Miriam Schalit’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:41:27-07:00Showcase Feature The lawn that was in place when Miriam purchased the house wasn’t cutting the mustard; it needed too much water, for one thing, and it also took too much time to maintain. In
Price and Bernice Russ’ garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:09-07:00Showcase Feature Three years ago Bernice and Price stopped watering their large front lawn; they wanted a water-conserving, low-maintenance garden that contained flowers, color, and texture, and had a woodsy feel. This spacious garden,
Clara Lai and Howard Torf’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:09-07:00Showcase Feature This garden was formerly solid lawn, bordered by view-blocking hedges. Now the hedges are history, as is the turf in the back garden. (The amount of lawn in the front has been reduced.)
Lois Reynolds and Terry Mead’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase feature The side and back gardens, once “cement, dirt, weeds, and a hodgepodge of exotics” where Lois and Terry “hardly ever went” have been transformed by Rick Alatorre of Alatorre Garden Design into a
Barbara and Phil Leitner’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature This attractive, tranquil garden, designed by David Bigham and installed by Barbara, features a sunny meadow with low-growing grasses, sedges, and wildflowers surrounded by taller borders of grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs. A phalanx
Al and Barbara Kyte’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature Over the last fifty years Al, a flyfishing author and teacher, converted his typical suburban lot into a lovely, low-maintenance, park-like landscape. In the beautiful front garden, a streambed located between graceful vine
Troy McGregor’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature This secluded front garden, designed and installed by Troy, is a wonderful example of how a charming, drought-tolerant, low-maintenance sanctuary can be created from a nondescript, water-consuming lawn. A sinuous wall separates the
Nancy Salsig’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Nancy went looking for a designer who could help her remove her dead lawn and twenty years’ worth of ivy. Happily, she found Michael
Elise and Mike McFarland’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase feature Elise and Mike’s garden shows just how spacious and dramatic a small front yard can become. Designed by Kat Weiss of Kat Weiss Landscape Design, the lawn and straight concrete path were
Kate and Andy Mackinnon’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature Picture a time- and water-consuming lawn; now cover it with cardboard and six inches of woodchips (delivered free by an arborist). Then flash forward five months, to when the garden was planted with
Roy and Rosadelia Detwiler’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature When the Detwilers, inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, decided to make changes to their back garden they hired Kelly Marshall, of Kelly Marshall Garden Design. Kelly, undaunted
June Chambers’ garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase feature: June has converted her intensive labor and water-consuming English cottage garden into a mostly-local natives haven for wildlife. Now she loves to return from a hike on Mt. Diablo and see the
Kelly Marshall and Mike Weidner’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase Feature In 2007, Kelly, owner of Kelly Marshall Garden Design, and her husband, Mike, wanted to transform their dull front lawn into a native plant haven for wildlife. Kelly’s goal was to design a
Joan Underwood’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature: When Joan began gardening on the lot adjacent to her home the weeds were four feet high. Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Joan got to work. No herbicides
Kate Sibley’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Prior to their conversion, the front and back gardens consisted of water-thirsty, boring lawns—and one giant and overwhelming juniper. Today the gardens are a vibrant mix of more than eighty species of
Anni Jensen and Carol Manahan’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature This gorgeous, colorful, twenty-year-old water-conserving native plant garden shows how a plain landscape can be transformed into a beautiful oasis as attractive to wildlife as it is to people. An abundance of
Rick and Monica Alatorre’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:10-07:00Showcase feature: The tapestry of color found in a wonderful palette of natives provides aesthetic appeal. A robust coffeeberry and four kinds of mature manzanitas provide structure and greenery throughout the year. Swaths of
Wen Hui Shen’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature This small, triangular garden, designed to evoke the passage of time, is reminiscent of a ruin. Tumbling stone walls, an antique olive urn, and plinths from a San Francisco home that saw
Dan Rademacher and Tamara Schwarz’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase feature The former “defensive plantings” in the front yard included about “a thousand pounds of agave, and a tall spiky tree” as well as numerous other large and uninviting trees and shrubs. Rosemary Zappulla
Ann and Ray Lage’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature When Ann and Ray, inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, decided to remove their struggling front lawn, they hired Josh Thayer of Native Sun Gardens to do the design and
Tim and Michelle Inama’s Garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase feature: Tim and Michelle bought this house in large part because of the huge oak in the front garden, a remnant of the magnificent oak woodland that once blanketed this area. The challenge was
Sue Duckles and Cherie Donahue’s gardens – #14 and 15
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature The marvelous restoration project sisters Sue and Cherie (who own adjoining properties) embarked on required removing the ivy that had invaded their parents’ original native garden, enshrouded the slope, and was strangling
Alan Harper and Carol Baird’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00NOTE: The trails are steep and narrow, and should not be walked by those with balance issues. Most of the garden can be seen from the driveway, which is ADA accessible. Showcase Feature A majestic
Natalie Forrest’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Prior to its transformation the upper two-thirds of this spacious back garden was weeds and juniper, and a place Natalie never went. Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Natalie looked
Brenda Senturia and Gary Cooper’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase feature Dry-stacked moss rock retaining walls and paths lined with decomposed granite and mulch are beautifully designed to provide access to the steep slope in the back garden. It’s hard to believe that this
Nalani and Anna Heath-Delaney’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature This stunning garden is a must-see for anyone with a small garden in the flats. In place of the sterile lawn they once had, Nalani and Anna designed and installed a
Cindy and Richard Simons’ garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Prior to its metamorphosis, this garden contained large thirsty lawns, bordered by juniper and box hedges. Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Cindy and Rick wanted to reduce water use,
Mary Cooper’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Mary, who has been attending the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour since its inception in 2005, was ready to get rid of the juniper-heavy ‘50s-style landscape. Inspired by the Tour, she hired
Glen Schneider’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Glen has been bringing nature home for two decades. In that time, a buckeye seed he collected from Mt. Diablo has grown to a spreading, lichened tree. The garden has gradually taken
Elizabeth Pierson and William Rainey’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Bat researchers Dixie and Bill had three things in mind when they planned their garden renovation: native plants, rocks, and edibles. In the small front courtyard, which was designed by Shirley Watts, the
Margaret Norman and Geoff Holton’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature The massive oak in the back garden towers over a variety of shade-loving plants. In the spring of 2008 the struggling lawn was removed, and a small bunchgrass meadow created. The neighbor’s
Mardi and Jeff Mertens’ garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase Feature Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Mardi and Jeff removed the periwinkle and grass, planting 120 species of natives, and creating a haven that attracts native birds, bees,
Ann Keri and Richard Leaf’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase Feature Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, Ann and Richard went looking for a designer who could “create a garden that could be on the Tour.” Rick Alatorre of Alatorre Garden
Jenny and Scott Fleming’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase feature: The leading native plant garden in private ownership in California was started by Jenny and Scott in the 1950s. Designed and installed by the owners, from the cedars at the top of the
Lessly Field’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase Feature Got a small, sunny, flat garden? Wish it was planted with natives? Like yellow and blue? If so, this is the garden for you! Prior to its transformation, this garden consisted of periwinkle,
California Native Bee Garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:12-07:00Showcase feature An Eden for pollinators, this fascinating garden has worked phenomenally, attracting nearly 60 of Berkeley’s 85 species of native bees. This garden, designed for the sole purpose of assessing the attractiveness of
Cyrus Musiker and Andi Duncan’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase Feature This shady corner lot, once all lawn, is now a buoyant, diverse mixture of plants, in which native aster and buckwheats rub shoulders with daylilies and fringe flowers. A continuing experiment, this
Michelle Minor and Milt Friedman’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00This shady garden started as solid lawn bisected by a straight concrete path. After Michelle took Glen Keator’s class on how to design a native plant garden, out went the lawn and in came the
Leslie Zander’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase Feature Leslie’s small, sunny front garden is a mixture of evergreen and deciduous shrubs and trees that create a delightfully changing landscape throughout the year. In spring the garden is awash in color, from
Alameda Butterfly Habitat
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase feature This delightful half-acre butterfly sanctuary, located on the grounds of Bay Farm Elementary School, was designed to provide food and shelter for larval and adult butterflies. More than 100 species of native
Karen Long and Karen Marie Schroeder’s garden
admin2026-04-08T10:42:15-07:00Showcase Feature The owners took the slow, easy route when removing their lawn—they covered it with cardboard, compost, and mulch, kept watering, and let it decay for 3 to 4 months (go ahead—ask for details!).