This garden adjoins over a half mile of Capitancillos Drive in San Jose. It is a labor of love by one of the residents of the neighborhood, supported by other neighbors who live along the way. Started in 1995 with the planting of 125 coast live oaks by Our City Forest (http://www.ourcityforest.org/), it has been maintained and filled in with an extensive collection of chaparral shrubs and plants. It blends beautifully with the Guadalupe Creek riparian zone, which is adjacent to the garden.

Backed by huge granite boulders and the meadow beyond, the shrubs and trees stand out nicely, yet seem to be part of the natural landscape. The plants are hand-watered until established, by Patrick Pizzo, who designed and installed this impressive garden. Lovely established specimens include a variety of ceanothus and manzanitas, sugar bush, spicebush, bush anenome, mountain mahogany, island bush snapdragon, coast silktassel, lemonade berry, sages, coyote brush, coyote mint, buckwheats, monkeyflowers, silver bush lupine, and much more. Plants are labelled, making it easy to find and identify specific cultivars.

The garden provides food and shelter for wildlife from the adjacent Guadalupe Watershed and Guadalupe Creek. Bluebird nest boxes maintained by the Audubon Society provide additional habitat in the garden.

Here is a plant list for the garden.

 

 

Directions: From Hwy 85, go south on Camden to Coleman. Turn left on Coleman, and left again on Redmond, then right on Oak Canyon Drive. Oak Canyon Drive becomes Oak Canyon Place. Continue to the cul-de-sac and turn about. The garden borders the meadow for 0.6 miles. Ample free parking is available on the street next to the garden.