The award-winning in-person Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase will allow registrants to visit beautiful, water-conserving native plant gardens— 36 Bayside gardens on Saturday, April 30, and 15 Inland gardens on Sunday, May 1—from 10:00-5:00. All of the homes have native plant gardens; about ten will be sharing their green home features, such as solar panels and batteries, induction ranges, heat pumps, and more. This is a self-guided tour, with talks taking place at some gardens, and volunteers and homeowners at the sites.
Berkeley Public Library is working with the Tour to offer a scavenger hunt for all ages, with a focus on our local gardens in Berkeley, as well as two recommended locations in Oakland, which are only available to visit Saturday, April 30th.
To participate:
- Register for the Tour in order to get a map of all locations at bringingbackthenatives.net
- Pick up the scavenger hunt sheet at one of the gardens listed below or from the Central Library Children's Desk. You can also print out the sheet at this link: native_garden_tour_scavenger_hunt_final.pdf
- *Visit at least one or two gardens - the more you visit the more likely it is to find the plant you're looking for - and follow the instructions on the sheet. You will not have to complete the entire thing, but kudos if you do!
- Fill out the sheet and turn it in to the Berkeley Central Library 4th floor desk by May 7th to be entered for either the Youth or Adult prize-drawing!
*If you are unable to visit these particular gardens, but would like to find a way to participate, you can look for local pollinator gardens near you (hint: some of our Berkeley parks have them!)
Recommended gardens from the tour include:
Berkeley
- Sallie Bryan’s garden
- Leslie Buck’s garden
- Ruth Rogow’s garden
- Phyllis Rothman’s garden
- Dave Savidge and Jennifer Braun’s garden
Oakland
- Ashley and Matt Spinelli
- Victoria Gardens Pollinator Corridor