Lot size: 200 sq. ft. front, 20 sq. ft. parking strip, 85 sq. ft. side, and 900 sq. ft. back garden
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in the fall of 2021
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
During the pandemic Donna heard Doug Tallamy speak, and was inspired to garden for wildlife—particularly for birds, as she and Ken are avid birders. When this house was being prepared for sale in 2020, the realtor put in sod. In 2021, with consultation from Donna Bodine of Beeland Farms, Donna M. and Ken sheet mulched the lawn, and designed the back garden. Donna B. checked their plan, made suggestions, and “spotted”—meaning, placed—the plants the day they were to be planted. Ken and Donna M. did the planting, and they have added many native plants to the back, front, and side gardens since then.
This garden has something in flower almost every month. The floral display begins in January, when the delicate, urn-shaped cream-to-pink colored flowers of the manzanita appear. It continues in early spring with purple-blue California lilac, the gorgeous (and fragrant) pink flower clusters of the pink flowering currant, silver bush lupine, and a colorful array of wildflowers, then launches into high gear in summer with the buoyant blossoms of yellow and magenta monkeyflower mingling with lavender sages, creamy yarrow, and orange poppies. In fall yellow goldenrod, bright red California fuchsia, and pink buckwheat brighten the garden.
Other Garden Attractions
• The attractive planter box was built by Ken.
• The parking strip has been seeded with wildflowers, and baby blue eyes, Chinese houses, and clarkia bloom, in succession, for about three months.
Gardening for Wildlife
This garden was designed to attract bees, butterflies, and birds. Donna and Ken have seen 19 species of birds in or above their garden.
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants—in this garden include pink-flowering currant, California lilac, lupine, sage, goldenrod, aster, manzanita, buckwheat, redbud, and penstemon.
Green Home Features 
Donna and Ken have installed an 8 panel, 4 KW solar panel system and a heat pump for heating and cooling the house. You can see the compressor under the deck.
As a special bonus, on the day of the Tour next-door-neighbor Tom Graly, who has fully electrified his nearly 100-year-old home while maintaining its look and charm, will be on hand to answer any questions you have about electrification.
Tom and Jane’s home has a ducted heat pump system (with the compressor mounted on the roof of the house), light-colored roof, Marvin dual pane windows, blown-in insulation, electric dryer, HEPA air filtration system, electric vehicle and charger, and an induction stove. Their 13 solar panels were installed by SunWork, a non-profit that specializes in installing solar on homes with low electricity bills. (Sunwork also installs heat pump water heaters at a discounted price; you can read more about that here.)
Tom and Jane also have a laundry-to-landscape system to water their mostly-edible garden.
Tom and Jane’s home was featured on the 2021 East Bay Green Home Tour. You can learn more about their heat pump in this heat pump webinar (at 27 minutes in).
At least partially wheelchair accessible? Yes
