Lot size: 400 sq. ft. front, 300 sq. ft. parking strip, 100 sq. ft. side, 400 sq. ft. middle garden, and 1,200 sq. ft. rear garden, 95% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 1993
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 2
Showcase Feature
The East Bay of past centuries was a vast grassland dotted with oaks and covered with spectacularly diverse wildflower displays in the spring. This area of “inexpressible fertility,” grazed by tule elk, and frequented by bobcats, mountain lions, and grizzly bears, was home to an astonishing diversity and quantity of wildlife. Early explorers reported flocks of birds that rose “in a dense cloud with a noise like that of a hurricane.” Margot’s passion for California’s forgotten landscapes led her to create meadows containing genetically local native bunchgrasses and associated plants from the coastal prairie plant community. Margot’s unique summer watering philosophy (she doesn’t) means that plants are either hardy, or they’re compost. Chinese houses, lupines, and buttercups brighten the garden in spring.
Other Garden Attractions
• Watch for the wild boar, grizzly bear, and herons that reside in this garden.
• Interested in learning more about vanished landscapes, and how you can help to keep them alive in your own gardens? Join Margot for a guided walk, or help remove invasive species, on Albany Hill. Visit www.TendAncientHill.org for more information.
• Saunter across the street to Anita’s and Dave’s gardens.
Gardening for Wildlife
Hooded orioles, towhees (which love the needlegrass seeds), chickadees, mourning doves and Anna’s hummingbirds frequent the garden, as do plenty of native bees. A sharp-shinned hawk perches in the large cedar in the back garden, and watches it all from overhead. Slender salamanders make homes for themselves in shady spots. Surveillance cameras (really!) allow Pierre and Margot to watch raccoons, opossums, skunks and squirrels frolicking about the back garden.
