Lot size: 600 sq. ft. front and 250 sq. ft. side garden, 70% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in 2012
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 2
Showcase Feature
The lawn that was in place when Miriam purchased the house wasn’t cutting the mustard; it needed too much water, for one thing, and it also took too much time to maintain.
In 2012 Miriam sheet mulched the lawn away, and hired a designer to create the native plant garden she yearned for. Some things about the design were great! Manzanita and California lilac provide structure and greenery throughout the year. The perennial penstemon Margarita BOP lines the driveway, brightening the garden with its mass of purple flowers when in bloom. Native fuchsia borders the path, it’s firecracker-red blossoms providing color from late summer through fall. Coyote mint and prostrate manzanita function as groundcovers.
Upon learning that many the plants in the garden actually weren’t natives after all(!) Miriam removed many of them, and she is in the process of figuring out what natives will go in those spots. (Are you wondering if a plant is native or not? Go to CalScape.org; if the plant is not there, it’s not a California native. Hint: also, make sure you hire a designer who specializes in designing native plant gardens, so you don’t wind up with this problem. The Tour’s “Find a Designer” list is here.)
Other Garden Attractions
• Weeds are dealt with by…persistent weeding.
• This garden requires just 1 to 2 hours of maintenance a month.
• Miriam took workshops on how to convert the lawn’s sprinkler system to a drip system, and changed it over herself.
Gardening for Wildlife
The long, tubular, bright yellow, orange, and variegated monkeyflowers attract hummingbirds. Bees adore the California lilac.
Keystone species (watch this talk by Doug Tallamy!)
Keystone species—our own, local ecological powerhouse plants— in this garden include Hollyleaf cherry, pink flowering currant, California lilac, hazelnut, manzanita, buckwheat, and sages.
Green Home Features
Miriam recently had 14 solar panels installed.
Talk in the Garden
12:00 “How to convert a sprinkler irrigation system to a drip system: I did this, and you can, too!” by Miriam Schalit
Great Recipe!
Submitted by garden tour host Miriam Schalit
Cilantro Pesto
