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Mercy St. Garden
This suburban lot, designed and built using sustainable landscaping practices, features native plants from the mixed-evergreen and coastal scrub plant communities. The old landscape in the front yard was a Japanese style garden and included several, well placed rocks, which were left untouched. The mature horse chestnut and Japanese black pine were kept, and the rest of the plants were chipped and recycled into mulch.
The new landscape in the front yard includes a perennial border and a small California melic grass meadow. Western hazelnut, hummingbird sage, wavy-leaf ceanothus, coffeeberry, Howard McMinn manzanita, California sagebrush, California fescue, azalea-flowered monkeyflower, douglas iris, and yarrow mingle in the perennial border, which is easily viewed from the sidewalk. Trailing yerba buena, cascading from a brick planter, wood fern and island alum root thrive in the shade of the house. In spring, the garden is accented by annual wildflowers, such as Chinese houses, baby blue-eyes, poppies and farewell-to-spring clarkia.
Urbanite (recycled concrete) stepping stones, softened by coyote mint, California buckwheat and Sonoma sage, wave around in the back garden. Ocean spray, coffeeberry, fuchsia-flowered gooseberry, carpenteria, toyon, and California bay grow along the fence. The gold fines patio, accented by hummingbird fuchsia, is complete with recycled redwood chairs and a naturalistic water fountain. The water invites birds for a drink and offers relaxation for the homeowners, whose favorite pastime is to enjoy the visiting wildlife. This garden was featured on the 4th and 5th annual Going Native Garden Tour. Going Native Garden Tour.
Before:
After:
1st spring in the new garden. Yarrow, clarkia and monkeyflower provide color under the mature Japanese black pine.
The pine is a favorite play tree for some of the neighborhood squirrels who provide much appreciated entertainment from the living room windows. Pink clarkia and yellow monkeflower mingle in this photo.
The paprika and white flowered yarrow lures ladybird beetles to the garden.
California melic grass and checkerbloom are the main components of the meadow. Extra bricks from the old landscape provided the building material for a new maintenance path.
The fragrant, bright blue flowers of the wavy-leaf ceanothus is irrisistable to bumble bees and butterflies in spring.
Trailing yerba buena is cascading down from this shady planter and allows the owners to enjoy the view from their windows.
Toyon, coffeeberry and California bay lines the fence and will provide shade and privacy. For now, Sonoma sage and farewell-to-spring clarkia enjoy the full sun on the opposite side of the path.
Opposite view from the path with western redbud in the corner.
Sustainable methood: the new garden path was built of broken up, recycled concrete from the back yard. California buckweat mingles with coyote mint along the house.
The gold fines patio with recycled redwood chairs and a bubling rock fountain, creates a relaxing view from the office window. A natural, "no-sheer" coffeeberry hedge is getting established along the fence.
In this later photo, summer blooming hummingbird fuchsia accents the patio and invites hummingbirds.
On the opposite side of the patio, California buckwheat provides nectar for butterflies and beneficial insects during summer.