Lot size: 3,000 sq. ft. front and back gardens, 85% native

Garden Age: The garden was installed in the fall of 2007

Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour:

Showcase Feature

Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Nancy went looking for a designer who could help her remove her dead lawn and twenty years’ worth of ivy. Happily, she found Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscape Company, whose team designed and installed the garden. The front lawn was replaced with grasses, sages, California fuchsia, and yarrow. What was once the back lawn is now an attractive meadow containing bunchgrasses, blue-eyed grass, and sages, among other plants. The ivy on the slope was pulled out by hand—no pesticides used here!—and there has been little resprouting. Multiple seating areas invite one to linger; pull up a chair and enjoy this peaceful haven!

Other Garden Attractions

• A couple of years ago Nancy and a friend planted 300 native spring bulbs. Come see what’s blooming!

• Basalt bird bath burbles pleasantly near the seating area, attracting people and feathered visitors alike.

• Drainage issues were cleverly resolved with a dry creek bed and bog.

• Cement patios were replaced with an inviting flagstone path, which leads through the garden.

• Find out how you can receive a rebate of up to $2,000 to remove and replace your lawn with a water-wise garden! At this garden, flyers will be available with information on the Contra Costa Water District’s Lawn to Garden Rebate and free Landscape Design Assistance Program. If you include 70% or more natives in your plan you can have your own garden on the Tour!

Gardening for Wildlife

Native flowers, seeds, berries, and a fountain attract more than thirty species of birds, including lesser gold and house finches, titmice, chickadees, towhees, doves, and Nuttall’s woodpeckers. The fuchsias and sages are alluring to a constant stream of hummingbirds. Bushtits and juncos nest in the garden. Cooper’s hawks occasionally zoom through the back garden and rest in a tree, taking it all in.

Bird list

Plant list