My garden is located on an almost-one-acre creek-side lot in El Sobrante, California, a little northeast of San Francisco.
The Mediterranean style climate allows a growing season (time between frosts) of 360 days, and the ability to welcome an incredible variety of plants from all over the world. In recent years, I have been concentrating on California native plants, to encourage native insects, birds and other wildlife. My garden was recently certified as wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. In addition to hundreds of varieties of flowers and shrubs, the garden includes over ten kinds of citrus, more than twenty kinds of apples, and multiple species of plums, persimmons, cherries, pears, apricots and figs, as well as many kinds of berries and grapes. Students and friends have given me many unusual and beautiful plants and flowers. The backyard landscape includes a secluded stream, with a giant old bay laurel tree dramatically fallen over it.
The garden is always under construction, with many projects still just a gleam in the gardener's eye. Part of my gardening philosophy is to reuse and recycle all the organic material generated by the garden: weeds are mulched into the lawn, pruned limbs are used for trellises. A dead pine tree was turned into a rustic gazebo. My ten-horsepower chipper/shredder turns smaller prunings into mulch for pathways. I salvaged discarded bench seats from Merritt College and turned them into raised beds for vegetables. I use textures and materials from the garden as collage materials in my paintings.
I hold classes here in the summer.
I am a member of the California Rare Fruit Growers and The Garden Conservancy.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |