Join free, live, online garden tours • April 26, May 3, May 10, 2020, 10am - 3pm

Join the 2020 Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour free online this year via Zoom and YouTube!

Spend three Sundays in the Gardens — April 26, May 3 and May 10 — with passionate garden owners and the talented designers of the Bay Area’s most beautiful and inspiring landscapes will show us what’s happening in the garden now, feature their favorite natives, describe their favorite native plant gardening resources, and more.

This year’s Tour features 42 gardens, which can be seen on the Tour’s website. You can view photos of each of these gardens, read a description of the garden and print out its plant list at View the 2020 Gardens. You will be able to meet the homeowners and view about half of these gardens live online through Sundays in the Gardens.

This program will be hosted on Zoom, and live-streamed on YouTube. Registration is required. Click here to register for the online tour. Your registration email will contain links to join the live events.

The exemplary landscapes on the Tour hope to inform, inspire and motivate you to incorporate native plants into your own gardens. They contain at least 60% native plants, are pesticide-free, water-conserving, and provide habitat for wildlife.

Renowned ecologist and best-selling author Douglas Tallamy will open this event on Sunday, April 26, at 10:00, after which each garden owner will host a 25 minute long live visit.

Douglas Tallamy is the author of “Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens” and the New York Times bestseller “Nature’s Best Hope”.

Sunday, April 26, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm PST

• 10:10 – 11:30 Douglas Tallamy will kick off this event with the talk “Restoring the Little Things That Run the World: Why It Matters and What We Can Do.”
• 11:30 – 11:45 Q and A with Douglas Tallamy
• 11:45 – 12:10 Nancy Niemeyer’s garden, Clayton
• 12:10 – 12:35 Leslie Zander’s garden, Albany
• 12:35 – 1:00 Stephanie Pruegel’s garden, San Leandro
• 1:00 – 1:20 Tour of East Bay Wilds Native Plant Nursery with Pete Veilleux
• 1:20 -1:45 Mardi Mertens’ garden, Berkeley
• 1:45 – 2:00 Mary Cooper’s garden, Castro Valley
• 2:00 – 2:25 Donna Bodine’s garden, El Cerrito
• 2:25 – 2:50 Maria Sargent’s garden, Danville
• 2:50 – 3:00 Close

Sunday, May 3, 10:00 am – 3:00 pm PST

• 10:00 – 10:10 Welcome with Tour Coordinator Kathy Kramer. Details on the day’s schedule.
• 10:10 – 10:35 Al Kyte’s garden, Moraga
• 10:35 – 11:00 Robert Finkel’s garden, Oakland with designer Pete Veilleux
• 11:00 – 11:25 Kelly Marshall and Mike Weidner’s garden, Clayton
• 11:25 – 11:50 Leslie Buck’s garden, Berkeley
• 11:50 – 12:10 Tour of the Watershed Nursery with Laura Hanson
• 12:10 – 12:35 Sallie Bryan’s garden, Berkeley
• 12:35 – 1:00 Gretchen Pivonka’s garden, Alameda
• 1:00 – 1:25 Mary Cooper’s garden, Castro Valley
• 1:25 – 1:50 Natalie and Armand’s garden, Alameda, with designer Pete Veilleux
• 1:50 – 2:15 Arti Kirch’s garden, Concord
• 2:15 – 2:40 Susan Friedman’s garden, San Ramon
• 2:40 – 2:45 Close

Sunday, May 10, 10:00 am – 1:30 pm PST

• 10:00 – 10:10 Welcome with Tour Coordinator Kathy Kramer and garden designer Kelly Marshall. Details on the day’s schedule.
• 10:10 – 10:35 Jennifer Hurley and Dan Gaff’s garden, Alameda
• 10:35 – 11:00 Dale Wolford’s garden, Castro Valley
• 11:00 – 11:25 Mary Ford and Rob Lewis’ garden, Berkeley
• 11:25 – 11:50 Peter and Jocelyn Rohan’s garden, Richmond
• 11:50 – 12:10 TBD
• 12:10 – 12:35 Michelle Minor and Milton Friedman’s garden, Alameda
• 12:35 – 1:00 Beatrice and Bjorn Hori’s garden, Albany
• 1:00 – 1:25 Lorraine Kalich’s garden, San Ramon
• 1:25 – 1:30 Close

Since 2005, the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, together with passionate native plant gardeners located throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has set the standard for sustainable landscaping in Northern California. The Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour shows that native gardens are beautiful, can be designed on any budget—and conveys the idea that each of us plays a critical role in supporting biodiversity.

Since the Tour’s inception more than 200,000 garden visits have been made to native plant gardens showcased on the Tour. If you can help support the Tour, please make a donation on the Tour’s website or on GoFundMe.

A very special thank you to the garden hosts and designers for opening their wonderful gardens to the public, and to volunteers for sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm with visitors. We are deeply grateful for the support of sponsors, including local businesses, agencies, and non-profits and individuals.