Lot size: 2,000 sq. ft. front and 3,735 sq. ft., 70% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in fall, 2023
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
The Japanese-American family who were the first owners of this house left behind a lifetime of work in their legacy garden, with its Japanese tea house, stone lanterns, charming wooden bridge, cobble-filled ponds, and mature non-native trees and shrubs. Kathy and Peter wanted to honor the original garden and the family who had created it—but, inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, and knowing that non-native plants have little to no ecological value—they dreamed of a native plant garden that would provide food, shelter, and nesting areas for birds, bees, and butterflies.
In came Bill Castellon, of Bill Castellon Landscape, and his skilled stonemasons, who artfully placed large boulders throughout the property, redesigned the pebble-filled ponds, constructed the waterfall in the back garden, and created the planting plan using the natives that Kathy had chosen. While some of the existing large shrubs and trees were left as a tribute to the history of the house and the Japanese aesthetic of the original owners, most of the junipers were replaced by an inviting selection of manzanitas (‘Dr. Hurd’, ‘Pacific Mist’, ‘St. Helena’ and ‘Point Reyes’); California lilac (‘Ray Hartman’, ‘Yankee Point’ and ‘Hearst’s’); and a cheerful array of natives including fuchsia, buckwheat, currants, and monkeyflowers. Numerous coast live oak, the ecological powerhouses of a garden, were planted in both the front and back yards.
Feel free to take a seat in one of the many seating areas in this beautiful and peaceful garden and relax a while: you won’t want to leave.
Other Garden Attractions
• There are many dogwalkers in this neighborhood: cobblestones border the sidewalk, to make life easy for both the dogwalkers and the plants.
• Bill re-used boulders and other materials that were already in the garden.
• Mounds in the front garden provide visual interest.
• Feel free to wander around the bountiful edible area contained in the raised box beds in the back garden.
• The California lilac ‘Ray Hartman’ was planted as a privacy screen.
• Designer Bill Castellon will be at this garden all day to answer questions.
Gardening for Wildlife
The diversity and quantity of natives, and the splashing waterfall attracts California scrub and Steller’s jays, mockingbirds, California towhees, Anna’s hummingbirds, and Bewick’s wrens, which flit about the garden. Western fence lizards sun themselves on boulders. California slender salamanders snuggle in shady, cool places.
Garden Talks
11:00 “Japanese garden/native garden” by Bill Castellon
12:00 “Defining the Essence: Aesthetic Pruning in the Garden” by Lara Miranda, owner of Lara Miranda Pruning
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include coast live oaks, currants, huckleberry, California lilac, manzanita, hazelnut, and buckwheat.
At least partially wheelchair accessible? No
