Garden tours in the Bay Area

Two Oakland residents with homes on this year's Bay- Friendly Garden Tour have different responses.

Gabrielle Bussey combines a predilection for water-thrifty succulents with a knack for repurposing salvaged odds and ends as garden hardscape and decor.

For landscape planner Porter Poirier, it's a matter of harnessing rainwater to sustain ornamental plants and food crops in a warm but windy piece of the Oakland hills.

[...] Bussey had a place for growing her collection of potted succulents and other plants.

The heart of the garden, though, is the succulent bed, packed with cacti, euphorbias, aeoniums from the Canary Islands, native California dudleyas and other botanical oddities.

Along with the plants, there's a path of "urbanite" - discarded concrete - slabs and a brick terrace recycled from a barbecue.

Poirier's garden, adjoining East Bay Municipal Utility Distract land in the Laurel Heights district, has a little of everything: trees, shrubs, vines, succulents, natives, exotics, ornamentals, edibles.

Water is the tough part: "We have a southwest-facing slope, and this great thermal flywheel," he explained, pointing at the sweeping view over city, bay and Marin County.

On the urban-wildland interface, city codes require homeowners to keep a minimum 300-gallon reserve for fire suppression: "That leaves 2,700 I get to use."

Whatever their other virtues, these gardens, like many on this tour over the years, share a sense of fun.

Bay-Friendly Garden Tour Organized by Alameda County's Stopwaste, this free, self-guided tour of dozens of public and private gardens in Alameda County and Napa includes several garden clusters that are walkable or bike-able. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 28 (Alameda County), 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 5 (Napa).

Free, self-guided tour of Bay Area gardens that are low maintenance, conserve water and attract birds and butterflies. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 21.

See a range of gardens from a small native-planted front yard to a meticulously designed serenity garden on this tour presented by the Hillside Gardeners of Montclair. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. May 5.

Self-guided tours of private gardens 10 a.m.-4 p.m. May 11 in the East Bay and Mendocino County, May 18 on the Peninsula and June 1 in Kentfield. $5 admission to each garden.

Mother's Day tours May 12 $10 adults (free for moms); $7 seniors and students; free for children under 12.

Sponsored by the Sonoma County Medical Association Alliance Foundation and benefits youth health charities. $40 before April 30; $45 after.

Proceeds benefit St. Joseph Notre Dame High School and St. Joseph Elementary School.