Kelly Marshall and Mike Weidner’s garden
Clayton
Lot size: ¼ acre, front and back gardens are both on the tour, 80% native
Garden Age: Back garden was installed in stages, beginning in 2005. Front garden was installed in the fall of 2007.
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase feature: Only recently this front garden was lawn, and a place the family never used. Now the delightful combination of native bunch grasses and unrepressed native annuals creates a springtime splendor that beckons the family out to enjoy it. In the cool of the evening the children play on the rope swing or chase each other along the Three Rivers flagstone paths, while Kelly and Mike, enjoying cool breezes and the soothing sound of tumbling water, rest in one of the several seating areas that have been strategically placed throughout the garden. Kelly, owner of Kelly Marshall Garden Design, designed this garden; Kelly and Mike installed it, along with the help of contractor Moises Garcia.
Other garden attractions:
- In the back garden water cascades down the slope and into the pond—which the children love to walk across. (Really—you’ll see!)
- Snacks and bottled water will be available for purchase.
Gardening for Wildlife: This garden attracts a variety of wildlife, drawn by the sound of splashing water, the ample pond, and the diversity of seed-, berry-, and pollen-bearing plants. A bevy of quail forage happily in the back garden, keeping wary eyes out for the owls overhead, and the fox that occasionally drops by. Downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, and chickadee, frequent the garden. Hummingbirds and finches bathe in the fountain. Bats swoop overhead in the evening, gnoshing on mosquitoes. To keep the birds safe, the family cat is kept indoors.
Garden Talks: 4:00 “How to transform your front garden into a place that is: beautiful, water-conserving, and acceptable to the neighbors” by Kelly Marshall