Gail Giffen’s Garden
Lafayette
Gardening experience: 16 years at this location
Garden size: 1 acre, 30% native
Showcase feature: Designed and built by Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscape Development, in collaboration with building architect Reed Robbins, Gail’s garden began as a barren piece of land. Today, this expansive garden abounds with secret spaces, hosts well-known artists’ work, and is also home to a flock of chickens who function as living art, wandering freely throughout the site. Gail’s garden is a prime example of how architecture and nature can work in harmony together. Near the house, Mediterranean plants dominate in arrangements designed on a formal grid. Around the perimeters of the property, large oaks shade an understory of native plants such as snowberries, iris, bunchgrass, and ferns, and provide a transition from the formality of the core garden to a place of the wild.
Other garden attractions:
- Expect the unexpected! A giraffe greets visitors near the garden’s entrance; a mother and child grasshopper pair nestle in the oval-shaped lawn; the large copper cauldron pond is surrounded by native sedges and an accompanying assortment of finely crafted insects.
- Expect nudity, too! Throughout the garden are lovely sculptures of people kissing—bent over a stream of flowing water, reclining on the lawn, and resting on the diving board—in this world away from the bustle of urban life.
- This garden has been featured in Fine Gardening magazine, Today’s Home magazine, and the Front Yard Idea Book.
Gardening for wildlife: Numerous bird feeders and the delightful sound of falling water, heard throughout the garden courtesy of the three fountains, attracts birds and soothes people.
Garden Talks: 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM “The garden in transition: From exotics to natives. How to integrate natives into traditional gardens, choose the right plants, and enhance habitat value,” by Michael Thilgen of Four Dimensions Landscape Company.