A Hillside Garden

About

I have a degree in Landscape Architecture and worked for the Washington State Department of Transportation as a landscape designer. During my 17-year career, I designed construction plans for restoration of roadsides, wetlands and streambanks using native plants and vegetative bioengineering techniques. Upon retiring to Southern Oregon, I now spend my days growing native plants to restore our 5-1/4-acre Oregon white oak woodland and donating surplus plants to a native plant group for their spring and fall plant sales. We are focusing on the roughly 1-1/2 acres inside the deer fence. Living on a steep, south facing slope has presented a number of challenges in establishing plants, namely, water and wildlife (deer, California ground squirrels, and pocket gophers). To overcome these challenges, I have focused on building healthy soil that will hold more moisture. I have installed hügelkultur trenches under most of the garden beds, and use cover crops and tarping (occultation) in the vegetable gardens to build in more moisture holding capacity in the soil and improve the soil’s microbiome. We also capture rainwater for use in the gardens. Additionally, using mostly locally adapted native plants or at least native plants to the summer dry west, usually results in healthy, well established plants and garden. Our goals are to live in harmony with our surroundings, recognizing that we are the guests in this place. We use no pesticides, try to limit our fossil fuel use, and aim to leave the property in a better condition than when we first came here.

This garden’s estimated size is 1-1/2 acres.

2025 Open Day:  Sunday, May 18

Hours:10-4