Jan Enderle's Garden

Pleasant Hill

Gardening experience: 30 years

Experience at this location: The garden was installed 5 years ago

Garden size: 4,000 square feet

Showcase feature: A former "soggy lawn and ivy-covered rental landscape that was not a place you wanted to sit in" has been transformed into a peaceful wildlife sanctuary. The small side garden, planted under the shade of a large valley oak is now a charming native plant garden containing Douglas iris, coral bells, mule's ears, California grape, Dutchman's pipevine, and fragrant coyote mint, among other natives. Every inch of the postage-stamp-sized back garden is used. The hedgerow along the rear fence is a haven for birds. A graceful pond and waterfall attract wildlife and enchant visitors. The flagstone path, Cold Water Canyon stone retaining wall, waterfall and pond were designed and installed by Ron DeGeorge of Vortex Water; the rest of the garden was designed and installed by the gardener.

Other garden attractions:

Leaf litter is left as mulch in order to feed the soil, which, as this gardener says, is as alive as the rest of the garden.
Wide garden beds wrap around the reduced lawn.
Edibles are scattered throughout the garden.
Several native aquatic plants such as giant horsetail, monkeyflower, and marsh marigold are found in the pond.

Gardening for Wildlife: All creatures are welcome in this habitat garden. In order to invite wildlife into the garden, seeds are left to ripen on plants; in winter, the gardener puts out hummingbird and seed feeders. The pond and waterfall attract a variety of wildlife; a shelf with shallow water is particularly inviting to the birds as they can bathe and drink while being provided with protection from predators. Hummingbirds, ruby-throated kinglets, hermit thrushes, woodpeckers, four kinds of sparrow, doves, toads, lizards, monarch butterflies, skippers, and dragonflies are frequently seen. The occasional mole, raccoon, opposum, or skunk also visits the garden. Jan is particularly fond of the paper wasps that nest in the eaves as wasps are a great bug patrol, hunting for aphids in the garden. A lot of bees frequent this garden; in addition to honeybees, a couple of different kinds of bumblebees and a lot of the smaller native bees buzz about, busily pollinating plants.