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Tanoak Garden
This Santa Clara garden was a conventional landscape that is typical to the San Francisco Bay Area: evergreen lawns, exotic trees, a juniper hedge and some roses. The garden had no sense of place, wasted a lot of water, was maintained with highly-polluting gas-powered equipment, and provided very little interest to wildlife. The design of the new garden is restoration inspired and features plants mostly from the oak woodland plant community that once used to occupy this area. Special attention was paid to include many local plants. During the construction, the old lawns have been cut with a sod-cutter, turned upside down, and covered with compost to create the mounds in the front yard. The old trees and shrubs have all been chipped down and reused as mulch in the new landscape.
In the front yard, Idaho and California fescue grassland with annual and perennial wildflowers are mingling under a coast live oak, a valley oak, a blue elderberry and a California buckeye. For added color and texture, the garden beds are edged with a combination of bee's bliss sage, dwarf coyote brush and California fuchsia. Additional accents are provided by carpenteria, pink-flowering currant, snowberry, coast silk tassel, toyon and a Dr. Hurd manzanita. An ornamental, meandering dry creek was installed to drain some of the storm water runoff. The existing front pathway and the driveway have been resurfaced, and a Chinese pistach and a Japanese maple were retained from the previous landscaping.
In the back yard, the concrete paths and part of the existing patio were broken up and recycled into a permeable hardscaping that extends to the side of the house. In the heart of the garden is an oval-shaped red fescue meadow with a bubbling fountain which can be enjoyed from the patio as well as from the newly constructed dry seating wall on the opposite side. The native plants here mingle with raised vegetable beds--built with recycled lumber from the old back fence--and a lemon tree. Along the new back fence, colorful spring accents are provided by a western redbud and a Ray Hartman ceanothus, while a California wild grape and a toyon will do the job in the fall and winter. At the west side of the house, holly-leaf cherry will provide privacy and shade from the hot sun. This garden was featured on the 2009 Going Native Garden Tour.
Before:
After:
Northeast view of the front yard with resurfaced pathway and the dry creek. In the background a coast live oak is getting established in the center of the mound. Spring blooming bee's bliss sage and summer blooming coyote brush and California Fuchsia provide seasonal accents at the edges of the garden.
Southeast view: a valley oak, in the center, is surrounded by Idahoe fescue grassland with monkeyflower, blue-eyed grass and spring blooming Ithuriel's spier bulbs.
East view: a young California buckeye tree, in the center, is surrounded by Idahoe fescue grasses and other colorful perennials. Behind the buckeye is a coffeeberry hedge, serving as a live fence between the neighbords. This hedge needs only occasional hand-shaping and provides berries for the birds.
Northeast view of the back yard with the central meadow and raised vegetable beds. Also seen is the new water-permeable pathway with urbanite and goldfines.
The central red fescue meadow in high spring with farewell-to-spring clarkias. After the pink clarkias fade and are pulled, the meadow is transformed into a natural, green carpet of red fescue grasses that require no mowing, fertilizer and little water.
Closeup of the vegetable garden with a new toolshed in the background. Native perennials (coyote mint, yarrow, monkeyflower, California buckwheat) in the back yard invite beneficial insects and pollinators, so the vegetables are grown organically.