Lot size: 400 square foot front, 200 sq ft parking strip, 100 sq foot side gardens on tour, 100% native
Garden Age: native garden was installed in 2002
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 6
Showcase feature
This small, charming garden, designed and installed by Debbie, is a riot of color in the spring. Creamy milkweed and yarrow, pink clarkias, purple lupine and bright orange poppies reseed and move about the garden at will, creating changes Debbie hadn’t expected. This pleases Debbie, who “didn’t want a lawn, and did want plants that would grow with little attention paid to them.” A majestic California sagebrush, manzanita and California lilac provide structure and greenery throughout the year. Luxuriant wavy-leafed soaproot—with its delicate white blossoms that open at dusk and are pollinated by moths—and lush patches of hummingbird sage mingle gracefully with the shrubs and wildflowers. Self-reseeding yellow lupine create a cheerful border on the west side of the garden.
This garden got a major do-over last fall; the result is a fresh, tidy, and well-tended landscape.
Other Garden Attractions
• Multi-trunked redbud and red-twigged dogwood in the parking strip create visual interest, a privacy screen for the house, and inviting places for birds to rest and snack on insects.
• Gardening tape in the parking strip helps to contain and support the sea of milkweed.
• Debbie removed the lawn and planted in a small berm, which provides the drainage most natives need.
• Check out the great “before“ photos.
• Narrow leaf and showy milkweed was planted for monarchs. The aphids that always come to milkweed bring in birds and beneficial insects, and are left alone.
• Only new plants are watered in this low-maintenance garden.
• Debbie’s home was built by “One nail” Charles MacGregor in 1939: note the original terra cotta barrel tile roof, the large, arched picture window, and check out the ornate chimneys on nearby homes he also built.
Gardening for Wildlife
Chickadees, towhees, hummingbirds and sparrows frequent the garden, sheltering and searching for insects in the sages, redbud and dogwood.
Buckeye, skipper, and painted lady butterflies are attracted to the vibrant abundance of blossoms in her flower-filled front garden. Monarchs lay eggs on the milkweed. Hummingbirds love the fuchsias. Leafcutter bees visit the parking strip to nosh on the redbud leave, and carpenter bees and other native bees visit the garden. In the mornings, flocks of sparrows chatter in the closely woven branches of the sagebrush.
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include California lilac, sage, lupine, manzanita, dogwood and buckwheat.
At least partially wheelchair accessible? Yes
