Lot size: 4,800 sq. ft. front, 5,200 sq. ft. back, 100% native (except fruit trees and veggie beds)
Garden Age: Garden was installed in December, 2023
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase Feature
This garden is on a steep slope and is accessed via many steps, some with no rail. This is not a garden for anyone with balance or mobility difficulties.
When Anita and Mat bought the house in 2020 the garden was, “a mess”—overgrown by black acacias taller than the house, with the entire back yard covered by weeds that surrounded an abandoned concrete pond, and topped off with an unwelcoming veneer of shards of broken glass.
After thinking about the possibilities, they came to the conclusion that they liked the aesthetic of native plants, with their subtle colors—as opposed to plants from other parts of the world. They also realized the garden of their dreams would be a beautiful, inviting, and useful place that the family could relax in and enjoy, and that it should also attract butterflies and bees, conserve water, and be low-maintenance.
This pleasing, tranquil, (steep!) hillside landscape, designed by Lily Bodnar, founder and principal designer at Plantkind, and installed by Peter Rohan, owner of LandSpaces, met the family’s goals, and more.
Delightful combinations of texture and color are provided by three types of buckwheats (‘Warriner Lytle’, California, and St. Catherine’s lace); four kinds of California lilac (‘Anchor Bay’, ‘Snow Flurry’, ‘Julia Phelps’, and ‘Joyce Coulter’); and five kinds of sages (black, pitcher, ‘Point Sal’, ‘Allen Chickering’, and ‘Mrs. Beard’). The variety and repetition of these plants results in an elegant, graceful, and natural look.
Additional outdoor living features in the garden include an outdoor kitchen, dog-washing station, hammock, landscape lighting, raised veggie boxes, and stainless steel slide and a climbing net. A detached work-from-home office from Studio Shed, which is equipped with a heat pump that heats and cools the building, faces an expansive sun sail shaded deck.
Take a seat and enjoy this lovely garden; you won’t want to leave!
Other Garden Attractions
• Privacy screens along the fence-line are provided by Pacific wax myrtle and coast live, blue, and interior oaks in sunny areas, and mountain mahogany and wavy leaf silk tassel on the shadier side of the lot.
• Dry wells in the front garden retain rainwater, allowing it to percolate slowly into the soil, which keeps the garden green longer, and helps to recharge the aquifer. The rocks on top of the wells, native to the site, also serve as warming places for butterflies and sunning spots for lizards.
• Enjoy the panoramic view of Bay from the top of the garden from the built-in platform deck and bench under the oak trees.
• The deer fencing in the front garden will remain in place until the plants are established; then it will be removed.
• Garden designer Lily Bodnar will be at this garden from 10:00-1:00.
• Garden installer Peter Rohan will be at this garden from 1:00-5:00.
Gardening for Wildlife
The many keystone species in this garden will attract and provide food, shelter, and nesting areas for butterflies, native bees, and birds.
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants—in this garden include coast live oaks, blue oak, interior oak, scrub oak, California lilac, sage, buckwheat, coyote brush, mountain mahogany, and coffeeberry.
Green Home Features
Solar panels generate all of the energy the family requires—and more. The excess energy their panels produce is sent to the grid for others to use. A back-up battery keeps the lights on during power outages.
The concrete used in this project was carbon-cured to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A light-colored, spray foam roof reflects sunlight and heat away from the home and provides additional insulation, resulting in significant savings in heating and cooling costs.
The family enjoys cooking on a 30” Café induction and convection double oven range.
At least partially wheelchair accessible? No
Parking will be tight. Be prepared to walk a few blocks. Do not block neighbors’ driveways.
