The tour will begin at the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden, a demonstration garden and certified nature habitat located in Polliwog Park. Garden director Gretchen Renshaw will share the season\u2019s most stunning collections, emphasizing the garden\u2019s work on earth-friendly gardening techniques such as water conservation for the home landscape, installation and care for California native plants, and creating wildlife habitat. The tour will continue to private Manhattan Beach gardens to delight in designs highlighting native plants, habitats for pollinators and birds, and canopies of acacias that create the feeling of a secluded woodland.<\/p>\n
Gretchen Renshaw is a horticulturist and teacher.\u00a0She is a founder and volunteer director at the Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden in California.\u00a0This demonstration garden features California native plants and sustainable gardening practices. She is a former horticulture instructor at UCLA Extension, where she taught for over 25 years. One of her courses was a four-unit class on Soils and Plant Nutrition. Difficulty finding a suitable textbook for the course, lead her and her writing partner to write and publish: \u201cUnderground: A Gardener\u2019s Guide to Soil and Plant Nutrition.\u201d Prior to retirement, Gretchen worked as a science teacher at an elementary school, engaging students in hands-on science activities from kindergarten to fifth grade. She has a bachelor\u2019s degree in Horticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.<\/p>\n