This is not the garden for anyone with balance issues. This garden contains uneven stepping stones and an uneven dirt path in the front garden. The back garden is accessed by climbing many steps, via a narrow walkway.
Parking
Parking is extremely limited on Shasta Road, which is also narrow, curving, and unsafe to walk on. We suggest you park near 1246 Grizzly Peak Blvd., and walk down to Shasta. Between 1246 and 1250 Grizzly Peak you’ll find the Tilden Path, which you can take down to Shasta Road. Warning: there are perhaps 100 stairs, so you will get your steps in!
The Tilden Path will bring you to 2946 Shasta Road: Tim’s house is right next door, at 2950 Shasta.
Tilden Path Google Maps Park near 1246-1250 Grizzly Peak Blvd. -> 2944-2946 Shasta Rd.
Showcase Feature
The shade-loving plants in this garden are a perfect complement to the Mediterranean-style house, with its tile roof, secluded courtyard, rustic wooden gate, and amazing dry-stacked rectangular stone walls—in addition to the cheerful floral-themed glazed tile art work that brightens the back garden.
In the front garden Roger’s red grape creates a shaded bower over a large arcing metal trellis which spans a private seating area featuring travertine tiles, stone benches, and a beautiful, splashing fountain made with an antique mill stone.
The garden surrounding the courtyard, shaded by a large coast live oak, contains woodland understory plants such as pink flowering currant, huckleberry, sword and chain ferns, and woodland strawberry and fragrant yerba buena as groundcovers, among other plants.
The back garden, which is accessed by walking up many steps via a narrow walkway, contains a sunny area featuring a mature California lilac ‘Ray Hartman,’ which overlooks a tumbling riot of rosy buckwheat, coyote mint, monkeyflower and more, which attract butterflies, bees, and other insects. Tim finds it satisfying that his home garden is an oasis for wildlife that are drawn in by the native plants provided for them.
The garden was designed and installed by Andy Liu and Mardi Sicular.
Other Garden Attractions
• Only new plants in this garden are watered.
• The front garden is open to grazing by deer.
FireScaping and Home Hardening
Tim has been working with NorCal FireScaping and two arborists to help make his home and garden fire-safe. Together, they have:
• Replaced wooden gates with aluminum bar gates; these were chosen as they look like vintage iron bars, and will complement the rustic look of the home.
• Added ember screens to old vents. (These screens have a very small mesh size that will keep embers from entering the vent and setting a house on fire from underneath or inside.)
• Installed ember screens on a gutter to prevent leaf accumulation.
• Reconstructed pergolas in the back garden so that they are at least five feet from the house.
• Removed all the rosemary along the front of the house, replacing it with monkey flowers, seaside daisies, and clarkia.
• Evacuated smaller perennials from Zone 0 (the five feet closest to the house) to other locations, as a first step in meeting the evolving requirements.
• Pruned the native grapes in the front garden to keep them further from the house (this work was performed by Aesthetic Pruner Leslie Buck).
• Removed the pittosporum that was overhanging the house on the north side, trimmed pittosporum along the back fence and trimmed oaks overhanging the house on the south side to reduce flammable vegetation close to the house. This work was performed by arborists Brende and Lamb.
• Cleared debris and “garden junk” that had accumulated near the house, with particular attention to flammable materials, such as plastic downspout rain diverters.
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include coast live oak, red flowering currant, fuchsia flowering currant, golden currant, huckleberry, California lilac, buckwheat, native woodland and beach strawberry, ocean spray, sage, and penstemon.
Garden Talks
1:00 “What I wish I knew about a woodland garden before starting” by Timothy J. Sullivan
At least partially wheelchair accessible? No
Photos
Click to see as a slideshow:
