Lot size: 1,000 sq. ft. front garden, 98% native, 1,720 sq. ft. side and back gardens, 50% native
Garden Age: The front garden was installed in 2009; the back and side gardens were installed in stages, beginning in 2013
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 2
When the Hansen-Maglaty family decided to remove their lawn they wanted to replace it with a garden that would both compliment their rustic, wood-shingled 1912 home, and provide habitat for wildlife. Now, a cheerful array of native plants flourishes on the small hillside that leads up to the house. The delicious scents of yerba buena and hummingbird and Cleveland sages waft in the breeze. The small lawn in the back garden was removed and replaced with a “Native Mow Free” bunchgrass lawn from the Delta Bluegrass Company. The gardens were designed collaboratively by Jean and several garden designers.
Other Garden Attractions
• The steps in the front garden are shallow; watch your footing, and hold the hand-rail. The back yard has stepping stones leading up a shallow hill and is another area to watch footing.
• Delta Bluegrass Company staff will be at the garden from 10:00–2:00; a table with handouts will be set up throughout the day.
• There is a public restroom in Dracena Park, which is right across the street.
Gardening for Wildlife
Now that the garden is planted with natives, more bees, birds, and butterflies are visiting, and crickets sing into the evening. Chirping in the late summer and fall is a sound that wasn’t heard in the neighborhood before the garden was transformed.
Garden Talks
11:00 and 1:00 “Replace your traditional lawn with a low-water use, sustainable, low-to-no-mow native sod. Come and hear about three kinds of turf replacement—bentgrass, Delta grassland, or “Native Mow-Free'”—by staff from the Delta Bluegrass Company
