Thomas Welsh
Question from Janice:
We recently learned that our beautiful home at 2711 Claremont Blvd., Berkeley, CA, was designed by your great grandfather, Thomas Welsh. We had an opportunity to see your book about him at a library. Are any copies available for purchase? Do you know of any other books about him? Many thanks.
Answer from Pat:
My great grandfather was not Thomas Welsh. However, for thirty years my writing name (as the author of books and writer/host of local and national TV programs and videos on gardening, and additionally this blog) has been Pat Welsh. The name Welsh is my married name which I got from my husband, Louis M. Welsh, later Judge Louis M. Welsh, whom I married in 1951.
My maiden name was Patricia Ruth Fisher-Smith, and I was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. My husband’s name was Louis Maximilian Welsh, but he was the step-son of John Lloyd Wright, also an architect like his famous father Frank Lloyd Wright. So I am the step-granddaughter-in-law of Frank Lloyd Wright. Perhaps this connection caused the confusion? Was your home designed by an architect called Thomas Welsh or was it designed by Frank Lloyd Wright?
My first memoir, “All My Edens: A Gardener’s Memoir” included mention of the Wrights, since I lived next door to my in-laws, John Lloyd Wright and his wife Frances Lloyd Wright for 28 years and John Lloyd Wright designed our home. I recently completed a second memoir (my seventh book) and it tells more about the Wrights than the first one did, but it will not be published for a few years since now is not the right time for it. Meanwhile, I have begun writing a novel, which I hope with become a 3-book saga. I have a great story to tell and am very excited about writing this next book.
I am so so sorry to have bothered you unnecessarily. Our house really was designed by Thomas Welsh and we are looking for a Patricia Welsh who was his great-granddaughter and who wrote a book about him. Thanks so much for answering our inquiry and telling us about you and your writings.
No problem. I figured you got the wrong Pat Welsh. People often muddle me with other Pat Welsh’s, including the football star, a fireman in Australia, and the actress who played the voice of E.T. and the Star Wars character Boushh in the Return of the Jedi. Now you know, I’m the garden writer.
Hello, I am so amazed that I found this site by doing a Google search for Sunset Zone 24 gardening, and found the step-granddaughter-in-law of Frank Lloyd Wright as well a famous Santa Monica Gardening writer.
I am the president of Home Grown Food Network, Inc., a permanent 501(c)(3) charity devoted, with two other goals, to promoting edible landscaping. I am also a retired California real estate lawyer who practiced Santa Monica rent control law in Santa Monica for 20 years.
Now I own with other members of my family a little dollhouse trailer at 2930 Colorado Ave., #C-9, in Santa Monica, and the Park it is located in is under attack by the City and developers to build a five-story luxury condo building with 400 families living on these 4 acres rather than the 109 who live here now. One of the things we decided to do to show it is feasible to keep this low density is prepare a plan to do food gardening here, rather than building another obscene big building, with the traffic, noise, pollution, shading adjacent properties, overcrowding, use of water, and all the other environmental problems that would bring.
We have 49-750 square foot empty plots here. What do you think would be the easiest-fastest-cheapest way to get a preliminary plan showing what could be done to grown food on them?
Thank you so much for your time. My phone number if you want to call instead of using the e-mail I gave you is 310-795-3762.
Well, first off, I am not a Santa Monica gardener. I live in San Diego County. Secondly, it is a shame that financial interests often trump human values, as judging from your account is happening in this case. I deplore the fact that so many California trailer parks are being destroyed in the name of progress with the result that low-income housing shrinks and more people are pushed into poverty or far less satisfactory and enjoyable living conditions. Anything you can do to halt this process is on the positive side. To answer your question, the best and quickest way to obtain a plan of a food garden would be to hire a landscape architect or garden designer to measure the space and draw up a garden plan. A plan that includes raised beds filled with top soil might provide the best option, but this would be more expensive than gardening in the ground. You also need to think in advance where the gardeners would get irrigation water and who would pay for it. Is the thought to create a community garden? Some funding might be available through foundations. Your cheapest solution would be to find someone who feels as you do who can donate their time to drawing up a plan. Keep in mind that vegetables need full sun in order to grow.