While this garden is open all year round, visiting it during the tour day provides an opportunity to ask the docents about any particularly interesting plants or features.

Address: 15885 Los Gatos-Almaden Rd, Los Gatos (click the address to show it on a map).

Directions: From Hwy. 17 (880) take the Lark Ave. exit.
Turn left onto Lark Ave.
Turn right onto Los Gatos Blvd.
Turn left onto Los Gatos-Almaden Road.
Church is on the left side (if you reach Union Ave., you have gone to far).

From Hwy 85 take the Union Ave. exit.
Turn right onto Union Ave.
Turn right onto Los Gatos-Almaden Road
Church is on the right (past cemetery).

Showcase Features: A formerly bland public space of parking lots and ho-hum shrubs next to a church has been transformed with native shrubs. Any garden installed had to work with the PG&E transmission tower in front of the building with its mandated lawn, as well as look attractive year-round with low-maintenance plants. The garden has been put in over a number of years, so the oldest areas are approaching mature size.

Other Garden Attractions: An entrance garden welcomes the visitor turning in from the street with color provided by ground cover ceanothus and a line of Western redbuds. A large garden between the parking lots is centered by a California oak. Ceanothus has been espaliered onto a wooden enclosure hiding PG&E equipment. A ribbon of coyote brush snakes through the garden, tying together a composition of native shrubs and perennials featuring many Western redbuds. A low garden has been planted bordering the church office building. Ground cover shrubs and grasses mixed with masses of clarkia beautify the ground under existing trees. At the corner of the building, larger shrubs - Julia Phelps ceanothus, carpenteria californica and fremontodendron line a walkway. Directly behind the church sanctuary is the newest area, a meditation garden with low-growing natives lining decomposed granite paths. Benches invite lingering. This area will not be open until noon, after Sunday services have ended.

Years of CA Native Gardening at this Location: 6

Garden Size: 2,200 sq ft

Designer: Julie Swift of Wild Natives
Installer: Volunteers

Click here to display the plant list in a printer-friendly format.