Virtual Tour Menu View Photos View Movie: Front Yard View Movie: Back Yard View Movie: Bigberry manzanita in bloom
Showcase Features: This garden demonstrates what a maturing native landscape looks like in a standard tract home lot. It is 95% native with an emphasis on locally native plants such as valley oak, coast live oak, California buckeye, Douglas iris, western columbine, blue witch, and coyote mint. The style is California cottage garden in which beds are thick and exuberant with plants that crowd out non-native invasives. Plants are labeled. Owners introduce new plants as space opens up.

Other Garden Attractions: Purple sage, hummingbird sage, California wild grape, yarrow, western bleeding heart; small stands of purple needlegrass and nodding needlegrass; annuals such as California poppy, elegant clarkia, globe gilia. The side yard includes espaliered western redbud, snow drop bush, and golden currant. Look for native bulbs such as Fremont's star lily, one-leaved onion, Ithuriel's spear, prettyface, California brodiaea, and wild hyacinth. Sustainable living features: compost bins, breezecatcher clothesline.

Gardening for Wildlife: 95% native content, many shrubs, wildflowers allowed to go to seed, leaf duff, bird baths, and three decades of being chemical-free make this a safe and welcoming environment for critters. Since landscaping with native plants, an increase in the number and diversity of birds and insects has been observed: Anna's hummingbird, California towhee, western bluebird, bushtit, yellow-rumped warbler, white-crowned sparrow, Bewick's wren, lesser goldfinch, hermit thrush, Northern mockingbird, scrub jay, mourning dove, house finch, fox squirrel, buckeye butterfly, bumblebee, lady beetle, syrphid fly, yellow jacket, praying mantis, and grasshopper.

Years of CA Native Gardening at this Location: 23

Garden Size: 2500 sq ft

Designer: Henry Mink (2001); Jeffrey Caldwell and Tanya Kucak (2002); Agi Kehoe (2006)
Installer: Homeowner

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