Christopher Kroll's garden
Berkeley
Garden Lot size: 300 sq. ft front garden, and 500 sq. ft back garden., 95% native
Years gardened at this location (Gardening Experience): Natives have been planted here from 2003 on.
Years on the "Bringing Back the Natives" Garden Tour: New this year!
Showcase feature: Stop by what has to be the smallest lot in Berkeley and you’ll see that it is possible to create a pleasing, natural-looking garden that provides habitat for wildlife—even in the teensiest of spaces! Christopher wanted to help restore and heal the Earth, and wondered how to do that in a little urban garden in the flats; the answer was to plant with natives. In the front garden a cluster of creamy St. Catherine’s lace flowers form a large landing pad for butterflies, and provides them with nectar. In the back garden native flax, coral bells, lupine, and columbine nestle in pockets created under the largest and happiest coffeeberries ever seen. A diminutive patio provides a restful place for people to enjoy it all. Christopher began the native garden, and Greg Wolford, of Californica Landscapes, provided the final touches.
Other garden attractions:
- Walk one short block to visit the native garden at Schoolhouse Creek Common (at Curtis and Virginia).
Gardening for Wildlife: A bird bath provides water, dense shrubs offer shelter, and the elderberry and native grape are full of berries. Hummingbirds love the red, tubular flowers of the fuchsia. Christopher leaves much of his garden unmulched and unwatered in order to provide nesting areas for native bees (which nest mostly in the ground, can’t get through mulch, and won’t live in wet areas.) As a result, bumblebees, other native bees, and honeybees frequent this garden. Butterflies like it too; “I like the plants that they like.”