Suzi Katz Garden Design of Marin County, California

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Above: A water wise, drought-tolerant garden planted with mostly native plants including Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita', Verbena lilacina 'De la Mina', *Lavender 'Phenomenal', Mimulus 'Jelly Bean Orange' (monkeyflower), Artemisia californica 'Montara' (sagebrush), and Eriogonum latifolium (buckwheat). Photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design.

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This Marin County garden is stuffed full of colorful perennials that attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. A broad variety of species provides a succession of bloom from spring through fall. Photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design.

Your garden has the power to connect you to the wilder world.

Much of our residential landscaping emphasizes tidiness and uniformity so that when we're at home, we feel isolated from our favorite wild places and the creatures who inhabit them; but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can design our gardens to be more like the landscapes of wild California, filled with plants that provide food and shelter for birds, pollinators, and other wildlife, allowing us to stay connected while we're home.

I belong to an expanding community of gardeners who encourage people to view their own gardens as living, ever-changing systems that support the web of life, and to see this as part of a larger effort to restore valuable habitat that has been lost to residential landscaping.

Your garden can be a link in a chain of habitat gardens, uniting your home ground with the wider, wilder world beyond your neighborhood, and I can help you get started.

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With thorough site preparation and loving attention, low-growing native plants weave together in undulating mounds to fill the space and create waves of color. photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

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garden designers in Marin County, drought tolerant gardens

Habitat in Marshall, CA. This late-summer garden is a giant bird feeder when the white flowers of Eriogonum (various California buckwheat species) are fading and turning brown. These plants are a rich nectar source for bees and butterflies while in bloom; later in the season, the birds can enjoy their seeds and the homeowners can enjoy the plants' form and character as flowers fade. photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

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a garden design filled with Clarkia, a California native wildflower

Clarkia is an annual California native wildflower that germinates in the fall, grows throughout the winter, blooms in the spring and summer, and then dies. When it's time to remove the spent plants, I throw them around where I want new Clarkia to come up. Clarkia re-seeds easily, so you can get very large drifts of it with almost no effort as long as weed competition is low. This is a part of my garden that gets no summer irrigation, but the Clarkia doesn't need it. It will be done with its life cycle by the time the soil has dried out. photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

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a cottage-style garden by garden designer Suzi Katz

The Vicar's garden at Saint Columba's church in Inverness, May of 2020 photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

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A pollinator garden in Marin County which provides forage for bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies throughout the seasons. June 2021 photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

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This Marin County habitat garden is filled with flowering annuals and perennials that provide a succession of bloom from early spring until frost. June 2021 photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

Suzi Katz Habitat Garden

A mix of perennials and shrubs in garden designer Suzi Katz's coastal garden

I planted my garden with a succession of bloom in order to support wildlife year-round. This photo was taken mid-August with a mix of native and non-native annuals and perennials (Eriogonum, Penstemon, Hemizonia). The manzanitas form the backbone and will bloom in the winter. photo © Suzi Katz Garden Design

Ecological Landscape Design for Marin County Gardens

Your garden has the power to connect you to the wilder world.