West County garden features 500 plants from around the world
Tony Bryhan and Glenys VanGilder return from their travels around the world then plant what they saw in their own backyard.
Tony Bryhan and Glenys VanGilder moved to 626 Gold Ridge Road sixteen years ago. The property, previously owned by Leroy Aarons, a journalist involved in Watergate and the gay rights movement, featured a rundown house and the skeleton of a promising garden. As the house was being renovated, the couple lived in an adjacent cabin while Bryhan pored over botany literature and began planting the first of what are now 500 different species of flora from all around the world.
“It is easy to fix a house, but it takes a long time to grow a garden,” Bryhan said. “We are fortunate to have enough money so that we can do what we want, and what I want to do is interact with nature."
While one corner of Bryhan's garden is dedicated to “practical” plants used for cooking—many of which are still quite exotic—other parts of the property feature unique trees and bushes mostly from the Southern Hemisphere.
It is while traveling the world that Bryhan and VanGilder decide which plants he would like to see in what has become an established garden over the last two decades. Bryhan recalls asking his server at a small-town French restaurant for the name of the best potato (Agata) he had ever tried so that he could plant it in his garden. Such is the case with a few of the trees and bushes that now populate his property, the seeds for which he often picks up at UC-Santa Cruz’s arboretum.
“You can have roast beef, but wouldn’t you rather have Thai food?” he asked rhetorically.
Everything placed on Bryhan and VanGilder’s property—from the yellow color of the umbrella by the pool that matches the house’s back door to the rocks that were handpicked on the shores of Lake Superior in Canada—is a conscious choice. As a result of Bryhan’s six hours a day that he dedicates to maintaining his garden, nothing looks out of place and nothing looks unkempt.
“Knowing how to garden is knowing how to prune so that no branch blocks another one from receiving sunlight,” Bryhan said as he pulled out his $2,500 electric pruner. “I also like to be able to see inside the plants—to see the muscles of the trees.”
The exquisite garden fits into Bryhan’s larger philosophy on the role of nature in the well-being of humankind. He has long implored the city of Sebastopol to better maintain its trees, especially those on Bodega Avenue near the town center. Needless to say, he is strongly opposed to the removal of the bunya bunya tree at The Barlow.
“Every town in France has a budget to deal with its trees,” he said. “It is a mark of civility to take care of plants and trees. You are dealing with life, and these things are hard.”
With a career as a metallurgist, Bryhan has long been enchanted with mastering materials. As such, he has gone so far as to cut a lump off of a boulder so that his young neighbors have a place to sit when they come to play in the pool. The property also features many meticulously crafted sculptures and furniture made by Bryhan himself, along with paintings from VanWilder.
“Being out here is like downhill skiing,” he said. “I put in my earbuds and turn on punk music. It is quite enjoyable.”
For the foreseeable future, Bryhan’s days will continue to be spent in his yard making sure his plants get the attention they need and deserve.
“When we croak, someone else can have it,” he said. “This is a garden for time.”
Gosh, nice story; I wonder if they give tours?