This very steep garden is accessed via numerous steps—some with no rails—and gravel paths. This garden should not be visited by anyone with balance issues.
Showcase Feature
Jean volunteers at the non-profit Native Here Nursery, which is managed by the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Native Here is dedicated to growing locally native plants for home gardens and restoration projects by propagating and selling plants from seeds and cuttings ethically collected in Alameda and Contra Costa counties—so it’s no surprise that Jean’s own garden would contain mostly local native plants.
This large garden, which is on a steep slope, is home to an enviable collection of shrubs, such as nine types of manzanita and sages, seven kinds of California lilac, and five varieties of buckwheat and lupine, which are interspersed with toyon, silk tassel, mountain mahogany and more.
Flagstone and gravel paths lined with boulders and branches wend through the expansive back garden, past drifts of pink and cream flowering buckwheat. In spring the sunny and windswept slope is a sea of bright pink clarkias and lavender Phacelia that delight yellow-faced bees, which buzz happily from blossom to blossom collecting pollen and nectar. These blossoms are soon joined by lupins, penstemons, poppies, and more.
Native bunch grasses, including red, Idaho, and California fescue, foothill and nodding needle grass, and melic and one-sided blue grass, wave gracefully in the breeze.
Mardi Sicular and Andy Liu provided advice on the front garden, and Allyson Greenlon, owner of Moonpie Gardens (not currently in business), designed the back garden. Both front and back were installed by Lama Gardening Service, which also built the pathways.
Other Garden Attractions
• Enjoy the spectacular view!
• The front garden is open to grazing by deer.
• Terraces were created with dry-stacked boulders.
• Established plants are not watered: those that need it are watered by hand.
• The attractive, fire-resistant fence was made by Lama Gardening Service.
Gardening for Wildlife
Stellar and scrub jays, mourning doves, hummingbirds, finches and other birds flit through, searching for insects or seeds. Many different bees are seen on the plants and on the ground, and fence lizards bask on the rocks on sunny days.
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants—in this garden include coast live oak, holly leaf cherry, pink flowering and chaparral currant, wild rose, huckleberry, California sunflower, California lilac, snowberry, serviceberry, aster, goldenrod, lupine, manzanita, sage, native strawberry, buckwheat, mountain mahogany, honeysuckle, elderberry, and penstemon.
Green Home Features
* Heat pump for heating and cooling the house
* Electric vehicle
At least partially wheelchair accessible? No
Parking will be tight. Be prepared to walk a block or two.
Photos
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