Lot size: 260 sq. ft. combined front, side and parking strip; 2,000 sq. ft. back garden, 95% native
Garden Age: This garden was planted in stages, beginning in 2014
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
It’s all about the birds, butterflies, and bees in this charming, wildlife-friendly garden, which was designed and installed by Erin and Keith. Check out the photos of the birds they have seen in their garden, including nuthatches, oak titmice, chickadees, and Pacific slope flycatchers, to name a few. Bewick’s wrens nest in the bird box thoughtfully put out for them—don’t miss seeing last year’s cup-shaped nest, with its base of sticks and upper snuggly area lined with downy bird feathers.
But the garden was really designed to attract butterflies; the plants were carefully selected because butterflies—which can only lay eggs only on a few, very specific plants—could reproduce on the plants Erin and Keith included in their garden. Butterflies seen in the garden include the stunning iridescent blue pipevine swallowtail, which can only lay its eggs on the Dutchman’s pipevine plant (found in several places throughout the garden), and the diminutive Acmon blue butterfly, which lays its eggs on buckwheat and lupine, both of which were included in the garden just for this butterfly.
The beautiful painted lady butterfly flutters about the garden in search of thistle, which it needs in order to reproduce. The buckeye butterfly is attracted to this garden because it contains the groundcover Lippia, which borders the walkway on the south side of the house, and monkeyflower, which reseeds itself cheerily around the garden.
Take a seat and enjoy this tranquil garden; you won’t want to leave.
Other Garden Attractions
• Plan on spending some time viewing the photo gallery of butterflies that have been photographed in the garden.
• A 3,000-gallon water barrel behind the garage provided water for the garden when it was being established.
• A dead apple tree was left as a snag; carpenter bees drill nest holes in it and woodpeckers have hollowed out a nesting site.
• Seeds from the sunflowers, clarkias and melic grass that flourish in the meadow are gleaned by finches and other songbirds.
Gardening for Wildlife
This garden is a haven for wildlife: 25 species of birds and a dozen species of butterflies have been seen in the garden.
How to Prevent Bird-Glass Collisions from Happening at Your House or Office
Did you know that bird-glass collisions are responsible for up to 1 billion fatalities per year in the United States?
Have you ever heard that “thunk!” on a window – a bird striking the glass – and wanted to prevent it from happening again but didn’t know what to do? Well, the exhibit Keith and Erin have created for this year’s Tour is for you!
After witnessing bird collisions on one of their windows, Keith and Erin took action to prevent a collision from happening again. They initially applied a treatment to just one window but have now treated most of them, testing out different types for ease of application, cost, view impacts, and beauty.
To help acquaint Tour visitors with ways to protect birds, demonstration windows with seven different kinds of treatments will be displayed on the front porch of Keith and Erin’s home. This display includes Acopian blinds, oil pen drawings, and various kinds of dots and film. Visitors will be able to look through the windows from the inside looking out toward the street, as well as see their appearance from the outside. An expert will be on hand all day to answer questions about bird-safe windows.
For additional resources and information see:
American Bird Conservancy
Acopian Bird Savers
CollidEscape
FeatherFriendly
The birdbath, located in a shady corner under oak and coyote brush that provides birds with easy escape routes into nearby trees, is a “magical” spot—attracting winged and two-legged visitors alike. (The water is changed daily to provide clean drinking water for the birds.)
The dense planting of tall natives that create the privacy screen along the fenceline, such as hollyleaf cherry, California lilac, toyon, pink-flowering currant, and elderberry, attracts birds, which are drawn to the caterpillars found on these shrubs, as well as the berries and seeds they produce.
A plethora of native bees visit the garden, including bumble, long-horned, carder, leaf-cutter, and more. Female leaf-cutters have even been observed (and timed!) bringing cut-out bits of leafs to build the “nurseries” for their larvae in the tube-like nests in the ground. As the pupa of many butterflies and moths overwinter in leaf litter, leaves are left on the ground.
Garden Talks
11:00 & 2:00 “How to create a garden for butterflies and birds” by Keith Johnson and Erin Diehm
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include hollyleaf cherry, coast live oak, pink flowering currant, California lilac, lupine, buckwheat, aster, goldenrod, California sunflower, and penstemon.
Green Home Features
The Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association honored Keith and Erin an award for remodeling their 100-year-old home in an environmentally sensitive way, while preserving the character of the house and neighborhood. Instead of adding a second story by building up, the living space was doubled by going down.
In addition to remaining true to the design of the original bungalow, the new living space is easier to heat and cool than a second story would have been. Solar panels generate the energy needed to heat the water in their radiant system, which warms the floor and house.
During the remodel, insulation was blown into the walls; this family now has almost no PG&E bill.
At least partially wheelchair accessible? yes
