Rod Rougelot's at 542 46th Avenue

An historic house in the Outer Richmond originally built by Adolph Sutro for his gardener, this garden showcases a wide variety of local natives, coastal scrub and oak woodland plants. Highlights include multiple mature Ceanothus Ray Hartman and a Red Fescue meadow. Plants are well adapted to windy, salty air, sandy soil, and minimal irrigation. The garden was originally planted by the owner in 2001. When Wild Natives took over the care of the garden in 2006 it was in disarray and full of weeds. Over the past 7 years, the garden has transformed into a truly magical place. For more information and pictures, check out our website: californiawildnatives.com.

Anna Schopp's at 635 9th Avenue #2

This Richmond District garden displays a love of native trees, shrubs and perennials that form the backbone of a drought-tolerant, habitat garden. The plants enclose and protect this backyard and provide shelter and food for a wide variety of birds and animals. The competition includes Heteromeles, Ceanothus, Coast Silk Tassel, Rhododendron, Red-stemmed Dogwood, Black Twinberry, Bush Island Snapdragon, Buckwheat, Tree Lupine, and California Poppies that thrive in the sandy-soil endemic to this neighborhood. Drought-tolerant herbs such as rosemary, lavender, and geranium add their flower color, leaf textures and scents to the garden. Douglas Iris have naturalized and reproduced unique flower colors and forms. Beach strawberry is a well-established ground cover. Anna’s Hummingbirds drink the nectar from Salvia flowers and myriad native birds find plenty to eat and places to shelter and raise their young.

Bob Hall's at 1946 Grove St. Apt. 3              Download a plant list »

The yard was suffering from neglect and hosted an array of invasive weeds. But after a lot of hard work and many trips to eleven different native plant nurseries, the yard is turning around. Local natives from HANC as well as some homegrown coast buckwheat and seaside daisy liven up the mix of other California natives such as hummingbird sage, heuchera maxima, Lewesia and manzanita.

Warner Graves's at 156 Beulah Street

This garden features a variety of California natives beginning at the entrance with ferns, spicebush, rushes and other shade and moisture loving plants. Crossing a small pond and wetland area you enter a meadow with native bunch grasses and wildflowers. Bordering the meadow are several types of manzanita, ceanothus and other native or decorative shrubs. Most of the structural features of the garden are made from recycled bricks, logs and rocks taken from construction sites here in SF. This colorful garden delights year round and reflects the home owners passion for the outdoors.

261-263 Cumberland

The owner is a retired gardener who plants for the insects and butterflies which attract birds. Some trees were removed in January of this year and many natives planted in February. Ribes, manzanita, ceanothus, fescue, buckwheat and many small plants were put in around a patio behind a (look for it) PURPLE building above Dolores Park. Parking is difficult on weekends, but be brave.

The Hirts's at 4256 22nd Street              Download a plant list »

The back yard was designed as an allegory and an urban haven, offering a variety of pleasing views, scents, and sounds. This small urban space features winding paths; a sanctuary for the threatened Pacific California Frog; plum, apple, pomegranate, and tangerine trees; A plumb-branch archway; a partially-enclosed honeysuckle haven for little people; A variety of berries, beans, herbs, and vegetables; and complementary natives including flowering insectiaries, grasses, and vines. In front of the house, a barren sidewalk has been transformed into a welcoming natives oasis, bursting with life. Nectar and host plants offer sustenance to a variety of insects including the endangered Mission Blue and Green Hairstreak butterflies. The gardens incorporate broken concrete, tree cuttings, and other materials diverted from landfills and used to create pleasing, subtle garden features.

Jennifer Serwer's at 86 Caire Terrace

Our garden is located on a sunny slope of the South side of Potrero Hill. It contains, many California natives that are attractive to bees and birds. It is thriving with a variety of plants that provide us with a lovely view of small forest on the North side of our home. The garden consists of native perennial shrubs and trees with an understory of ground cover. In the spring we sow California wildflowers and many native bees visit them.

Amber Hasselbring's at 4150A 25th Street

A coast live oak is the centerpiece of this informal, shade garden. The understory is a consortium of elderberry, twinberry, ribes, cow parsnip, sticky monkey flowers and ferns. Plants originate from local seed gathering, the HANC Native Plant Nursery, Bay Natives, and Larner Seed.

1257 Dolores              

Louis Webb's at 206 Castenada Avenue

The back yard consists of shaded and non-shaded areas. Plants were selected for each environment. The front yard includes both native and non-native plants. The sidewalk bed includes grasses, wildflowers and native shrubs. The upper bed is seeded with a hills of California mix.

Susan Floore's at 3984 26th Street              Download a plant list »

From disastrous, major plant deaths came an opportunity for this north-facing, shady garden to grow a new look. The owner filled recently empty flowerbeds with cheerful natives such as Douglas iris, fringe cups, monkey flower and heuchera. In a deep shade area under the deck she created a native fern garden with wild ginger, redwood sorrel, and bleeding hearts wandering here and there among the ferns. Surviving from earlier years, mature birch trees tower over newer plantings of western azalea, huckleberry, hazelnut and a young silk tassel tree. This two-and-a-half year old garden continues to go through delightful transformations as additional areas are planted in natives.

Robert Oreglia's at 158 27th Street              Download a plant list »

A small backyard garden has gradually been transformed with over 60 species of natives with particular attention to San Francisco native plants. The backyard lawn was replaced three years ago with native wildflowers, shrubs, and a small fountain. In the front a concrete parking island has been removed and the area planted exclusively with SF natives centered around endangered Franciscan manzanita.

Daniel Cumings's at 1514 Sanchez street*

I have a normal city back yard. There's clearly no room for charismatic megaflora, but you will encounter approximately 4 tons of Sonoma field stone and a small creek flowing into a pond. The moving water drowns out the urban sounds and you should have no trouble imaging you are located somewhere in the North Bay countryside. With the exception of the Tasmanian tree ferns, I am under the impression that all the plants in my garden are native to the SF Bay Area.

Jeanne Halpern's at 34 Valletta Court*              Download a plant list »

When her next door neighbor cut down the dying pine adjacent to her garden, Jeanne offered to replace it with a baby coast live oak. Once he accepted, she offered to extend her all-native garden into his back yard so it wouldn't look so empty, and he accepted. So this year, as you start down the trail beside the Wildflower Meadows, you'll find the latest addition to Jeanne's all-native garden: the Dying-Pine Replacement. As you continue over ten trails and stairways, you'll discover the Heuchera Corridor, Birthday Oak, Rock Garden, Hilary's Hillside, Marina's Succulent Triangle, and the new Phacelia Slope. Those of you who've seen the garden in earlier incarnations will now find, at the end of April, fifty glorious species in bloom.

Georgia Fie's at 4 Valletta Court              Download a plant list »

Very small but mighty garden. Easily accessible. IncludesManzanita, holly leaf cherry, coffeberry, lemondberry, pink flowering currant, ceanothus. There is also a "guerrila garden" on the corner where many natives have been planted, such as silk tassel bush, toyon, ceanothus, grasses, and many more. You can enjoy this as you walk to another garden on Valletta.

Greg Gaar's at 440 Hazelwood Avenue*

This very large garden includes an adjacent public walkway (Globe Alley) that is also landscaped with native plants. Greg Gaar converted this garden from lawn to a very colorful and attractive garden of San Francisco natives in just under a year and has now grown into a feast for the eyes. For more information on this ambitious undertaking, visit Greg at the HANC Recycling Center. In addition to the 15-step public stairway into the back garden, there is a more accessible walkway to the left with gradual stepping stones.

Denise Louie's at 11 Malta Drive*              Download a plant list »

This garden includes a few volunteer natives, like blue-eyed grass, wild cucumber and polypody. It also includes a few rare natives, like SF wallflower, Lupinus albifrons variety collinus, and fiesta flower (Pholistoma auritum from Yerba Buena Island). You might even see Arctostaphylos franciscana in propagation process. On one side of the garden there is a steep face of chert, replete with folded layers. Access is steep, part rocky and at your own risk. A cable handrail is installed alongside a suspended staircase; otherwise there is no rail. This garden exemplifies what can be done on difficult terrain.

Ted Kipping's at 257 Joost Avenue*              Download a plant list »

The theme of this garden is a rocky outcrop in a cloud forest. We prfoundly changed the flattish grade into berms, ponds, waterfall, bogs, screen, woodland, etc. There are seven soil types. I have lost count of the total number of varieties but would guess between 1,500-2,000 varieties. There are well over 100 kinds of plants from the California Floristic Province. See if you can spot them.

The Beitiks' at 85 Hazelwood Avenue

The front yard was planted by our family about six years ago and is an ongoing laboratory of sorts. We’ve made some mistakes, but we’ve also had some pleasant surprises! The back yard was designed by a local physician whose second career is native landscape design. Both yards combine native plants, succulents and geraniums. Native plants include: franciscan manzanita, wild ginger, pink flowered currant, phacelia, pacific coast iris, ceanothus, flannel bush, blue-eyed grass, silver lupine, penstemon, bush anemone, western swordfern, fringecup, wild strawberry, lizard’s tail, California horkelia and white sage. Under the expert care of gardener Marina Lazzara, our little patches of natives continue to change, grow and thrive!

Jane Baughman's at 25 Hazelwood

Formerly a lawn, this small natural area is nearing maturity, featuring an assortment of large shrubs including several buckthorns, two species of currant, a hollyleaf cherry, toyon, oceanspray, manzanita, and wax myrtle. Finding micro-niches under the canopy are native roses, twinberry, ferns, honeysuckle, sage, iris, strawberries, as well as a few grasses and reeds.

Fred Rinne's at 642 Cayuga Avenue              Download a plant list »

This is a front "lawn" of purple needlegrass with associated coastal prairie species such as poppies, lizard tail, blue eyed grass, buckwheat, aster, seaside daisy offset by a single non-native Joseph's Coat climbing hybrid tea rose. This challenging site is cherty clay with extremes of temperature. Truly a test of survival of the fittest.

42 Westwood Street              Download a plant list »

The garden is on a very steep slope, which we've planted with grasses, Salvia apianas, Manzanitas, and a few others. It looks good year-round, with regular light maintenance.

Patrick Rump's at 463 Bright Street

The garden is a north facing slope that has been terraced with a combination of redwood timber and Sonoma field stone to create more planting and entertaining space as well as take advantage of the sweeping views of the ocean and lake merced area. The garden also features a small native lawn and most of the plants in the garden come from locally sourced Sf native plants grown by the owner who manages the Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery. The site will also have plants available for purchase. as a way to support the non-profit nursery.

1745 Folsom Street              Download a plant list »

This decade-old native garden at Rainbow Grocery is a tiny island of exclusively San Francisco area natives featuring well established Buckeye, Silk Tassel, Currant, Elder, and Coastal Live Oak. Native plants will be available for sale in front of Rainbow from 11am-5pm on Sunday, April 15.

155 Appleton

The Bernal Heights Living Library & Think Park Nature Walk is linking schools, parks, public housing, and streets leading to the currently hidden Islais Creek at the south side of St. Mary\'s Park with primarily native trees and understory. To date, about 700 California native trees have been planted funded by Cal Fire. We are poised to begin next phase of Nature Walk development planting native understory funded by California Strategic Growth Council. This is a pilot for larger opportunity to Frame Islais Creek Watershed and interconnect 11 communities with a new, expressive, native, narrative landscape. We are also hoping to daylight the Creek where possible. There will be a guided tour for the Bernal Heights Living Library Nature Walk at noon and 2pm.

700 Alemany Blvd

This garden was first installed 20+ years ago with S.L.U.G.'s organic gardening program. Now it is maintained by the Friends of Alemany Farm and Alemany Natives volunteer groups. Over the years it has matured to a rich diversity of coastal chaparral and and riparian species, featuring Ceanothus, Fremontadendron, Manzanita, Alder, and Prunus ilicifolia, to name a few. This garden spans three acres that includes about an acre of organically grown veggies, hillside fruit trees, and a large pond hosting many local birds species. For directions, photos, and more information on the farm, visit - http://www.alemanyfarm.org/.