Bill Harms is an artist and craftsman who studied with a master in Germany. In 1957, Harms migrated to New York with his parents and siblings. A year later, they crossed the country by bus and landed in Sacramento.
“We got out on L Street where the Greyhound bus station was,” Harms says. His first impression was a sleepy village. But the family soon found an apartment at 23rd and G streets, and “that’s when we started loving the area.”
The renaissance of the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery is a remarkable volunteer success story. In the words of the Cemetery Master Plan, the cemetery was “barren and lifeless” until volunteers transformed a “neglected burial ground to a vibrant historic cemetery that is a horticultural attraction.”
The plan states a vision for the historic cemetery, recognizing three major areas devoted to gardens: Historic Rose Garden, Hamilton Square Perennial Garden and California Native Plant Demonstration Garden.
It’s bad enough that we have to fight weeds or deal with unsuitable plants that we inherited when we bought our properties. It’s worse if you are the one who innocently planted something that has turned into a monster. Plants that are described as “vigorous” may be ready to take over your yard. Some grow too big, too fast. Others have roots that spread aggressively. Still others spread by seed.
I don’t really consider plants “invasive” that are easy to remove. California poppies, sweet peas and other plants that self-seed can be readily pulled out if they pop up in unwanted places.
Similar to a scene in a Nancy Drew mystery novel, homeowner Cathy Skeen pushes open a secret door concealed within a library bookcase and walks through the hidden passageway.
What’s on the other side? Another complete house.
My husband says it’s like being married to Pigpen, the notoriously dirty character in Peanuts.
I might be cleaned up and ready to go out for the evening, but then notice a plant that needs water or run into the garden to check something. The next thing I know, my shirt is wet and smudged, my fingernails are grungy and there is debris in my hair. There have been occasions when I have had to wash up and change clothes twice before we finally pull out of the driveway.
I simply can’t stay clean.
The East Sacramento bungalow, built in 1949, had the original kitchen, original bathroom, original flooring and no insulation. There was even the old knob and tube wiring when Nar Bustamante purchased the home in 2018.
“As pretty and cute as the house was, it was just done,” says Bustamante, who looked at numerous homes before finding the two-bedroom, one-bath house on a quiet street off Elvas Avenue.
