Making the most of a sunny opportunity

The transformation of Christina Bickley’s Auburn frontyard started with a boom – literally.

“We ripped out our lawn after our oak tree fell on our house,” she says. “So much sunshine, so we decided to go native to reduce water use and support native pollinators.”

Bickley teaches 7th- and 8th-grade science and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics); she’s familiar with botany. She knew her oak tree was in decline, but its sudden collapse was a shock.

“It was a beautiful tree,” she recalls. “It was near the middle of the lawn. All that lawn – and all that watering – made it susceptible. It was a very vigorous lawn, and the tree got unhealthier and unhealthier.”

A wind storm in 2019 was enough to push it over.

“When it fell, it clipped the front part of the house; the garage and the cars took most of the impact,” Bickley says. “We discovered the oak was infested with ants that had hollowed it out. Without the tree, it made it quite sunny. It was a drastic change."

And an opportunity; it was time for a makeover.

“That definitely got us started,” she says. “It was during the drought; we didn’t want to water anything that wasn’t food.”

For her efforts and her garden’s transformation, Bickley was named a “Summer Strong Yard” winner by the Regional Water Authority. Her garden was featured in an ongoing campaign to inspire other residents to tackle their own water-wise makeovers.

While rethinking her yard, Bickley also became interested in pollinator-friendly native plants and helping wildlife. “My longtime goal is to support bees.”

After the demise of the tree, she suddenly had plenty of sun – a must for tomatoes and most native plants. “Losing the tree tipped the scale,” she says.

Bickley sheet-mulched the lawn with cardboard and wood chips -- a slow process that allows the turf to decompose in place. She installed drip irrigation and did lots of research on native plants.

“We did it all ourselves; it took a year,” she says. “The biggest investment was an earth mover and a big dumpster.”