Sunset Profile: Quest to Convert Concrete Yards Into a Native Plant Paradise
Paula Katz and Joshua Eufinger.
Outer Sunset resident Paula Katz was tired of looking at concrete and brush in her backyard the past 30 years. The retired labor lawyer was ready for a change of view at her home of 44th Avenue.
“I wanted a wild garden,” Paula says. “I’d lived in Yosemite for six years and went on wildflower hikes. That’s what I wanted to recreate.”
After watching a webinar on San Francisco’s native plants, she was inspired to create a garden that could thrive in the sand and fog of the Sunset — while also supporting birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife.
Ready to undertake her project, Paula interviewed a number of landscapers. But then her neighbor, Joshua Eufinger, an architect, invited her to visit his backyard. There she saw a winding wood pathway leading through a lush, aromatic landscape to a deck in the lower yard,
complete with firepit and outdoor kitchen.
“I immediately felt embraced by what he had created,” Paula says. “We have been a team ever since.”
Joshua’s firm, Eufinger Studio, is currently designing nearly two million square feet of residential and commercial architecture across the U.S. and India — yet he welcomed the opportunity to engage with the intimate scale and contextual nuance of his neighbor’s backyard.
“I saw an opportunity to get to know my neighbor,” Joshua says. “Knowing your neighbors is important to me. It’s so important to be a part of the neighborhood you live in. It is one of the ways in which the Sunset really stands out for me.”
As neighbors, Joshua and Paula were able to arrange spontaneous meetings, allowing the project to progress in an organic and natural manner.
“Paula likes to talk things out so this made it easy to work together,” Joshua says.
A third member of their team, Patrick Dalton of Dalton Construction, signed on to build a redwood seating area and install an irrigation system, which would be needed until the young plants took hold.
Before and After.
Paula turned for guidance to the California Native Plant Society, Yerba Bueno (SF) Chapter, and Calscape, which offers recommendations about specific plants, nursery sources, and designs suited to the user’s situation.
With Paula doing the shopping at local nurseries and taking cuttings from plants in her front yard and Patrick laying the foundation for the winding path and building a back patio and bench, Joshua created the garden layout. Planting began in February. So far, they have installed more than 200 plants and seeds, representing 49 species. San Francisco natives account for about 80 percent of the plants.
Taking inspiration from a Japanese aesthetic, Joshua’s design adheres to feng shui principles, which create harmony with the natural world. He built a graceful arching bridge. Japanese stone lanterns stand amid the greenery. Driftwood boughs define a raised bed for species preferring drier ground.
Within one season, the transformation of Paula’s backyard has been nothing short of breathtaking.
Dense waves of colorful flowers catch the breeze and the scores of bees dart among vivid California poppies, rock phacelia, and coastal bush lupine. A delicate cabbage white butterfly flits from plant to plant. The bold pink flower of the hummingbird sage adds a pleasant fragrance to the air. Two rare Franciscan manzanitas, a native shrub once thought extinct, have found their happy place in Paula’s yard. And that’s just a few of her plants.
“It’s important for the environment to use San Francisco natives,” she says. “We have fewer natives now due to development. The ecosystem is being lost.”
Paula hopes others will seek out San Francisco native species that grow in sand and can thrive in the Sunset. She stands ready to share what she’s learned.
“I call my garden a year-round buffet for pollinators,” she says with pride.
Reported and written by volunteer community journalist Jan Cook. We encourage residents with journalism experience, retired journalists, and student journalists in high school and college to volunteer as writers for Supervisor Engardio’s newsletter. Interested? Apply here. Do you know a story you would like to see featured in the newsletter? Tell us about it here.