3784 Redwood Avenue

Photos by Renee Tondelli

This is the fourth year this garden has been on the tour and visitors have watched it go from newly planted to a paradise!  About half are native California plants and half Mediterranean climate plants from Australia, South Africa, Chile, etc. The front is a delight - but don't miss the chance to explore the back with a chicken habitat that is practically a chicken condo and 2 large edible gardens. There is a lot to learn here!

The soil in these gardens - both edible & ornamental beds - is maintained exclusively with compost & compost tea.  The owner has become such a believer in compost tea & the biological method of garden maintenance that it has become the main thrust of their design and maintenance business - Compost Teana.  

They also added a gray water system to the back yard last year and took the beds next to the house off of the main irrigation line.  Those plants have been maintained exclusively with washing machine gray water since April 2011. They use drip irrigation - once every 2 weeks on one line and once a month on the other.

After tearing out the turf in the front yard, these homeowners created a Mediterranean style courtyard, with a small fountain in the middle, encircled by a 3’ high berm. The berm was planted with climate appropriate plants, focusing mainly on California natives. They removed 2 very thirsty birch trees and replaced them with 2 beautiful, unthirsty, summer-flowering Chitalpa x tashkentensis trees - which were received from the ‘Million Trees LA’ program.

Look for the surprise visitor in the front yard!