Reflecting the World in Front of You
A Q&A w/Nick Basinski, Garden Owner on the 2020 Garden Tour
Nick Basinski’s garden, ‘Cowles Mountain Reflected’ is featured on the Garden Tour this year. The garden is a very dense, diverse plan with more than 60+ local natives. The parking strip has the feel of a dry creek bed, with various succulents and agaves tucked in among the colorful rocks, as well as a Desert Willow planted as a street tree. In the center of the yard is a seating area completely surrounded by aromatic sage, California lilacs, and a towering Lemonade Berry, offering seclusion from street traffic as well as a great place for wildlife. Since 2016 when Nick’s front yard was last featured on the CNPS native garden tour, he has expanded to the backyard with 100% California natives.
Special features of the garden include a collection of native “combo pots” showing what can be done mixing native plants in containers and a lush California native bentgrass lawn in the backyard.
We asked Nick some questions about how he got started with native gardening and what he has discovered in the process.
What got you started with California native gardening?
I worked as a field biologist studying birds, bugs, and reptiles for several years, but I didn’t know much about plants. To understand the animals of an ecosystem, you must understand the plants, but I was never able to teach myself about plants using field guides.
I started working for the Department of Agriculture, dealing with invasive insect pests in the nursery industry, and developed a strong dislike for the “normal” landscape plants that I saw at nurseries every day.
Once my wife and I purchased our house, I decided that native gardening would be the way to learn about the local ecosystems, provide habitat, and have an interesting yard that I would enjoy spending time in.
Did you have an overall goal or agenda when you planted your garden?
For my front yard, my goal was to have a diverse and natural looking yard. I can see Cowles Mountain from my yard, and I told the landscape designer “Make my yard look like that mountain.” I wanted a lot of species that would attract a lot of birds. He designed a plan packed with over 40 species that would provide year-round food and habitat for wildlife, in a small suburban yard.
For my backyard, I wanted a play area for kids, and a simpler landscape. I designed a small California bentgrass lawn, a gravel path, and some planted area around the perimeter. I wanted to have a narrower focus in my plant choices, so I decided to landscape using only Channel Islands endemic plant species.
What was your plant selection process in the beginning? Has that changed with time?
The designer of the front yard picked the initial plants using mostly local species, but as I started the installation, I made several changes. Sometimes I would try to re-create a specific part of the county in a section of my yard. Sometimes I would find a plant from another part of the state that I liked, or a locally rare plant, then try to find a spot for it. I now have over 60 species in the front yard alone. In hindsight, I wish I had a more cohesive plan, but I am a collector and a biologist, so cramming in as many species as I can find is part of the fun for me.
When I landscaped the backyard I chose only Channel Island species, because there are so many unique plants to choose from, that I could put in a variety of interesting plants, but it would maintain a focus.
What do you see as the greatest benefit to you in planting a California native garden versus an ornamental garden of primarily non-natives?
Educating the neighbors has been one of the biggest benefits for me. People see the local hills covered in these plants every day and don’t give them any thought. They see my yard and think it is an “Arizona” landscape because they’ve never actually looked at the plants around them. As they admire all the sights and smells in my yard, I explain that almost all of the plants are found on the mountain and the lakeshore down the street from us, and it opens their eyes to the world right in front of them.
The garden has attracted a tremendous amount of insects, and all of the birds and lizards that feed on them. I have 5 species of birds that build nests and raise their young in the yard every spring and it brings me great joy to watch that.
Please pass on a piece of advice on California native gardening that has been of high impact for you.
Keep in mind how everything looks together throughout the year, and don’t just focus on the plants that catch your eye in books or at the plant sales. Many times the best effect in a garden comes from combining plants that don’t look spectacular by themselves, but naturally complement each other. One of my favorite combinations is cacti and bunchgrasses. They don’t look remarkable on their own, but the combination of textures looks great year-round even without flowers.
Photo of Nick and daughter: Judie Lincer. All garden photos: Nick Basinski
Questions written by Joseph Sochor