Lot size: 850 sq. ft. front garden, 85% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 2016
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
When Linda, a long-time Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour participant, bought this house the front garden contained 10 palm trees, 13 huge oleander bushes, a large lawn, and tons of river rock.
As native plant gardens require much less maintenance and water than lawns, and the oleander has no ecological value here in California, over the last 5 years Linda and her husband have sheet mulched the lawn, removed the non-native ornamentals, and replaced them with a potpourri of native plants that attract hummingbirds and songbirds, native bees, and butterflies, and can tolerate hot, dry, and windy summers, with minimal upkeep.
Other Garden Attractions
• Hardy sulphur buckwheats, with their showy yellow flowers, border the front of the garden.
• The beautiful wooden and glass panel fence was hand-made by Linda’s husband.
• This water-conserving garden is watered for 20 minutes just 2 to 3 times a month in the summer.
Gardening for Wildlife
Black phoebes, Anna’s hummingbirds, and finches flit through the garden. Leaf-cutter bees buzz the sages, buckwheats, and poppies, collecting pollen, and take half moon-shaped nibbles from tender spring redbud leaves to form nests. Hummingbirds sip nectar from the long, red, tubular blossoms of the California fuchsia and the iridescent purple/blue flowers of the penstemon.
Garden Talks
10:30 “DIY lessons learned” by Linda Williams
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include lupines, sages, buckwheats, and penstemon.
