David Loeb's garden
Berkeley
Lot size: 5,000 square feet, 99% native
Garden Age: native garden was installed in October, 2003
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 3
Showcase feature: In the back garden dappled sunlight filters through large oak and bay trees, which thrive due to the presence of Blackberry Creek. After years of frustration trying to maintain an inherited English garden, central lawn, and rose bushes, David decided to give attractive, low-maintenance native plants a try. The new garden, which was designed and installed by Michael Thilgen and the team at Four Dimensions Landscape Development, takes the native riparian oak woodland as its template and starting point, relying on local native woodland shrubs and herbaceous plants for the 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% local native plants bring the flavor of the natural world into this garden.
- Meet the designer, Michael Thilgen, from 3:30-5:00 pm.
Gardening for Wildlife: The California lilac groundcover in the front garden is a favorite of bees. The original blue-eyed grass have multiplied and the native bunch grasses have prospered. In the back garden the sound of the creek flowing by attracts wildlife and soothes people. Hazelnuts, snowberries, huckle-, straw-, and elderberries, currants, and the diversity of local native plants attract birds. Chickadees, titmice, bushtits, Townsend’s warblers, flycatchers, hermit thrushes, and black phoebes now visit the garden. House wrens began nesting in the oak understory after the garden was transformed.
Garden Talks: Meet the designer, Michael Thilgen from 3:30-5:00 pm. Talk 4:00-4:30pm, “Choosing natives for shady sites” by Michael Thilgen