Holloway Garden is in Montaña de Oro State Park, just to the south of the Spooner Ranch House. In 1993, State Park Docent Betty Holloway asked if she could develop a demonstration garden showcasing the plants found in the park. Given permission, she and several other docents went to work, and by 1995 the garden was finished in its first form. One of the requirements was that there be no digging into the ground as the entire park is an archeologically sensitive area, and special permission is required to dig deeper than a few inches. The beds were all above ground and made of recycled plastic. After the garden was developed, State Park Docent and Professor of Botany at Cal Poly Shirley Sparling took over the leadership of the group working to maintain the garden and add new plants as needed. The garden was given a retrofit with new live edge wood siding on the planters and a tool shed in 2016 during an Earth Day project. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, all work at the garden was stopped and only in July of 2021 was it resumed. Volunteers have worked since then to clean up and bring back the garden, and on this year’s Earth Day, April 23rd, new soil and plants and other work will be done. With the most recent rain in March 2022, several plants have started blooming and are showcased below. I took the pictures—some are not quite sharp, but you can get the idea.
Photo by Shanda Grunkemeyer-Gibbs 
Come stroll the garden, have a picnic, or just sit on the benches and enjoy the view and solitude. It’s a special place!
And of course:
Come visit the garden!
