Honoring the memory and legacy of Bert Wilson, founder of Las Pilitas Nursery

My sincere condolences to the family of Bert Wilson, who passed away on March 4, 2014. Owner of Las Pilitas Nursery, with locations in Escondido and Santa Margarita, California, he was a fine man with a great sense of humor and a passion for the natural world. He was supremely generous with photographic images of California native plants and information on how to grow them, where to grow them, their adaptations, and what benefits they provide.

The display garden at his nursery site in Escondido, California is what inspired me to design this garden. His knowledgeable staff helped me select plants.

Mr. Wilson, your memory will live on in the heart of loved ones as well as those of us further out in the network of native plant gardeners. Your legacy will live on not only in the business and website you created, but in the gardens where thousands of plants you adeptly propagated, selected, and nurtured have ultimately been planted, and will continue to be planted for generations to come. Thank you, and may God bless.

Gardening Passion: How a suburbanite beach chick grew to love her garden

In the beginning, there was a girl, a grandma, a dad, and a rose…

Notice the carefully placed rocks on the edge of the patio. Thinking that was to keep said girl from rollerskating into the rose bed, or worse, the wall. She still nearly knocked out her front teeth, but that is not how it happened. The actual rose at lower right is from a bush that Dad transplanted from Grandma's garden -- still going strong after 40 plus years.

… and a mom, some marigolds (planted while the girl was recovering from tonsillectomy), and California poppies...

There was also an older sister, but her significant contribution to the story comes later.

There were nearly weekly visits to Grandma's garden…

"Lessons" from Dad in how a 9-year-old should push a wheelbarrow -- that is how some of the adobe soil got moved from from front to back yards to level a playing field for family badminton games…

Original wheelbarrow 50 years later is missing a wheel and has seen better days, but it is still in use for mixing and catching excess potting soil.

Oh, and remember that the girl loved going to the beach?

She eventually realized she could plant it in her garden… well, sort of…