Lot size: 2,500 sq. ft. front and side gardens, 2,000 sq. ft. back garden, 85% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in stages, beginning in 2008
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour:
Parking
Parking will be tight; use the shoulder, or pass the Rohan house, follow Park Ave. as it bends to the right, and park.
Showcase Feature
This creekside neighborhood, with its one-lane bridge, venerable oaks and bays, and woodsy atmosphere, evokes a different time. Jocelyn and Peter, owners of LandSpaces: Landscape Architecture + Construction, who designed and installed the garden, wanted a garden that was reflective of Wildcat Canyon—the natural environment around them.
The first thing they did after purchasing their home was to sheet mulch the lawn; in its place they planted native trees and shrubs—buckeye, toyon, coast silktassel and coffeeberry. The back garden contains a Point Molate red fescue bunchgrass lawn and a 40-foot long living retaining wall planted with a variety of locally native plants. The side garden is home to a cheerful array of easy-to-grow natives, such as deergrass, sedges, sages, fuchsia, and blue-eyed grass. A rain catchment system collects rainwater from the roof and stores it for future use. Salvaged materials such as old decking and scrap metal and have been re-used in the garden to showcase upcycling of landscape materials.
Recent work includes the addition of a native fern grotto. Also, check out the new bench that Peter designed and built—it was made from 100% recycled wood.
Other Garden Attractions
- A rain garden/constructed swale planted with rushes and bunchgrasses allows rainwater to be naturally absorbed into the soil, protecting nearby Wildcat Creek from scouring, and cleaning pollutants from the water.
- A laundry-to-landscape system is used to water the natives.
- The bridge over seasonal creek was made with wood recycled from benches and picnic tables.
- Don’t miss the charming living retaining wall in the back garden!
Gardening for Wildlife
Hawks soar overhead; kites can be seen hovering while searching for prey. Owls hoot in the trees at night. Woodpeckers flit through the garden. Pipevine swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on the Dutchman’s pipevine—the only host plant for this beautiful, large, black and iridescent blue butterfly. Garter snakes and newts call the garden home. A coyote has been spotted in the driveway, and a mountain lion was seen in the street!
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants—in this garden include oak, hollyleaf cherry, currant, huckleberry, thimbleberry, California lilac, lupine, manzanita, sage, buckwheat, native strawberry, and penstemon.
Video
“Gardening with California native plants: Peter and Jocelyn Rohan’s garden, Richmond, California” by Peter and Jocelyn Rohan
