Congratulations to our June Yard of the Month: Yu Cha Pak at 1322 Harvard

Yu Cha Pak has lived at 1322 Harvard, the June Yard of the Month, for 32 years. About 15 years ago, after the usual problems with keeping up with watering and chinch bugs, she made the decision to convert her conventional St. Augustine front lawn to a rock garden. The result is a beautiful natural-looking garden: a mix of natives, exotics and other flowering plants. The plants she selects attract many pollinators. Plants include aloes, salvia, blue plumbago, coreopsis, vinca, day lilies, roses, purple cone flowers, and gorgeous flame colored crocosmia. Some of her more unusual plants include papaya and castor bean.

Yu Cha is an artist, and as such, she likes to experiment with a variety of plants and the display they make in her yard. She collects plants and seeds from her friends and on her travels. She especially loves to see how many of the plants she selects will thrive and propagate naturally. She also likes to keep track of the ‘volunteer’ plants that turn up in her yard, most likely spread via birds. One plant turned out to be watermelon, providing four melons.

We want to thank Buchanan’s Native Plants for the gift certificate honoring our June Yard of the Month recipient.