A garden should make you feel you’ve entered privileged space – a place not just set apart but reverberant – and it seems to me that, to achieve this, the gardener must put some kind of twist on the existing landscape, turn its prose into something nearer poetry.
– Michael Pollan, American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism, from Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education
Our house, 1994.
When David bought our home back in 1994 – before I met him – he was the second owner of the house on Elm Street that was built in the early 1940s. The previous owner had been a gardener, evidenced by his tool sheds in the side and back yards. Mr. Broligio grew dahlias, Mexican poppies, Bird of Paradise, gladiolas, and other flowers. He likely planted the two huge magnolias trees in the backyard, as well as the camellia and Meyer lemon trees. He was the one who fashioned the backyard with pink-grouted flagstone and brick planting beds and walkway borders. Through the years, we worked on making the two-bedroom, one-bath split-level house into our home. We remodeled the bath and kitchen in 1998, after we got married, but not putting too much thought or money into it since we didn’t think this was going to be our forever home.
Welcome to our home, 1994.
Looking at the back of the house from the back of the property, 1994.
A lot of boxwood hedges, brick, and pink-colored grout, 1994.
One of the shed areas that David immediately took down, 1994.
Little did we know that it would indeed be our forever home. We grew to a family of four with two big dogs. I worked from home and our bedroom was my office. After a few years of looking at other homes and David working on house plans, we expanded our home, beginning in 2006. In the spring of 2007, after seven months of renting we moved back into our home, now a four-bedroom, two-bath, four-level home, with my wish list office area and library included. We loved our home. However, we never threw a housewarming party because we were too embarrassed by our yard.
The original owner liked using bottles as borders. In 1994, the backyard was a bit overgrown.
The magnolia trees weren’t as big, but the Bird of Paradise was! And yes, the old-fashioned clothes drying line.
The side yard was much bigger before we pushed the house out on that side in 2007.
I was bitten by the gardening bug, and especially taken by the yellow dinner-plate dahlias that came up reliably every late spring. So through the years, I collected ceramic, glazed pots and grew different flowers. I found new dahlias to love and nurture, and grew them in our side yard. But we still hadn’t done a thing to our front and back yards, and our dahlias were not producing very well because our clay soil in the side yard was never amended and we weren’t separating our dahlia tubers.
By the end of 2016, we decided we were going to finally landscape our front, side, and back yards. After interviewing a handful of local landscape design firms, we settled on Fiddlehead Gardens (2816 8th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710, 510.858.8072). We appreciated owner Racheal’s portfolio, but also her expertise and her openness to our opinions and desires. Plus, she had a stable group of workers, who we really liked.
We started off with the side yard in February because the dahlia buds usually sprout in March. So the workers thoroughly amended the soil, put in a drip system, and separated all the dahlia tubers that David and I had dug up ourselves and dried. We were really pleased with the outcome.
We had a new fence put up in 2002. In 2008, David put up an iron gate and fence to separate the flower garden from the backyard and keep the dogs out. David and our friend Ric put down the flagstone walkway in 2008. Here’s the new dahlia garden after Fiddlehead Gardens renovated the side yard. We have tulips and daffodils in the spring.
We planted daffodils, which popped up in the spring.
We moved the bird bath from the front yard to the side yard.
With amended soil, a drip system, and tuber separation, the dahlias are so much happier and healthier. I found these great iron leaf sculptures at Annie’s Annuals in Richmond.
One of my favorite burgundy dahlias, happy by the side yard gate.
Fuschia dahlias in the side yard.
A pale peach dinner-plate-size dahlia in the side yard dahlia garden.
Then came the front yard in March. We had forgotten certain things like the dead plants in the front that I couldn’t nurture to life, and the broken basketball hoop that lay on its side like a fallen steel soldier off to the side of the garage.
The City of El Cerrito planted the two pear trees in the front yard. We ended up having the blighted pear tree removed and replaced with crepe myrtles this past July. But here’s the front yard, complete with our 1995 Corolla, long since gone.
We threw a lot of plants in the front yard to see if they would grow. Some did, others didn’t. It was a flower lab of sorts. Note the ugly brick border and the big bush leaning over the sidewalk.
Broken basketball hoop in the front yard. And sad flower bed.
We kept the salvia and my favorite calla lilies, but we shed this big tree/bush that we had to keep trimmed so that pedestrians wouldn’t complain about having to sidestep the bush when walking on the sidewalk. The dead potato tree went away, and the princess flower got trimmed. When the tree came down, the front yard felt more open and light. They also used our leftover flagstone and built borders and a path between the walk-up path to the house and the driveway. Again, we were very happy with the outcome.
Our maple tree was freed of concrete and is very happy now. Fiddlehead Gardens used flagstone to make a border between our neighbor’s yard and ours.
A side view of the front yard after landscaping. See how open the front yard is without the big bush of a tree.
The flagstone border keeps the soil from spilling over. The watsonias are in full bloom.
The larger plot also has a new border, replacing the broken-brick border. A much cleaner, prettier front yard. Curb appeal!
You can see the yard now, especially the calla lilies, without that big tree/bush in the way.
David and Ric paved the way for the flagstone walkway in 2008. But now it’s surrounded by a beautiful front garden. (Just need to push that piece of flagstone back in place….)
Fiddlehead Gardens put a flagstone walkway on the other side of the walk up, so there’s nice symmetry of the flagstone paths in the front.
In July 2014, I attempted to work within the confines of the step-up and brick pathway when I redid the patio, or courtyard, but it was always crowded, and I looked forward to expanding out that patio/courtyard area.
When I tried to make the backyard more hospitable in the summer of 2014, I was constrained by the steps and border in the patio/courtyard. It’s very crowded here.
I planted a lot of dahlias in the ground, but many didn’t survive the clay soil.
The backyard was the big project that began in May and took two weeks. First, there was the prep work, which was demolition of the flagstone and bricks, leveling of the ground, and digging up the former patio area outside of the utility room. That took a week a few weeks before the actual work began.
I loved this peach tree, but it was planted crooked and we ended up getting rid of it for the new backyard.
The right corner of the backyard where Sammy liked to play soccer.
Moving things around in the patio before the big makeover in the backyard.
After the peach tree was removed. A gopher was taking down the hydrangea that was near the Meyer lemon tree.
We moved a lot of the pots under the magnolia trees. We didn’t realize how many pots I had accumulated through the years!
The barren dust bowl of a backyard! David built two planters, which he covered with chicken wire to protect the vegetable garden from Sammy.
The patio is cleared out!
The ugly pink grout from the 1940s. And Sammy and his basketball-cum-soccer ball.
After demolition, the crew dug deep into the earth in the patio area. Sammy checks it out.
The bare ground with pipes being installed in the backyard.
Now that the backyard is cleared and leveled, it’s time for the flagstone….
We kept the layout the same as before, but Rachael built six tall planter boxes atop decomposed granite, so we could garden without bending down. Four planters house my flower garden, while David claimed two for his vegetable garden. I had accumulated more than 40 pots – I know! – and we were able to place every single one of them throughout the front, side, and back yards, and the two porches. This time, they were equipped with a drip system, except for the ones on the two porches, which are home to succulents. We replaced the flagstone and instead of grout, Rachael used decomposed granite in between the large pieces of stone. The 1940s chairs that I had found at the Alameda flea market chair a few years ago found a new home in a corner of the backyard that used to be Sammy’s soccer-playing area. Now it serves as the resting place after working on the yard.
Three rusted birds welcome you to the garden from the patio gate. One pending project is painting the ugly red fence to a natural-looking brown.
Flowers, bird house and redwood planter box in the patio.
Night-time view of the patio with the fire pit going and the hanging lights on.
The corner sitting area, complete with old ceiling tins hanging on the fence, pots with colorful flowers, garden ornaments, flea market vintage chairs, solar lights, and newer table.
Our planter boxes, first two on the far left of the backyard (David’s vegetable garden). with solar lights strung on three of the planter boxes.
Middle two planter boxes sport zinnias (annuals) on the left of the angel statue and miniature roses from Trader Joe’s on the right. I keep experimenting with the flowers in the planter box in the back.
The last two planter boxes, with the front one home to varieties of dianthus and baby’s breath in the middle. The planters sit on an elevated layer of decomposed granite.
A view from the sitting area. I put a lot of Haitian steel-drum garden ornaments all over the planter boxes.
Another view of all six planter boxes. The height is perfect for gardening. No sore backs and enough room to move around!
Flowers in full bloom on a sunny day.
When I walk into the kitchen, I can see this first flower box through the sliding glass door. Seeing the angel and all that color, flowers, hummingbirds, butterflies, birds, and bees makes me happy!
I was not an annuals person, but I fell in love with the tough, colorful, and long-lasting zininas. They look really nice in bouquets, too. This year’s lone gerbera daisy is actually doing quite well. But I may stick with just one of them since all of them petered out last year. It’s fun to test out new flowers every season.
I had fun finding new places for the many garden ornaments that I had collected throughout the years. Our Roman column fountain, which was a present to ourselves when we got married and which was hidden in the side yard, broken when we ran it and forgot about it back in 2008, found new life in the back yard. And the block of leftover granite from our 2007 home remodel found a new resting place behind the fountain. We set up lights in the patio area and got a fire pit and heating lamp, and voila, we are ready for even the coldest summer evening in the Bay Area.
Our Roman column fountain is very happy now that you can see it and is lit up at night. The fountain and the ginkgo and two magnolia trees have lights trained on them, and they light up in the evenings.
The happy corner lit up at night. You can see this corner from the family room picture window.
One of my favorite night-time photos. You can see the magnolia and ginkgo trees lit up at night, too.
We had a party on the 4th of July, 2017, and that became our landscape warming party. Friends, neighbors, and acquaintances have told us our backyard is like having a few new outdoor rooms. Some have said that they feel like they are in Tuscany, Italy. We agree!
We planted the beautiful ginkgo tree, which turns a blazing gold in autumn, to commemorate when Jacob was born in 2000.
The planter boxes at night from the other side of the backyard.
The leftover granite slab behind the lit-up Roman column fountain in the backyard. The plants around it have grown.
So what’s new in 2018? New aqua-color cushions and umbrella for a more Mediterranean look in the patio. I’m always trying out new flowers and pulling out ones that just don’t work out. I’ll be experimenting every year. And after a pruning, the yard gets fuller and more full of life, bringing in butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. We couldn’t be happier. Now our house is more like a home now. And I am one happy gardener.
I changed out the cushion and umbrella to a more Mediterranean color – aqua. Much brighter! The flowers in the pots are abloom, and the bushes in the patio planter box are bushier!
The blue hydrangea in the patio is one of my favorite flowers. It finds its way in many vases.
Birds now fly in a graceful curve, as if guided by a gentle wind, on the wall in the patio. Hi, Sammy!
A swallow, hydrangea, and fragrant tea candle in the backyard patio.
We had the backyard pruned in early spring, but it’s lush every summer.
The planter boxes in the backyard are brimming with old friends and new flowers. See the lone white gerbera daisy peeking out above the orange zinnia.
The narrow side yard on the other side of our house was always filled with junk. We cleared it out and put a row of planters and they are now home to rudbeckia, straw flower, cosmos, and a variety of scabiosa for my bouquets. I’m running out of room for new plants!
When we returned from our 2.5-week vacation to France in June, my dahlia garden was bursting with big blooms! What a welcome sight upon coming home.
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