dramatic entrance meadow, to the secret garden, to the roses in back. The garden has a wide variety of plantings and whimsical sculptures. Aldila will be open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Craft garden, also in Woodside, is situated along a hilltop. The steeply-sloped property lends itself to a European country estate-style garden, featuring rustic stone walls and flat-stone paving areas, many perennials and ornamental grasses, wood arbors and trellis, and a rear deck with a waterfall and views of the mountain setting. There is a swimming pool and outdoor fireplace/seating area. The Craft garden will be open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, call the Garden Conservancy weekdays at 1-888-842-2442.
South Coast garden tour

Picnickers will be welcome at some of the 14 gardens featured on the South Coast garden tour Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15, according to Karen Shaff, a board member of the La Honda Education Foundation.

The La Honda and Pescadero education foundations are joining together for their third annual garden tour. Visitors may attend a wine and cheese reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at the Harley Goat Farms in Pescadero. For picnicking, the La Honda House Cafe in La Honda is offering four different box lunches at $9.95 each.

Advance tickets are available at the Woodside Village Pharmacy, Skywood Market and Pioneer Market. Advance purchase of tickets for the wine and cheese reception are recommended, as space is limited.

Tickets will be available on the day of the event outside the Pescadero post office on Saturday and at La Honda House Cafe on Sunday. Visitors will receive maps for a self-guided tour. For more information, call 747-9514.
ShapeXpress holds cancer benefit

ShapeXpress fitness center is holding an open house from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at 1155 Crane St., Suite 7, in Menlo Park.

When new members join ShapeXpress during the open house, half the enrollment fee of $100 will be donated to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life event, to be held from 10 a.m. Saturday, July 16, to 10 a.m. Sunday, July 17, at Carlmont High School in Belmont.

Members are also invited to join or make a donation to the ShapeXpress Relay for Life team.

Relay for Life events, held throughout the country, involve relay teams that walk or run around a track for 24 hours. For information, call 330-0367.
Native plant sale at Hidden Villa

The California Native Plant Society, Santa Clara chapter, will hold a native plant sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 14, at Hidden Villa Ranch, 26870 Moody Road in Los Altos Hills. Books and seeds will be for sale. Visitors are asked to bring a box for plants. For more information, call 941-1068.
Yacht club open house

Interested in joining a yacht club? Coyote Point Yacht Club is having an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 22. It's a chance to meet members and learn more about their Wednesday night sailing program. For more information, call Coyote Point at 347-6730.
Letter carriers' food drive

Bay Area letter carriers will hold their annual "Stamp Out Hunger" food drive Saturday, May 14.

Postal workers will collect food donations that people set out next to their mailboxes. The food will be donated to local food banks, including Second Harvest of San Mateo County.

Non-perishable foods, such as canned vegetables and fruits, tuna fish, peanut butter, rice, dry beans and pasta, should be put out on the morning of May 14. Last year's drive raised 70 million pounds of food nationwide.
New quarters for voters league

After several years in the basement of the Menlo Park Library, the League of Women Voters of South San Mateo County has moved downtown.

Its new office is at 713 Santa Cruz Ave., Suite 9, between Ritz Camera and the Goodwill store.

The league, which has been providing nonpartisan information to county voters for more than 40 years, had to leave its most recent office when the library needed the space.

Previously, the League rented space in the old Menlo Park gatehouse from the Junior League of Palo Alto, and before that it occupied space in the old Menlo Park train station with the Chamber of Commerce.

Office hours are 10:30 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursdays. The telephone and fax number is 325-5780.

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