Lot size: 800 sq. ft. front garden, 90% native
Garden Age: Garden was installed in 2011
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 3
Got a small lot? Want a vibrant, low-maintenance, water-conserving, attractive garden? If so, this is the garden for you. Sharon wanted an English cottage garden, where flowers were “falling all over themselves,” and that’s what she designed, and she and her husband installed. In place of the weedy lawn and large concrete pad (it became stepping stones), Sharon planted an inviting mix of nearly fifty species of natives and a number of Mediterranean plants. In spring the pinks of checkerbloom and lacy phacelia mingle with purple iris, the blossoms of the gorgeous pink flowering currant, and blue-eyed grass. In the summer lavender seaside daisies complement pink penstemons, yellow buckwheat, creamy yarrow, and the purple Ithuriel’s spear.
Other Garden Attractions
- A charming, meandering decomposed granite path gives the front garden a natural look.
- The front garden is bordered with rocks salvaged from a nearby construction site. (And carried home one at a time, while walking the dog.)
- Check out the bountiful veggie garden in the back yard, which will also be open for viewing.
- Native bees nest in the bee boxes that have been hung from the eaves in the back garden.
- Sharon will have native seed packets as give-aways, while supplies last.
Gardening for Wildlife
Native bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds visit the garden for pollen and nectar. The distinctive black and red milkweed bugs are found on… the milkweed.
Garden Talks
10:00 and 2:00 “How to attract native bees and butterflies” by Sharon Horgan
