Lot size: 400 sq. ft. front garden
Garden Age: Garden was planted in October of 2023
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 2
Showcase Feature
Inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, informed by Doug Tallamy’s fascinating talk about the importance of native plants and caterpillars to birds, and desiring a garden that was both inviting and evocative of the woodlands near her house, Kathy set about transforming her small front garden.
Kathy’s interest in local native plants steered her toward yarrow, with its soft, ferny leaves, orange monkeyflower, which delights hummingbirds, California fuchsia, with its beautiful, tubular, fire-engine red flowers, fragrant yerba buena, and more. Lois Simonds, of Gardening by Nature’s Design, designed and installed the garden and new drip irrigation system.
This garden is both new (it was just installed in the fall of 2023) and small. If you are interested in talking with a homeowner whose memory of the garden make-over process is fresh, or if you have a small garden yourself, this is the stop for you.
The much larger side and back gardens are in the process of being converted to natives and edibles; you’re welcome to take a gander at them on your way to see the compressors for the heat pumps.
Other Garden Attractions
• Fruit tree fans will enjoy seeing the apricot, persimmon, pomegranate, lemon, plum, fig, and orange trees in the back yard, and apricot, kumquat, and apple in the front.
Gardening for Wildlife
This garden was designed to attract wildlife. Oak titmice, chickadees, bush tits, Bewicks wrens, yellow-rumped warblers and juncos visit the garden. Bird baths provide the water that birds need to drink, and bathe in.
Garden Talks
11:00 and 1:00 “A step-by-step introduction to home electrification” by Kathy Simon
2:00 “Designing a front entry garden with as many local California native plants as possible. See how the placement creates a flow and ‘architecture’ to the garden” by Lois Simonds
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include huckleberry, currant, goldenrod, manzanita, aster, sage, and coyote brush.
Green Home Features – Come On In This Fully-Electrified Home!
Solar panels: 18 panels, 7.2 kW system, out-of-pocket cost was $20,000; pay-off time will be approximately 6 years. Kathy and Susan’s total annual PGE bill is 0, aside from the small monthly fee for being connected to the grid. The panels were installed by a locally owned company, SaveALot Solar.
Electric vehicle: 2019 Chevy Bolt, plugged into regular wall outlet in the garage.
HVAC heat pump: Ducted system, installed by Ecoperformance Builders. This system provides quiet, steady heat evenly throughout the home.
Water heater heat pump: SanCo2 system, installed by Electrifymyhome. This is an extremely quiet system. The compressor sits outside, while the large storage tank is in the crawl space. It uses CO2 as the refrigerant, which is extremely efficient and has less global warming impact than other refrigerants.
Induction range: Bertazzoni. Unbelievably quick and responsive to cook on. The oven has convection capability, which allows it to function as an “air fryer. Kathy says, “It’s fabulous knowing that because I’m not using gas, I am not breathing in benzene and NO2 gases while cooking or baking—nor leaking methane in the kitchen or basement, as many gas stoves do!”
Dryer — Is a regular electric clothes dryer, no heat pump.
Heat pump for cedar hot tub: The third heat pump on the property heats the water for a small cedar hot tub (5 feet diameter, 4 feet deep, Alaskan cedar), in a closed system. Many times more efficient than electric resistance heat, the heat pump makes it possible to have a hot tub that is almost completely powered by solar.
Kitchen cabinets: As part of an (ongoing) kitchen remodel, Kathy and Susan purchased new drawers and doors for their 80-year old cabinets, rather than tearing out the whole cabinets. The old cabinet boxes are still perfectly good, so with new drawers and doors, they were able to get functional hinges and drawer slides with much less waste.
Rain catchment barrels: Two barrels attached to downspouts from the roof collect water that is used in the garden.
Electrical panel: Ask Kathy how her original, 1941 100 Amp electrical panel is able to support her fully-electric home.
Bird-Safe screens: Kathy and Susan’s windows have exterior screens, to prevent bird/glass collisions.
Plant list
At least partially wheelchair accessible? Yes
