Jim Salyards and the Silent Spring at Filoli During COVID-19
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
March 25, 2020
Dearest reader,
On this day, Jim Salyards, the dedicated Director of Horticulture at the grand Filoli Center, found himself wandering a silent paradise.
The famed estate and its 16-acre formal English garden, nestled in the foggy foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains just south of San Francisco, was usually bursting with crowds.
Over 100,000 visitors each year come to admire the daffodils, tulips, peonies, and wisteria climbing the mansion’s walls. But 2020 had other plans, as the world’s eyes turned inward amidst the pandemic, and Filoli’s gates were temporarily closed.
Jim's article in Arnoldia, entitled Essential Gardening: Public Gardens in the Spring of COVID-19, captures the bittersweet beauty of that spring:
"On March 25, I was in the Sunken Garden, snapping a social media photo of yellow ‘West Point’ tulips that were blooming within the low, clipped hedges of the parterres.
Filoli has blooms 365 days a year because of the moderate climate along the coast of northern California.
Locals and visitors from around the globe are captivated by the spring experience of seeing daffodils and tulips in our meadows and formal beds. Wisteria clambers on the side of the mansion, and peonies are showstopping. But this year, our spring peak of mid-March to mid-April was completely missed. All the planting and tending on the part of the staff, all the expectant calls and emails that started at the beginning of the year asking the best time to visit were for naught.
I did my best to share photos and videos through our social media outlets, but it’s just not the same. A few thumbs-up or heart emojis are a poor substitution for the “oohs” and “aahs” and the thank-yous we receive from guests each day—the guests who call out compliments while we are weeding and pruning or who pass along the praise to our colleagues in visitor services and interpretation.
Public gardens like Filoli are champions of environmental education and conservation, yes, but we also provide substance for people’s souls. Hopefully, in the near future, the garden will once again become a space of healing, just when the world needs us most."
It's a reminder that gardens, like good friends, provide nourishment that extends beyond the physical. During a time of isolation and uncertainty, the absence of visitors underscored the vital role these green sanctuaries play in providing comfort and community. And the name Filoli itself, fashioned from the motto “Fight, Love, Live,” seems a gentle call to resilience and hope.
Dear reader, while 2020’s spring was a silent one at Filoli, the tender work of the gardeners continued, patiently preparing for the day the garden gates would open—and the world might breathe again among blooms.
