Lot size: 900 sq. ft. front garden on tour, 60% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 2004
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
This shady corner lot, once all lawn (it was dug out by hand) is now a buoyant, diverse mixture of plants, in which native aster and buckwheats rub shoulders with day-lilies and woolly thyme. An admitted experiment, the garden, designed and installed by Cyrus and Andi, is currently in transition from mostly Mediterranean to native plants. Poppies, clarkia, and Douglas iris brighten the garden in spring. Contoured mounds provide drainage. A meandering flagstone path leads through the garden, while a plethora of boulders and logs provide visual interest.
Other Garden Attractions
• Don’t fly the coop – visit it instead, to admire the happy buff Orpington, barred Plymouth Rock, and speckled Sussex hens in residence in the attractive home-made pen.
• The back garden will also be open for viewing; numerous seating areas invite one to linger. Take a seat and admire the lemonadebery, oceanspray, and elk clover that line the fence.
• Walk the block and a half (past the blue farm house across the street, which was built in 1879) to Michelle Minor’s garden.
• Don’t miss the “before” photos!
Gardening for Wildlife Bird houses, a bird bath, and a high diversity of plants invite chestnut-backed and black-capped chickadees, Nuttall’s woodpeckers, lesser goldfinches, dark-eyed juncos, Anna’s and ruby-throated hummingbirds, black phoebes, and a neighborhood hawk into the garden.
Garden Talks
11:00 and 3:00 “How to raise chickens in an urban environment” by Andi Duncan
