Owen Evans moved to the Lake Tahoe area in the late 1940’s. He had completed a degree in Botany at Cal Berkeley and was hired by the USDA Forest Service. He served many roles, including naturalist, forester, firefighter and maintenance worker. He spent time working in the Angora fire lookout and was one of the inspectors for the saw mill at Lake Tahoe Blvd and Sawmill Rd.

Owen was married to Esther Hughes in 1952, who was a South Lake Tahoe school teacher. Esther later taught piano and singing out of their home, and was very involved in the community.

Owen’s passion was his natural surroundings, especially wildflowers. He had countless photographic slides of plants, most of them older glass slides, and he spent many hours in his garden. When the Angora Fire destroyed his home on June 24, 2007, he decided not to struggle through a re-build. He did, however, want to stay connect to his neighborhood and create something special for them to see. He decided to plant a garden for them using native vegetation. When the idea got around, many agencies jumped in to help and the Evans Family Garden became a reality.

We invite you to come enjoy the garden as it transitions from burnt moonscape to beauty and serenity. The garden is located at 1383 Mount Olympia Circle in South Lake Tahoe.

With our limited budget for this project, we need your help to re-vegetate this property! You can help out by: Going to Aspen Hollow and/or Tahoe Outdoor Living Nurseries.

• Tell them you would like to puchase plants or trees for the Evans Family Garden.
• Purchase plants or trees off of the registry list provided by the nursery.Click HERE to see the list of trees and plants.
• The nursery will hold your donation until the Tahoe RCI brings it to the garden for the neighborhood planting days.

You can also sign up to volunteer on upcoming planting days as well as helping to maintain the garden. Click on the email button if you would like more information or would like to sign up for the volunteer list.