Easy Being Green: Sustainable Oakland Backyard by Shirley Watts

Designer Shirley Watts earned Alameda County’s Green Business certification for her redesign of Christine McCargar’s small, irregular Oakland backyard (12 ft wide at rear, 20 ft near house, 54 ft long). Enclosed by buildings, the garden was treated as an extension of the house, split into two living areas: rear for relaxing and barbecuing with recycled-steel trellises planted with climbing Asparagus retrofractus and papyrus; front as a stroll-through garden with raised beds framed in recycled steel. A divider of two steel-framed firewood racks separates the areas. Entire yard paved with permeable gravel allowing rainwater to seep in.