EaRTh staff conducted an interview with Theo Ferguson, a social impact investor in sustainable food systems and fierce advocate of adopting practices that mitigate the climate crisis.

EaRTh: Tell us a bit about your garden, please. 

Theo Ferguson: Well, we have seven fruit trees. Pear, cherry, apricot, lemon, lime, another kind of lemon. And we have… I like to include, you know, orchids or blooming things in season. They come up when they come up. And I'm always charmed, like the yellow ones, and there's some over there, too. And they… all of a sudden, boom! there they are, you know. And you planted them however many years ago. And I do have a habit of culling the South American scilla because the rhizomes get so big and outgrown, I like to divide them up and give them to neighbors. And it's fun when I walk around the neighborhood and I see them, you know, because they came from a long ways away, like they came from my mother's garden in Santa Barbara, right? 

A lemon tree.

And until I was 70, I was the gardener for the condominium. We've been a condominium now 44 years. And it's really amazing. I think there are now 20 people that have gone through, you know, you had a baby, and uh-oh, you have another baby, you have to move, right?. And, I mean, some of my partners I miss dearly because they're just, you know, wonderful, wonderful people. And then I have designed the space so that there's always running water, so the trees have a chance to really get whatever breezes into their little branches and leaves.

Water element and sugar snaps.

I like [pointing to a nook in the garden] this one in the summer [that] is just a magical place because it's… everything's growing and it's private, you know. And we just try and have… one of my goals is to have beautiful color every season. And that depends on what you planted and when their season is, you know. And one of my favorite new findings is the Leucadendron. We have five different kinds. It's just a beautiful… right in the front there's beautiful, beautiful leaves… and sometimes they're dark red, and sometimes they're yellow, white, red-green. And they're all the same plant. 

And so, I really enjoy seeing [suddenly looking over to a part of the garden] oh my god! the first sweet pea is blooming. How fun! It's magenta. I like it. 

EaRTh: Do you have any edible plants here? 

Theo Ferguson: I do tomatoes. I do lots of different kinds of herbs. You know, lavender and chives. One year we actually… I asked them… my partners… I brought in [and said]: “Here's the list of everything that grows in the Bay Area. Do you want any of these things?” 

So, they chose practically everything, which is ridiculous, but whatever. So, we grew it and hung these treasured things on the fences so the squirrels wouldn't get them, and we planted them and got beautiful squashes and cauliflowers and all kinds of things.

And we were the only ones that ate them. And I was going like, okay, back to tomatoes and herbs. You know, basil, black basil, you know, whatever.

Closeup of the habitat garden.

EaRTh: So, this is a community garden and you have a special designation from the city? Can you talk about that a bit? 

Theo Ferguson: We have a designation from the region. 

EaRTh: From the region? 

Theo Ferguson: From the Alameda County region. 

EaRTh: And what is that designation? 

Theo Ferguson: The designation is habitat.

EaRTh: And can you expand a bit on that? 

Theo Ferguson: A habitat is one in which all the creatures that want to live there do. 

EaRTh: And all gardens in other people's houses are not like that? 

Theo Ferguson: No. 

Another closeup of the habitat garden.

EaRTh: Is it because they might use synthetic chemicals or poisons or something? 

Theo Ferguson: Possibly. I mean, when the person who came to check me out, right… I had just… my sugar snaps were just perfect. And the cherries were just perfect. And I remember walking around and offering her a cherry and offering her some sugar snaps. And she said, cherries don't grow here.

And I turned to my cherry trees and I said, “Don't pay any attention to her!” 

I mean, there they are. What are you talking about? There they are, you know. And this year, we're going to have a really wonderful crop of apricots. It's a special local apricot. Many years there would be horizontal sleet that just took all the buds off. Gross. You know, two years, three years, and then, all of a sudden one year, no hail. That's not good exactly. Because what's happening? Where's the snow? You know, where's the cold? This was winter. So that kind of imbalance with the greenhouse gases being where they are, it’s very worrisome. Which is why I intend to spend quite a bit of time doing whatever I can and publishing about it.

EaRTh: Thank you so much for your time today, Theo. That was lovely. 

Theo Ferguson: It’s such a pleasure to have you here in the garden. Any time!