Lot size: 2,000 sq. ft. front garden, 85% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in the fall of 2015
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: Two
Showcase Feature
Long-time Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour attendee Sally Mathews died in late 2018 after a 10-month battle with brain cancer; she loved watching the garden and birdlife evolve with the seasons over the last quiet year of her life. Sally, an avid birder, gardener, singer, traveler, jeweler, mother and grandmother, will be missed. In 2015, when Sally decided it was time for the large water-consuming lawn to go, her goals for the replacement were to reduce water use, provide habitat for wildlife, create screening from the street, and beautify her prominent corner lot with a clean and uncluttered look. Kelly Marshall of Kelly Marshall Garden Design designed the garden; it is maintained by Jennifer Smith, of The Greensmith Landscapes.
Other Garden Attractions
• In spring the western redbud tree is surrounded by a cheerful mélange of orange monkeyflower, blue penstemon and blue-eyed grass, purple lilac verbena and Douglas iris, and sprays of pink coral bells.
• An Arizona flagstone path wends through the garden, past swaths of California lilac.
• Corn gluten is used to suppress weeds.
• Sally, who was a birder, loved the way her garden transformed from an ecological “dead zone” to a place that invites birds, bees, butterflies, and her grandchildren, who now love to play in the front garden.
• The East Bay Municipal Utility District provided both sheet mulching and drip irrigation rebates for Sally’s lawn conversion.
Gardening for Wildlife
The manzanita attract hummingbirds, butterflies sip nectar from the buckwheats, and native bees are drawn to the California lilac.
