Clovis Botanical Garden to Host Children’s Christmas Event

The Clovis Botanical Garden is hosting a holiday event for children this Saturday. “Christmas Fun in the Garden” runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It’s the third year for this event.

“There will be four craft stations at which the kids can make their own Christmas ornaments or decorate a pinecone Christmas Tree,” said Pat Wynne, a board member with the Clovis Botanical Garden.  “Each child can choose two of the craft stations and there will be cookies and hot chocolate available.”

There is a fee of $5 per child, which goes towards the cost of craft materials.

The garden is located on the northwest corner of Alluvial and Clovis Avenues in Clovis. 

“It is the mission of the garden to demonstrate what we call San Joaquin Valley friendly plants,” Wynne said. “That is plants that do well in the temperate zone which is the central San Joaquin Valley.”

The Clovis Botanical Garden was the vision of the late Gorden Russell. In the 1990s he approached Wynne, who was the Mayor of Clovis at the time, about turning what was a city-owned lot into a garden.

“After four years of planning the first tree was planted in the Garden in 2002,” Wynne said. “It was a Valley Oak and was named the Freedom Tree in honor of the people who died on 9/11.”

The Clovis Botanical Garden is now developed into three acres with a Mediterranean  Garden, a Chilean/South African Garden, a South Western Garden, A Native Plant Garden, and four Home Demonstration Gardens.

“We also promote water conservation through low water landscaping,” Wynne said. “Every plant in the Garden is drought tolerant and has some resistance to drought. Landscaping is the number one use of water, and if you can get people to use mostly low water plants it will go a long way to save water in
this area.”The Clovis Botanical Garden is open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. To learn more visit their website at ClovisBotanicalGarden.org