Winged Wonders Include Enormous Quail
There’s a 10-foot tall Western Bluebird perched outside the Visitor’s Center.
On a trail along the front side of the 67-acre property sit two enormous California Quail, the State Bird. And standing ankle-deep in an expanse of water lilies, a giant Great Blue Heron scans the surrounding pond for a meal.
All these birds, and eight others, are seamlessly woven into the living fabric of Sonoma Botanical Garden, just off Highway 12 in Glen Ellen.
The big, beautiful birds are all made of bamboo by the Myth Maker team of Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein, a pair of Boston-based, award-winning sculptors with a trail of more than 50 outdoor installations strung all over the world.
The Myth Makers descended on Sonoma Valley for three weeks in March and April to construct the giant flock they call Winged Wonders.
Other local birds represented are two 20-foot tall cedar waxwings; an Ana’s Hummingbird; a family of Great Horned Owls; an acorn woodpecker, soaring in full flight through the branches of an oak tree with 20-foot wings; and a Western Meadowlark.
All the birds can be easily viewed on a roughly one-mile walk through the garden, the sculptures aurally enhanced by the sounds of native songbirds, falling water. While the artists leave their artwork behind when they are through creating them, the pieces are intended to be temporary, given the natural materials they are made from. Typical lifespan for their work is three to five years.
Sonoma Botanical Garden was formerly called Quarryhill, after the sandstone quarry originally on the site. The property was bought by San Francisco resident Jane Davenport Jansen in 1968, who devoted the following decades to supporting Asian collecting expeditions to gather rare and endangered botanical species. A nursery was established to cultivate wild-collected seeds and today the collection of wild-origin plants numbers some 25,000. Now, Sonoma Botanical Garden is home to one of the largest collections of scientifically documented, wild-source Asian plants in North America, many of which are rare and endangered.
The name change to Sonoma Botanical Gardens corresponded to an upgrade of the facility and the introduction of more art installations and public programs. In 2021, the Garden embarked on a new initiative to add a focus on California’s rich native flora, another biodiversity hotspot facing many of the same challenges that inspired Jansen to conserve Asian plants in the 1980s.
Adding extra allure to the gardens is Acoustic Sunsets, a weekly concert series in the facility’s outdoor amphitheater where visitors can bring picnic dinners and enjoy local wines from “beverage partners.” Well-behaved, leashed dogs are welcome to the events, which are held on Wednesday nights through October 22. For the schedule of performers and wineries participating, go to sonomabg.org/visit/acoustic-sunsets. Sonoma Botanical Gardens is just north of the Glen Ellen turn-off at 12841Highway 12. Call 707.996.3166 for more information.
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