Growing Natives Garden Tour 2012

Blackstone Monarch Habitat (5 photos from 2010)

Garden #42, San Jose

 

Showcase Features: This mostly native, homeowner designed and installed garden features a certified Monarch butterfly waystation, a large variety of native plants and other sustainable amenities.

Other Garden Attractions: The water permeable, gold fines pathway leading to the front entrance is studded with iridescent marbles matching the colors of the nearby armadillo garden sculpture. The raised beds are planted with sages, buckwheat, monkeyflower, island snapdragon bush, California mock orange, coyote mint, pitcher sage, island mallow, California and coast asters, woolly blue curls, and lilac verbena, and the empty spaces are decorated with potted ceanothus and manzanita. Tastefully combined color combinations around the home include an inviting blue bench swing, decorative pots and other garden art. A rain barrel provides extra water during the dry season.

In the back yard a swimming pool was filled in and replaced with a cozy step stone patio and more native plants, including an espaliered golden currant, Cleveland, white and hummingbird sages, western redbud, island mallow, carpenteria, and a young California buckeye underplanted with California fescue grasses. A small pond, planted with riparian native plants, offers more wildlife habitat.


Gardening for Wildlife: Food, water, shelter, and places to raise young are all provided by the homeowners, and the garden invites many different species of birds, butterflies and other insects.

Years of CA Native Gardening at this Location: 11

Garden Size: 6000 sq ft

Designer: Homeowner
Installer: Homeowner

Click here to display the plant list in a printer-friendly format.

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