Lot size: 4,050 sq. ft. front garden, 1,035 sq. ft. side gardens, 95% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 2011
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
Beverly, who has attended the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour for ten years, was ready for the weedy lawn, ivy, pyracantha, and junipers to go. In their place, she wanted a water-conserving native plant garden that would complement her forty year old valley oak. Beverly obtained advice and assistance from a few people, but this determined gardener mainly forged ahead on her own, selecting and placing many of the plants herself. Three types of manzanita (Howard McMinn, Franciscan, and Sentinel) create a privacy screen for the porch; deergrass and seven varieties of sages line the wood chip path that wends through the garden, creating a rustic look.
Other Garden Attractions
• In summer, splashes of color are provided by yellow gum plant, the purple blossoms of sages, and the large “fried egg” flowers of the Matilija poppy.
• Structure and year-round greenery are furnished by coast live oak, toyon, flannel bush, manzanitas, evergreen currant, and bay laurel.
• A variety of grasses—purple needle grass (our State grass), Idaho fescue, deergrass, leafy reed grass, and Mendocino reed grass—create a natural feel to the garden, while providing seeds and nesting materials to birds.
• This garden is “hardly watered at all.”
Gardening for Wildlife
Hummingbirds are attracted to this garden by four kinds of penstemon, sages, and monkeyflower. White-tailed kites soar and hover overhead. Butterflies visit the cream-colored, clustered flowers of the yarrow. Bumble, carpenter, and other native bees are drawn to the sages. Diminutive sharp-tailed snakes are occasionally spotted.
