Mary Cooper’s garden
Castro Valley
Lot size: 1,100 sq. ft. front garden only on tour, 99% native
Garden Age: Native garden was installed in January, 2007.
Years on the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour: 2
Showcase feature: Mary, who wanted to get rid of that ‘50’s landscape look, and who was inspired by the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour to plant natives, hired Pete Veilleux of East Bay Wilds to design and install something new, that had “a dry streambed effect.” Out went the junipers, and in went an artistic and fun front garden containing undulating and meandering berms that provide drainage, Sonoma basalt boulders, mixed yellow and blue decomposed granite, driftwood, and a variety of attractive drought-resistant native plants selected to provide color throughout the year.
Other garden attractions:
- Don’t miss the low-tech, inexpensive gravity-fed water feature (check out the one-gallon bottle tucked behind the California lilac).
- Currants and a redbud will soften the lines of the house, and a flannel bush will provide a screen from the neighbors, when mature
Gardening for Wildlife:The native plants, water feature, and bird feeder attract white-crowned sparrows, house finches, and scrub jays.
Garden Talks: 11:00 and 2:00 “Moving from that 50’s landscape to a native plant garden” by Mary Cooper