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Berkeley Bloomed On Native Plants Garden Tour

By Steven Finacom
Monday May 02, 2011 - 12:47:00 PM
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On Shasta Road at the widely admired Fleming Garden—which the tour called “the leading native plant garden in private ownership in California”—a naturalistic stream cascaded down a hillside of lupine, ferns, and poppies overlooking a meadow of native grasses and wildflowers. Gardener Luke Hass identified the plantings for visitors.
All Photos by Steven Finacom
On Shasta Road at the widely admired Fleming Garden—which the tour called “the leading native plant garden in private ownership in California”—a naturalistic stream cascaded down a hillside of lupine, ferns, and poppies overlooking a meadow of native grasses and wildflowers. Gardener Luke Hass identified the plantings for visitors.
In her California Street garden Margaret Norman explained the workings of rainwater and gray water collection systems that nourish a small wetlands patch. Girl Scouts set up a table to sell cookies in front of another tour garden. Central Coast Wilds Ecological Concerns sold native plants from a tent at the Schoolhouse Creek Commons adjacent to the Berkeley Adult School on Virginia Street.
In her California Street garden Margaret Norman explained the workings of rainwater and gray water collection systems that nourish a small wetlands patch. Girl Scouts set up a table to sell cookies in front of another tour garden. Central Coast Wilds Ecological Concerns sold native plants from a tent at the Schoolhouse Creek Commons adjacent to the Berkeley Adult School on Virginia Street.
A lushly growing driveway framed the approach to one Berkeley backyard with its old, freestanding, one car garage. Garden details elsewhere included a bell-hung gate, multiple varieties of wisteria in bloom, vivid poppies, a bicycle wheel incorporated into a chicken coop, and a fern filled grotto.
A lushly growing driveway framed the approach to one Berkeley backyard with its old, freestanding, one car garage. Garden details elsewhere included a bell-hung gate, multiple varieties of wisteria in bloom, vivid poppies, a bicycle wheel incorporated into a chicken coop, and a fern filled grotto.
Creative garden structures abounded, from a garden studio in a fern filled redwood grove, to a tiny turquoise “think tank”, to a wide-windowed view retreat perched high on a flowering hillside.
Creative garden structures abounded, from a garden studio in a fern filled redwood grove, to a tiny turquoise “think tank”, to a wide-windowed view retreat perched high on a flowering hillside.
Tour goers—and one tour dog—took rest breaks in the balmy spring weather.
Tour goers—and one tour dog—took rest breaks in the balmy spring weather.

Garden-perfect weather arrived on Sunday, May 1, 2011 to frame the seventh “Bringing Back the Natives” tour.

Extending from Martinez to Fremont, West Berkeley to Clayton, the annual event allows tour-goers to peak inside gardens that emphasize plantings of native California, and Bay Area, species and talk to landscape professionals and home gardeners.

Several Berkeley sites, from re-landscaped front yards in the lowlands to hillside redwood groves behind historic homes, were featured among the more than 50 sites on the tour. Hundreds came out for the free event.  

The gardens did not have to be natives only, although some were. Others featured a mix of natives and exotic ornamentals. 

Here are some photos from the sunny day. 

If you would like to go on the tour in future years, check the website for further updates. The tour is free, but voluntary donations are accepted.  

 

http://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/