David Loeb’s Garden
Berkeley
Years gardened at this location: 17 years
Size: 5,000 square feet
Showcase feature: The backyard is shaded by large oak and bay trees which thrive due to the presence of Blackberry Creek, which flows through the yard. The previous owner had waged a constant battle to establish an English garden with a central lawn, rose bushes and a lemon tree, and abandoned the creek to ivy. After years of frustration trying to maintain the inherited garden features, David read about the advantages of native plant gardening and decided to give it try. The new garden, which was designed by Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscape Company, was installed in October of 2003. The garden takes the native riparian oak woodland as its template and starting point, relying on native woodland shrubs and herbaceous plants for the dominant shaded areas of the garden and native bunch grasses and meadow flowers for the central sunny area. The happy owner now calls the garden "glorious" throughout the year.
Other garden attractions:
- 99% locally appropriate native plants bring the flavor of the natural world into this garden.
- David's goal was to create an attractive garden in which he would spend less time weeding. While occasional weeding is still required, and ivy continues to intrude from neighboring yards, the amount and frequency of such efforts is considerably reduced.
- Picket fence was removed from the top of the streambank in order to make access to the creek and the area across the bridge more inviting.
- Creek banks were stabilized with riparian native plants: the upper areas recall an oak woodland understory.
- Evergreen shrubs (now small) will provide privacy as time passes.
- There is no automatic irrigation system; new plantings are watered by hand until they become established.
Gardening for Wildlife: The owner is a birdwatcher who has noticed several additional native species utilizing the yard over the past year. Flycatchers were seen for the first time during the late spring and early summer; black phoebes (like the aptly-named flycatcher, a species that preys on insects) have been present and active in the creek side area throughout the spring and summer; and a house wren recently nested in the oak understory for the first time. The usual oak woodland species—chickadees, titmice, bushtits, and Townsend’s warblers—have continued to be present throughout the winter.