Lot size: 1.75 acres
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 2022
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Special notes:
There is no street parking anywhere on the narrow street near this garden—either before the house, or after it. So, visitors to this garden have three options:
1) Park on Circle Drive, El Sobrante, near the intersection with Oak Knoll and walk uphill about 6-8 minutes to reach the garden. (Watch for cars while strolling up and down this one lane road.)
2) Eight cars can park on the driveway of this home; thus, eight parking passes will be given out by the friendly Parking Volunteer in the order in which visitors arrive. Please return your parking pass to the amazing man who has agreed to be Parking Volunteer for the day (spoiler: it is actually his garden you’ll be visiting) and don’t forget to thank him!
3) We will set up a Casual Carpool stop at the Circle Drive and Oak Knoll intersection. If folks with parking passes are willing to take additional visitors up the hill, you can hitch a ride to the garden with them. Don’t catch a ride up if you cannot manage a 6-8 minute walk downhill walk, as we will not be coordinating downhill rides. Please be aware that drivers may require you to wear masks in their cars, and bring masks in case they are needed.
Once at the property the garden is accessed via a sloping and uneven driveway. Be aware of the cars entering and exiting the driveway.
When in the garden, watch your step. The garden, on a steep hill, has more than 1,000 hand-cast concrete steps; made in the 1940s, these steps are non-standard in height. Be careful, and watch your footing. This garden is not for those with balance issues.
Folks allergic to bee stings – be advised there are three beehives in the garden.
There is absolutely no bathroom access at this home; the nearest bathroom is at the El Sobrante Library, at 4191 Appian Way in El Sobrante. On Saturdays the library is open from 9:00-5:00.
Garden Description
In 1949 renowned garden designer and artist Harland Hand designed and installed this steep hillside garden. The design included more than one thousand custom-poured concrete steps which provide access to curving paths that lead to a series of garden rooms—allowing visitors to explore, anticipate, and delight in unexpected views from a plethora of terraces and patios. Lichen-covered and time-worn benches, designed and created by Hand, have provided resting places for visitors for more than seventy years.
The magnificent oak woodland at the back of the house contains a mature understory of spicebush, Oregon grape, and toyon. A venerable fallen oak, left in repose, is a dramatic living sculpture.
Some changes were made to the garden during the pandemic. Many pine trees were removed, creating open areas. Now, on the sunny, steep slope adjacent to the swimming pool a seventeen-foot waterfall, designed by Diana, plunges into a tranquil pond. On hot days flocks of delighted birds gather by the cascade to drink and bathe. At the base of the fall honeybees cluster together to sip water from damp stones.
More than a thousand native plants have been added to the garden since 2022. (Yes, it’s true; this is a large garden!) Garden designer Kelly McGuiness and Diana worked together to select the plants; Kelly created the design.
Blue-eyed grass line the paths; a lupine meadow was planted near the top of the garden. The back fence has been planted with alternative holly leaf cherry and coffeeberry shrubs; this hedge will create a privacy screen when mature.
Other Garden Attractions
• Honeybees from the three hives frolic about the garden.
• Weeds are dealt with by…persistent weeding. No pesticides are used in this—or any!—Tour garden.
• Drop down into any of the many seating areas in this peacful garden and rest a while; you won’t want to leave.
Gardening for Wildlife
“The number of birds visiting the garden has increased since the natives were planted,” notes Diana.
The native plants are allowed to go to seed, feeding birds throughout the year. Red-breasted nuthatches, orioles, Downey woodpeckers and quail visit the garden; mourning doves nest here. Red tail hawks soar overhead and, occasionally, through the garden. Owls can be heard calling to each other at night. Bats flit overhead in the evenings, noshing on mosquitoes. Jays and squirrels plant oaks, which then pop up all over the garden. On warm days, lizards bask in the sun; later they will take shelter in the dry stacked retaining walls. The steepest part of the garden is left untended, for wildlife to use, including a shy coyote, and deer, which visit the lower part of the garden often.
Garden Talks
11:00 & 2:00 “The process of transforming a thirsty Pacific Northwest garden into a low water-consuming California native plant garden” by Diana Marshall Mei
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include oaks, holly leaf cherry, huckleberry, California lilac, lupine, manzanita, buckwheat, sage, and penstemon.
Green Home Features
Blue jean, or denim, insulation was installed to make the house more energy efficient. Blue jean insulation is made from recycled jeans; it can be used in walls, ceilings, floors, attics, and crawl spaces. As the denim is treated with a flame retardant, it can be used instead of fiberglass insulation. Some of the advantages of blue jean insulation are that it is easy to handle—there is no need to suit up in gloves and long pants, or wear a respirator, as one would if handling fiberglass. In addition, denim insulation is both recycled and also recyclable, post-use. (Fiberglass must be sent to the landfill.)
A whole house fan cools the house during warm weather. At night, the whole house fan pulls in cool air through open windows and exhausts it through the attic. The exchange of air cools the house, as does flushing the attic (which holds a lot of heat). Whole house fans are inexpensive to install, and they are much less expensive than air conditioners to run. If you are not going to install a heat pump (which both heats and cools air), a whole house fan is a great way to cool your house.
The family gets around in an electric car.
At least partially wheelchair accessible? No
