Popular San Jose bulb garden blooming, will welcome visitors soon

There’s great news on the horizon for people looking to enjoy some colorful beauty this spring. Rich Santoro, aka The Bulb Guy, plans to open his backyard garden in San Jose to the public for a week starting March 27.

The garden at 850 Gateview Court in the city’s Berryessa neighborhood never opened last year after Santa Clara County imposed a stay-at-home order to stem the tide of COVID-19. But with infections falling and vaccines on the rise leading to looser restrictions this year, Santoro says he’s happy to be able to show off the collection of tulips, daffodils, snowdrops and other bulbs for the 13th year.

“The garden is looking absolutely fabulous,” he said. “I made a couple of small changes that seem to bring it together a little more.”

One of the big changes he made was planting 28,000 bulbs this year, nearly doubling last year’s record 14,300. In addition, he’s raised more than $43,000 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital since 2016 from visitors who have made donations.

The garden will be open noon to 5 p.m. March 27 through April 3. While the garden has been open on Easter Sunday in the past, Santoro said it’ll be closed so he and his wife, Riza, can spend the day in remembrance of two family members who died of COVID-19. Masks are required, and no more than 10 people — and no pets — will be allowed in the garden at a time, with visits limited to 15 minutes.

You can read more about the garden and its history at www.the-bulbguy.com.

THEATER WITH HISTORY: It might be hard to believe but Palo Alto Players, which is the oldest theatre company on the Peninsula, is 90 years old this year. Founded in 1931 during the Depression, the company has been inviting audiences to laugh, cry and think from its home base at the Lucie Stern Theater, which was presented to the city for Palo Alto Players’ use in 1933.

On Monday, the Palo Alto City Council honored the company’s milestone by proclaiming March 15 as Palo Alto Players Day. Sadly, it was almost a year to the day when Palo Alto Players — and other performing arts groups around the Bay Area — were forced to shut their doors to audiences because of the pandemic. Still, in her remarks to the city council, Managing Director Elizabeth Santana talked about the 490 productions that did happen, featuring thousands of on-stage performers and backstage artisans and entertaining tens of thousands of people over those nine decades.

“As we begin to emerge from the pandemic and focus efforts on healing and unifying the community,” Santana said, “there is no recovery without the arts and cultural industries.” You can keep tabs on what Palo Alto Players is doing for the next 90 years at paplayers.org.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: After reading about the Italian American Heritage Foundation’s drive-thru event for St. Joseph’s Day, Marilyn Zelaya at Willow Glen Travel Agency wrote to say it would be a great idea if San Jose took the March 19 celebration to even greater lengths. In addition to picking up the traditional bag with a fava bean, roll and orange, she suggests people make a donation to their favorite food bank and patronize a local restaurant to celebrate our city’s rich heritage of many cultures.

By the way, she’s looking forward to welcoming people back to the agency’s Lincoln Avenue office later this spring when Santa Clara County protocols allow it. “I hate working from home,” she said. Spoken like a travel agent.