Santa Rosa cohousing community makes over their landscape together

The Yulupa Cohousing in Santa Rosa has a striking Southwest modern architecture of curves, corners and varying elevations in cool, earthen tones. Standing in stark contrast to the 1970s and 1980s apartments and other development lining Yulupa, it never fails to catch the eye of motorists driving past. But when it came to the landscaping, the community’s curb appeal was not so appealing.

In the years since it was built in 2005, the development’s exterior plantings had suffered, with an invasion of Bermuda grass and other ailing or unsightly grasses, trees and shrubs. The spray irrigation was not efficiently targeting everything that needed water.

About three years ago, residents, as is their way in cohousing, banded together to rip out everything that wasn’t working and replace it with plants that are beautiful, require little water and maintenance and attract pollinators, more in keeping with the community’s mission of sustainable living. The move also is befitting the exuberant plantscape hiding beyond the entryway.

The 1.7 acres of grounds are filled with planting areas with character that are cared for with love by residents. No landscape strip, however narrow or small, is neglected.

Although the courtyard is visible only to residents, garden enthusiasts can visit it online as part of this year’s Eco-Friendly Garden Tour. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the tour, like other spring home and garden tours, appeared doomed until organizers decided to make it a virtual event.

The “Cohousing Garden Sanctuary” is one of 28 gardens and landscapes in Santa Rosa, Cotati, Petaluma and Marin County featured on the “tour.”

People can visit the gardens at savingwaterparternship.org. The tour page includes links to each garden, with descriptions, plant lists and in many cases, short videos. The variety is great, together hitting many notes when it comes to sustainability. There is an urban homestead, a bee-friendly garden, a water-wise terraced garden and a garden filled with lantana and succulents. But perhaps none is as unique as Yulupa Cohousing, which stands out not so much for its plantings as for its communal approach to using and caring for a shared space.

There are lessons others can learn from in the transformation of the exterior landscaping. It all started with a quick exchange between friends.

Linda Proulz was out front walking her dog when a friend, Becky Montgomery, drove by, saw her and pulled over for a quick chat. Montgomery mentioned that the outside landscaping was looking a little sad. She went home and talked about it with her husband, a landscape architect, who offered to come up with a better design plan for free.

“It looked like it needed a little help,” said Bill Montgomery, who served for many years as the deputy director of Santa Rosa’s recreation and parks department.

He came up with a concept plan incorporating California native plants, drought-tolerant plants and plants that attract beneficial insects. He also sited plants so the hot easterly sun wouldn’t beat down on windows.

Yulupa Cohousing has 58 ?residents in its 29 units, including seven kids younger than 18 and four college-age youth. Tasks are done communally, with a group of about seven residents serving on the Gardenscape Committee. Montgomery’s plan was taken to the whole community however, for approval.

“I kept thinking we should do something out there,” said Beth Mathews, a retired marine biologist who heads up the committee. “We were spending a lot of time weeding and doing supplemental watering, just trying to run in place or not run backwards. But none of us had the expertise to draw up a plan, and our budget for the garden was pretty low.”

But with the support of the community they moved forward, devoting about $7,000 to plants and installation and to converting old spray irrigation to a less water-intensive and more strategic drip system. Michael Golis Landscape Design was brought in to install the garden.

One of the significant changes was the planting of Chinese pistache tress in the area by the sidewalk. There are many of these beautiful trees lining streets in Santa Rosa. They do well in full sun and require little pruning or water. And they burst into color in the fall.

The new garden was planted in 2017. With any makeover, first assess what you want to keep, Montgomery said. In this case, three olive trees were spared, as was a crepe myrtle that blooms beautifully in late summer and a butterfly bush. Some low-growing grasses in the front strip were thinned out and brought back to life with more irrigation from the drip. And two tall palms that work nicely with the architecture were kept.

You also need to decide what must go. Top on the list was an infestation of stubborn Bermuda grass vanquished by resident Jim Taggart.

Many stunning new plants and shrubs were added that now contribute color and texture. Mathew loves the native California fuchsia that has brought a crowd of hummingbirds never seen in the landscape before. There are other eye-catchers, including a ceanothus “Dark Star” and the snowberry that produces pretty flowers and then a second act of tiny berries in the fall. A dwarf strawberry tree and redbud add seasonal color and interest.

The property draws from a well, so Mathews said it’s difficult to know how much water they’re saving. But maintenance has been so much easier.

They have a gardener who comes once a month for the big tasks. Otherwise, the Gardenscape Committee holds monthly workdays to stay on top of maintenance.

“People will gather and we provide a list of suggested work, but members are encouraged to come out and do stuff that’s not on the list,” Mathew said. “It’s OK to get that collective energy of people outdoors, especially in the hotter months when the kids make homemade lemonade and bring it around in a cart and serve everybody.”

At the center of the courtyard is a fountain, a simple tall spray of recycled well water that adds a soothing note to the scene and provides a fun place for kids to cool off on hot days.

Inside, different residents have informally adopted planting areas, often near their own residences. One woman has a patio full of potted plants; another area is filled with roses and geraniums. But there also is an effort afoot to slowly bring inside the complex more native and habitat plants, said Mar Ann Sacksteder, who is the co-chairwoman of the Gardenscape Committee with Mathew.

The landscape is filled with edible plants and trees. There are some 38 fruit trees, including apples, persimmon, pears, cherry, pluots, plums and a variety of citrus. Sometimes there is more abundance than the community can consume, so the overage is donated to the food pantry at the First United Methodist Church down the road.

Sacksteder is a fan of raspberries and always grows enough for everyone to munch on. Mathew calls her altruistic, but Sacksteder conceded with a chuckle, “It’s altruistic and it’s self-serving. I have some in my own garden. I get my share and they’re really good.”

There are raised beds in one hot sunny corner that people can reserve. Extra produce is shared, laid out on a table at harvest for neighbors to claim. Some residents have even taken over planting areas encircling the parking lot, so no space is wasted. Among them is Annemarie Goslow-Zwicker and her 12-year-old daughter, Emilia, who are experimenting with hugenkultur, a form of raised bed gardening that uses a built-up mound instead of a bed. The word literally means hill or mound culture.

Goslow-Zwicker said she started with a bottom layer of wood logs and smaller pieces of wood. On top of that they added mulch, compost, soil and alfalfa. The rotting wood feeds the soil.

So far the experiment is working. They planted, mostly from seed, zucchini, kale, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, bush beans and butternut squash. Small starts are popping up all over the log. The plantings are terraced, which gives more space for planting.

“It also creates more space to hold in water. That’s one of the other reasons I wanted to try it,” she said. “The less water we have to deal with, the better. And then it’s supposed to keep feeding the soil for years.”

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at 707-521-5204 or meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com.