Sunday, July 18, 2021

Forestiere Underground Gardens

By Nancy J. Farrier

 

Citrus trees, Photo by Ixfd64
Wikimedia Commons

Baldasare Forestiere came from Sicily to the United States in 1906. He settled in Fresno, California. As a vineyardist and horticulturist, Forestiere wanted to plant a garden but due to the high summer temperatures, he decided to build his garden underground. For the next forty years, Forestiere would work to create a beautiful garden filled with a variety of fruits and vegetables that amaze people to this day.

 



Photo by Amanda Lord
Used With Permission


Baldasare remembered the construction of the catacombs near his home and used the idea of those arches, domes, and columns to add support. The stonework he created is beautiful and lasting. He had no blueprints but used his inner vision to construct a maze of rooms, grottoes, and garden areas. He learned to do art work to add flourishes to beautify his home.




 



100 year old grapevine
Photo by Amanda Lord
Used With Permission


By the time he finished in 1944, the tunnels ran under ten acres, a maze of grottos and alcoves filled with plants and beauty. He planted several varieties of fruit trees and grafted some trees to offer more types of fruit. One of his citrus trees has seven different types of fruits on the single tree.  






 



Photo by Amanda Lord
Used With Permission

Some of the rooms he planted were twenty feet underground and the plants flourished. He made skylights that allowed the sun the penetrate below ground and the air to circulate, but had the capability to be covered in the winter when the rains came. 




 

He grew a variety of orange, lemon and grapefruit trees, but also had less common varieties such as kumquat, quince, loquat, jujube, and carob. He planted almond, date, fig, avocado, and pear trees, plus many more. 




 

Forestiere carried dirt from his underground excavation to the

Photo by Amanda Lord
Used With Permission

surface in a wheelbarrow, which must have been tedious considering the scope of his gardens. When people came to see him, he would give them fruit or vegetables in exchange for them taking a wheelbarrow load of dirt to the surface to dump. 

 




He carved out bedrooms with an alcove for the beds and a kitchen leading to a garden court. He had a fish pond and an aquarium with a glass bottom that held tropical fish. Throughout the area he planted grapevines.




 

Photo by Amanda Lord
Used With Permission

Forestiere continued to excavate and improve on his gardens and his home until his death in 1946. Since then his underground masterpiece has been turned into a museum with daily tours of the gardens. His family does the tours. You can make a reservation and visit throughout the year. Forestiere Underground Gardens are a wonderful sight to see if you are passing through or visiting Fresno. 






 


Photo by Amanda Lord
Used With Permission
Have you heard of the Forestiere Underground Gardens? Have you visited there? A friend of mine visited and told me about the gardens. Most of these pictures are from her visit. I would love to go some day. 




 



Today is my birthday, so I am giving away an ebook or print copy of my book, Matching Points. If you already have Matching Points, let me know and we can substitute another of my books. To enter the giveaway, comment on the blog post before midnight and leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.





Nancy J Farrier is an award-winning author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.







Fresh out of prison, Asia Jessup wishes she could change her past and maybe her future. As she searches for family, her devastating secret might destroy her last hope of connection. Ian Kittridge has his own thriving restaurant, and is a respected business owner. Thanks to a teenage Asia’s empathy one summer he’d been pulled back from the brink of ruining his life and ending up like his father—a murderer. As Asia’s secrets quake the family she hoped to find, can she and Ian find their way through the storm, to a peaceful resolution, and look toward a brighter future?

 

 

14 comments:

  1. Fascinating! I've never heard of these gardens. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. Wow! I've never heard of this, I wish I was planning a trip to Fresno!! Happy Birthday! bcrug at twc dot com

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    1. Thank you, Connie. Yes, I intend to visit Fresno some day and see these gardens.

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  3. That was fascinating. I lived in SoCal for 40 years and never heard of it. But my husband just told me he'd been in them! One tree my husband saw was up to the ceiling.

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  4. Happy Birthday Nancy! I hope you are having a lovely day! Thank you for sharing about these gardens, I had not heard of them and would love to visit sometime!

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  5. Happy Birthday today is my son birthday also.
    Sounds like a interesting place to visit.And the book sounds interesting also.

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  6. Happy Birthday!!
    This is amazing! I have never heard of it.
    grandmama(underscore)brenda(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  7. Happy Birthday This is so amazing Thank you for the chance to win Sarahbaby601973(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete