Showcase feature
Inspired by the first Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Ann and Paul asked Alrie Middlebrook of Middlebrook Gardens to design and install an allergen-free California native plant garden. The owners’ favorite part of the garden is a dry meandering stream bed containing mixed cobble and scattered rushes. Undulating raised berms provide drainage for low-growing manzanita and California lilac groundcovers. Native grape softens the fenceline.
Other Garden Attractions
- Red fescue, used as a lawn alternative, is an emerald-green oval.
- Thick mulch and a drip system conserve water. The garden now needs little summer water.
- Recurrent invasive non-native periwinkle was finally stymied by much hand-pulling and weed cloth.
- Accent boulders provide visual interest.
Gardening for Wildlife
Log and boulders provide shelter for wildlife.
Garden Talks: 1 Garden Talk: Alrie Middlebrook will be available from 2:00 – 4:00 to discuss how she worked with Ann and Paul to design the garden, review the problems they encountered, and describe the merits of the plants that were installed. Bring photos of your own gardens to obtain design advice and plant recommendations!
Photos
Click to see as a slideshow:
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- Kasameyer garden
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- This emerald green oval in Ann and Paul Kasameyer’s Livermore garden is not lawn – it’s a drought-tolerant bunchgrass, red fescue. This garden receives little summer water.
