Sunset Magazine Test Gardens

I was curious to see the test garden at the Sunset Magazine headquarters. I wasn’t sure what to expect – a scientific lab, test tubes, and researchers wearing lab coats?

In the test gardens at Sunset Magazine - rose garden, turf,
garden art, and raised beds are all visible.

Instead we found an intriguing plot of land set apart from the regional gardens. The test garden was surprisingly small—about 3,000 feet square—but filled with container plants, and experiments in irrigation, hardscape, and interesting plantings. A small team of magazine employees discussed the details of an upcoming photo shoot. According to A Walking Tour of the Sunset Gardens, ideas are rigorously tested in the test garden; they use organic gardening methods; and about 50% of their pictures are shot in the test garden.

Flower beds, mulch, and a unique, circular raised bed in the
Sunset Magazine test garden.

A unique garden bed configuration with irrigation. The path in the middle
enables easy access to future plantings - a great idea for a vegetable garden.



Containers and experimental raised beds.

I suppose my garden is a test garden of sorts, with many experiments, some successes, and many failures! But the point is to envision, try, and learn.

Sunset Magazine Headquarters

My dad and I visited the Sunset Magazine headquarters in Menlo Park one fall, and took the self-guided tour of the grounds. The gardens were originally designed by Thomas D. Church (Western landscape architect, and author of Gardens are for People) in the 1950s, and then updated in 2000 to a more naturalistic style.

The Sunset Magazine headquarters and grounds in Menlo Park, CA.

The garden includes border plantings from each of the five regions the magazine represents - Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, Mountain, and Southwest and Desert. The border follows the San Francisquito Creek. The document, A Walking Tour of the Sunset Gardens, provides information about the garden, each of the regions, and the Sunset climate zones represented in each region.

Plant collection representing the Southwest and Desert region.

Plant collection and totem pole art representing the Pacific Northwest region.

I loved the ranch-style design used for the publishing headquarters, which captures the essence of mission and early California architecture; and I especially enjoyed the collections of Southwest and desert plants, and Pacific Northwest plants. My dad and I had a great day together, strolling the rambling paths, identifying plants from familiar Western regions, and eating a late lunch down the street at Mike’s Cafe. For information about the self-guided tour: http://www.sunset.com/garden/landscaping-design/sunset-garden-tour-00400000015024/.

Fall flower border at the Sunset Magazine headquarters.

History of Sunset Magazine

I always enjoy reading Sunset Magazine and learning something new. The articles are tailored to gardening in the Western United States. The magazine publishes five regional editions - Pacific Northwest, Northern California, Southern California, Mountain, and Southwest. They publish many gardening books, including The Western Gardening Book, and a web site that is a valuable reverence tool: http://www.sunset.com/.

Sunset Magazine started as a Southern Pacific Railroad marketing publication in 1898. The railroad had obtained large land grants in the west, and their goal was to attract visitors and settlers. The publication was named after the Sunset Limited, a railroad that ran from New Orleans to San Francisco, via Los Angeles. The Southern Pacific Railroad sponsored many publications promoting the West as a healthful place to visit, a beneficial place to settle, and a profitable place for business, agriculture, and movie making. The Southern Pacific Railroad had a special photography car that toured the southern Pacific lines capturing stories and images from the West. The railroad acquired several small regional publications.

After World War II, the magazine emphasized Western living, and met the needs of returning service men and their families, who were eager to establish homes. In the 1950’s the publishing office moved from San Francisco to Menlo Park, into headquarters designed by Cliff May in the California ranch style, and with regional gardens designed by Thomas D. Church. In the 1960’s the magazine came out against DDT and in favor of more naturalistic gardening practices. In the 1990’s, they introduced the climate zone system for the Western United States. In 1998, the magazine celebrated 100 years of publishing. The magazine continues today, changing as needed to adapt, but still promoting Western living and gardens.

To learn more:

• Sunset Limited: The Southern Pacific Railroad and the Development of the American West, 1850-1930, by Richard J. Orsi (University of California Press, Berkeley, 2005).
• Sunset Magazine: A Century of Western Living, 1898-1998 (Stanford University Libraries, 1998). A web version is available at http://sunset-magazine.stanford.edu/.