Filoli’s new Spring Creek Trail is now open for guided sunset hikes. Photo by Angela Schwartz.
If you want to hone your gardening skills, explore local historical sites or learn about local flora and fauna, the Peninsula has plenty of opportunities. Check out our July Home & Garden events calendar.
Sunset Hike in Filoli
July 10-August 15, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 6-7:30pm, Filoli, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside | Registration and info.
Explore the natural land beyond Filoli’s formal gardens on a guided twilight tour along the property’s newly opened Spring Creek Trail Loop. Opened in June, the two-mile trail follows a beautiful creek bed and historic waterway built more than 100 years ago by industrialist William Vaughn, who built Filoli.
The 90-minute hike takes you up a winding path through towering redwoods, a fern-filled understory and ever-changing flora and fauna.
Learn how to care for succulents at the Menlo Park Library’s Garden Talks event on July 3. Embarcadero Media file photo.
Caring for succulents
Wednesday, July 3, 6:30-7:30 PM | Virtual. Hosted by Menlo Park Library | Free | Registration required
Hot, dry summers are the time to focus on succulents. Join a local expert to learn about the different types of succulents and how to grow and propagate them.
The Menlo Park Library hosts a Garden Talks event the first Wednesday of each month, more information here.
Volunteers can help Hidden Villa’s farm team manage the organization’s farmland during two separate farm events. Photo provided.
Summer on the Farm
Wednesdays and Saturdays, July 6, 10, 13, 17, 20, 27, 31, 9 a.m. to noon | Hidden Villa, 26870 Moody Road, Los Altos Hills | Registration required.
Help the Hidden Villa farm team tend to the food they grow in the fields for the local community. Volunteers are needed to help with weeding and other farm tasks. Participants should dress in clothes they don’t mind getting dirty. The farm encourages wearing clothes they don’t mind getting dirty, sturdy boots, and a sun hat. Feel free to bring a water bottle and snacks.
Volunteers will meet at the front of the site at 9am and then make their way to the fields.
Hidden Villa grows about 7 acres of land, producing food for local residents and donating 25% of the harvest to the Mountain View Community Service Agency Food Bank. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
A trail marker marks the trailhead for the Nonet-Hanco-San Andreas Fault Trail in Los Trancos Preserve. Embarcadero Media file photo by Veronica Weber.
Earthquake Walk
Sunday, July 7, 1pm-3:30pm | Los Trancos Reserve | Free | More info
Learn about the wonders of plate tectonics and see the traces left by thousands of powerful earthquakes on a 2-mile hike along the San Andreas Fault with guide, naturalist Paul Billig. The fault stretches nearly 750 miles from Eureka, California, to Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the Bay Area, and the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Southern California all occurred along this fault.
Families with enthusiastic children who listen attentively and can hike for miles will be welcomed on this leisurely paced outing.
Meet at the Los Trancos parking lot on Page Mill Road (across from Monte Bello Preserve).
The containers can be used to grow vegetables and other plants. Photo by Getty Images.
Learn how to grow plants in containers
Tuesday, July 9, 6:30-7:30 pm | Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin St. | Pre-registration encouraged
There are many reasons to grow vegetables in containers, such as having little or no land, lots of shade in your flower beds, or unimproved adobe soil. In this hour-long workshop, Master Gardener Anne Burell will teach you the basics of garden containers, including how to choose the right size and shape of container, what to put in them, how to fertilize, and how to successfully grow fresh herbs, vegetables, flowers, and fruit trees.
Seating is limited, so you can come without making a reservation.
The San Mateo History Museum’s Victorian Era Walking Tours series will explore the history of the 100-year-old Folger Estate Stables on July 20. Embarcadero Media file photo.
Explore historical sites along the peninsula
Saturday and Sunday, July 20th – August 25th | Various locations in San Mateo County | Free
To complement its Victorian-era events at the Old Courthouse, the San Mateo History Museum is organizing a series of free walking tours this summer throughout the San Mateo Peninsula, from Daily City to Menlo Park, and from the coast to Pigeon Point, visiting cemeteries, museums, barns, stables, downtown attractions, interesting residential neighborhoods, a historic train station, dueling grounds, a jail, a collection of slot machines, a lighthouse and more.
Upcoming tours scheduled in the Victorian Days Walking Tours program include the early 1900s Folger Stables in Woodside (July 20) and Menlo Park’s Allied Arts District, as depicted on a map in 1892 (July 27). Tours vary in length. Some tours require reservations. More information.
During its annual Art Walk, July 27-28, Filoli will feature original works by more than 40 local artists. Courtesy of Filoli.
Garden Art Walk
Saturday, July 27, 10am-7pm and Sunday, July 28, 10am-5pm | Filoli, 86 Cañada Road, Woodside | Tickets are $38 (general admission), $36 (seniors), $28 (children) | Tickets and more info.
Wander among the summer flowers blooming in Filoli’s gardens and see original artwork by more than 40 hand-picked local artists during the historic building’s Summer Art Walk. Paintings, prints, ceramics, jewelry, textiles and more will be on display and available for purchase. There will also be art demonstrations throughout the day, including pottery, origami, watercolor painting and more. The Art Walk is included with Filoli admission.
In July, the gardens are adorned with roses, lavender, fruit plants, hydrangeas and a variety of cut flowers. For more information on what’s blooming in the gardens, check out Filoli’s flowering calendar.
Learn how to plant and grow plants in compact containers at Gamble Gardens on July 27. Photo by Getty Images.
Learn how to make a “creative container”
Saturday, July 27, 9:30-11:30 a.m. | Gamble Gardens, 1431 Waverley St., Palo Alto | $130 members, $165 non-members | Registration required
Instructor Katherine Glaser, who directs floral arrangements at Gamble Gardens and has co-led Filoli Gardens’ floral design program for eight years, will show how to combine rosemary and other seasonal plants with flowers from your summer garden to create very natural, organic containers, as well as how to use leaves, ribbons and branches to create unique containers. Teens and adults are welcome.
Residents can take home seeds from the Seed Library at the Rinconada Library in Palo Alto. Photo by Devin Roberts.
Free summer seeds at your local library
If you’re not sure what to plant in your garden, head to your local library. Several public libraries in the Midpeninsula have seed libraries with vegetable, fruit, herb and native flower seeds that residents can take home and plant for free. Most libraries that offer this service allow you to find seeds stored in their old library card catalogs; no library card required. The types of seeds available rotate seasonally depending on the optimal planting times for the area.
The Rinconada, Menlo Park, Belhaven, Mountain View and Redwood City public libraries operate Seed Libraries in the area. Contact your local library for more information.
