Santa Clara Valley Chapter
By Brenda Butner
At Yerba Buena Nursery, the workday might consist of watering, raking leaves, making cuttings, sowing seed, pulling weeds, potting plants and waiting on customers. Menial tasks you might say, but put together they comprise a mosaic bigger than its parts. It is sometimes cold, wet or too hot. We are a difficult drive from most peoples homes. But what a special place to work!
GERDA ISENBERG. You can't think about Yerba Buena Nursery without including Gerda Isenberg. Gerda began growing native plants at a time when they were considered to be no more than weeds or at most a background for the "more beautiful" exotics used in European or eastern U.S. landscapes. She began, in the late 1950's, as "the fern lady" selling ferns and then Mimulus to nurseries on El Camino Real from the back of her station wagon. Encouraged early on by Charlie Burr, a plantsman and later a columnist with the San Jose Mercury, Gerda established the nursery. In the 1970's and 80's, because of the droughts, a real awareness of natives developed, helping the nursery to flourish.
HISTORY. The Isenberg Ranch was purchased in 1941 and was worked as a cattle ranch. As she rode her horse surveying the cattle, Gerda became intrigued with the plants growing around her. This strong interest combined with a horticultural background from attending gardening schools in Germany as a young girl, prepared her to become a pioneer in growing California native plants. Gerda often reminisces about her days at the gardening schools and how she learned hard work and the proper use of tools. There were no rubber hoses then, so water had to be carried in buckets. There were no rototillers, so the ground had to be tilled by hand.
Since establishment, Yerba Buena Nursery has had almost 80 different employees, interns and volunteers. It has introduced 23 cultivars into the nursery trade, notably, Ceanothus `Gerda Isenberg', Malacothamnus `Edgewood,' and Mimulus `Eleanor'. It is now one of the only nurseries in California growing and selling only native plants.
There are vintage structures left from ranching days. The potting shed we now use was converted from a storage area. A picturesque old barn still stands which artists love to sketch and, as we discovered one day, was home for a wayward rattlesnake. The glass chicken house was used for plants for many years but is now just a memento to the past. The original house is home to Gerda, two employees, and a temporary home for up to two interns. It was modernized when Gerda moved in, with the additions of the living room, indoor plumbing and other amenities.
INVOLVEMENT WITH CNPS. Gerda, the nursery and the California Native Plant Society have been closely aligned. The Santa Clara Valley Chapter's very first field trip was to the nursery and Gerda has been on the chapter board from the beginning. She was honored as a fellow to the State organization in 1980. For years, many of the plants sold at the CNPS spring sale were donated by Yerba Buena Nursery. Meetings are often held in the enormous living room which is dominated by a huge quilt made by family and friends to honor Gerda on her 80th birthday. Employees have also been active in CNPS. Suzanne Schettler went on to become CNPS State president. Bart O'Brien, Brenda Butner and Lori Hubbart have been Chapter presidents. Barbara Coe has been plant propagator for many plant sales. Cathy Simms is poster chairperson, and Tim Hyland co-chairs the plant sales. SPECIAL PROGRAMS. Because of Gerda's enthusiasm about native plants and the desire to inspire this interest in others, she early on established an internship program and Demonstration Garden. The first intern was Marilyn Brandt from UC Davis in 1971. Since then there have be 30 more, a couple even from foreign countries. The interns stay for 10 weeks and work along with the employees. Past interns have gone on to careers in many fields using the knowledge they gained at Yerba Buena. The demonstration garden was a very innovative idea to show prospective customers how a mature plant would appear in a landscape situation. These plants are observed by the employees for landscape suitability and are used for propagation material. Horticultural students, bird watchers, and plant lovers visit the garden, and sometimes enjoy a picnic under the trees. TODAY AT THE NURSERY. Nowadays, at the age of 92, Gerda still works almost daily in the nursery. She divides and pots ferns, and rakes needles from the giant Monterey pines which shed unceasingly. The day to day operation of the nursery, though, is handled by Tim Hyland. In his three years as manager, he has installed record- keeping procedures, organized propagation schedules, and has brought the business up to new standards. Our sometimes ornery computers -- donated several years ago -- are used to create labels, information cards and availability lists, and for keeping business records. Looking toward the future, the nursery, now a foundation, is still awaiting non-profit status recognition. Several events stand out when thinking about the 5 years I have worked at Yerba Buena. Perhaps outstanding is the big freeze of the winter of 1990-91. It occurred during the holiday week after Christmas. The water pump froze and was inoperable for several days. The plants could not be watered to help prevent them from freezing. All the monkey flowers, salvias, galvesias, tree ferns and anything that had recently been potted into one gallon containers froze. The nursery took two years to fully recover. Another fonder memory is Gerda's 90th birthday celebration, when friends and family gathered in her garden to celebrate this memorable event on a beautiful June day in 1991. Yerba Buena has certainly been a leader in bringing native plants into focus in the Bay Area and beyond. We feel our mission is to educate people that native plants are beautiful, beneficial to wildlife, won't invade into natural areas replacing local plants, and can be drought tolerant. When customers say to us: "This is my first time here. I can't believe I waited this long and can't wait to come back," that makes it all worth while.
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