Lot size: 560 sq. ft. front garden, 80% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 1997
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Elisa and her husband are the second owners of their 100 year old home. The first owner had a small front garden that consisted of roses, smelled like creosote, and was mulched in plastic and bark. It’s come a long way. These days, in spring and summer a combination of California lilac, iris, poppies, lupine, and blue-eyed grass are in flower. In fall California fuchsia, Roger’s Red grape, and yellow-twigged dogwood brighten the garden. Spice bush and coffeeberry soften the lines of the house, and Matilija poppies twine about the porch rails. Elisa chose a suite of hardy, drought-tolerant natives. Recently, to provide the natives with better growing conditions, she buried logs in the soil; as the logs decompose they release nutrients. The rotting logs also retain water, which the plants growing above them love.
Other Garden Attractions
- The garden is watered deeply once a month in the summer.
- Mulch is delivered free by arborists.
Gardening for Wildlife
The diversity of plant heights (ground–covers, shrubs, and trees), and the variety of plants (more than forty species of natives) attract bees, hummingbirds, chickadees, and finches.
Music in the Garden
12:00-12:45 Mary Ford will play the Appalachian dulcimer and sing folk, country, and uncategorized fun songs.
