Photo Gallery: Altadena's Native Plant Gardens

Winding paths that entice visitors to walk around the next bend, rainbows of flowers spilling over the way or massed in banks of purple and gold, tantalizing wicket gates, shaded benches to rest—what better way to spend a Sunday afternoon?

Gardeners who use California native plants demonstrated that indigenous plants are not all brown, gray and dry and that it doesn’t take imported vegetation to create a lush, colorful garden in Southern California on the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour this past weekend. 

Two Altadena homes were part of the 35-home tour. On Sunday, Andreas Hessing and Karen Bonfigli welcomed visitors to their Alameda Street garden, a long, narrow rectangle packed with blooming shrubs in the front, a huge oak shading the house and a kitchen garden at the rear.  The lot is flat, with only a gentle slope to the south.

The garden at the home of Wynne Wilson and Brian Leach on the hillside across from Loma Alta Elementary has varied elevations and features both formal and informal elements. Echoes of Native American and Spanish life mingle with recreated Indian artifacts, a statue of a monk, and Spanish style fountains.

For Dean Morris, who came with his wife and two children, this was his third year on the tour. 

“We’re big fans,” Morris said.  “We’re very much pro California wildlife. It’s nice to get the kids and educate them.” 

Landscape architect Josh Ketchum had seen many of the plants before in books, but was pleased to see them in real life. 

“It’s totally different than I had imagined,” he said.  “Some are bigger, some smaller, some more vibrant.” 

Ketchum creates living walls and green roofs which use recycled water for his clients and is currently planting his own garden.

Some of the people who went on the tour were there to find plants to add to their already-thriving gardens, while others were looking for inspiration to start.  Some were educating their spouses or children about the beauty to be found. 

A few expressed surprise at the color and variety California natives have to offer and commented that it changed their ideas about their value.

Janelle Carney brought her two daughters and English husband Stewart Suckling along “because he thinks natives are weeds.”  The Wilson home is her dream yard, she said. 

"We have some natives in our garden. ... What really grows well in our yard is sage,” Carney said.  "I’m very inspired by this yard."

The family visited several of the gardens over the weekend, picking out plants to try in their own space.

Joel Li and Tim Reed recently bought a house with a yard filled with tropical plants.  They took a trip to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and liked what they saw, so they were looking for ideas for their own yard.  Reed echoed many of the visitors when he said, “I always thought that native California plants aren’t as beautiful as they are.” 

Seven-year-old Jimmy Garcia was busy snapping photos of the plants and features.  He and his dad, George, already have a garden with 91 varieties of California natives.  “After this, we’ll have some more,” George said with a smile.  He hopes that having a native garden will create a habitat for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife. 

Mom and daughter Judy and Jenny Karinen came to discover options for their own plot, which they have planted with several drought-tolerant species.  They were learning  “what grows best where and to see how people treat different kinds of lots,” as Judy said. They had already visited 11 gardens over the weekend and were on their way to see more. 

“We’re seeing what thrives where,” Judy Karinen said. "A lot of plants we never heard of.  We have a lot of property and this makes sense.”

Some folks are lucky enough to live where many of the species, so carefully tended in the Theodore Payne gardens, grow wild.  Elena Ackel has place in the mountains surrounded by California  gooseberry, currants, flannel bush, blazing stars, spice plant, and half dozen other species she rattled off.  She said there are 25 types of flowers and shrubs on her mountain property, streams on both sides of the road, and several waterfalls.

What brought Ron Alley to the tour?  “The flowers,” he stated simply, then added, “Two things: ideas for my own yard and just to see the pretty plants.”  His yard was Algonquin ivy, much of which he has removed, and he’s working at getting natives planted in its place.

Standing by the stream on the Wilson property, Alley commented, “This is so much like a park.”