Lot size: Front garden 2,575 sq. ft., side garden 915 sq. ft., 60% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in 2015
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
While on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour Mike and Mardi visited the California Native Bee Garden in Berkeley—and were sold on the idea of creating habitat for bees in their own garden. In came a rebate from the East Bay Municipal Utility District, and out went the remnants of the lawn. The team at Four Dimensions Landscape Company designed the garden, selecting a mixture of water-conserving, pollinator-attracting California native and Mediterranean-climate plants. Hardy, fast-growing deergrass anchor the garden, their long, arching plumes waving gracefully in the breeze.
Other Garden Attractions
- Bluestone pavers and decomposed granite paths provide access to the garden. Moss rock boulders add visual interest, and provide places for lizards to lounge. A dry-stacked moss rock retaining wall created from material fond on site was used to build the terraced patio.
- Persistent weeds are removed by…persistent weeding. No herbicides are used in this—or any—Tour garden.
Gardening for Wildlife
This garden was designed to attract bees! In winter, the delicate, creamy-pink flowers of the hardy and beautiful manzanita provide nectar to bumble and honeybees. Native bees collect pollen from the blue flowers of the California lilac and nectar from the sages and the massed rosy buckwheats. Among the native bees the Veiluva’s have attracted are all three common varieties of bumble bees (California, yellow faced, and black-tailed), digger, carpenter, and the small, bright metallic green sweat bees.
Meet the Designer!
Michael Thilgen from Four Dimensions Landscape Company will be at this garden from 10:00-1:30.
Garden Talks
12:00 “Choosing beautiful, colorful and dependable native plants that please the eye and enhance habitat” by Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscape
