Designer Mat McGrath's garden at age 4½: front yard

Bay Area-based artist Mat McGrath (Farallon Gardens) and his wife Mali moved to the East Bay town of Rodeo in the fall of 2021. The 14,000 sq. ft. property they bought was a blank slate: a bit of lawn and lots of bark mulch and dry grass. Undaunted and with help from Mat’s crew, they immediately went to work and created a spectacular garden.

I’ve been following and documenting their progress since June 2023 (see links at the end of this post) and recently had the opportunity to see what the garden looks like at age 4½. As before, I’ll break up my post into two parts: front yard and back yard.

Let’s start on the sidewalk. The difference between Mat’s front yard and the neighbor’s couldn’t be more stark:

Many words come to mind when you look at the plantings. Minimalist is not one of them. Neither is subdued:

Vibrant, cheerful, full of life: that’s more like it.

Slope on the right, driveway in the middle, front garden proper on the left:

Notice the license plate on Mat’s van!

More is more...is more. That’s my mantra, too. Maybe that’s why I connect with Mat’s garden so deeply.

The spheres of blue-gray leaves are Xanthorrhoea glauca, grass trees from eastern Australia. Mat bought three 15-gallon specimens from San Marcos Growers five years ago.

This area looked much sparser three years ago.

Walkway to the front door:

More blue leaves (Agave ovatifolia, Brahea armata), contrasted by blanket flowers (Gaillardia)...

...and ×Vriecantarea ‘Julietta’, a terrestrial bromeliad with striking plum-colored leaves:

×Vriecantarea ‘Julietta’

Three years ago, this area was a wildflower meadow. Check it out here and then compare with this:

Along the back, three of my favorites are still there: red Abyssinian banana (Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’), bell reed (Cannomois grandis), and sunshine conebush (Leucadendron ‘Safari Sunshine’):

The orange flowers on the left are from Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’, a well-behaved Peruvian lily (unlike other alstroemerias that are hell-bent on conquering the world):

Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer

×Vriecantarea ‘Julietta’

Mat also has several naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna) and ×Amarygia (Amaryllis belladonna crossed with Brunsvigia josephinae) in different shades of pink:

The area next to the front door is dominated by an Aloidendron ‘Hercules’:

Aloidendron ‘Hercules’...

...is taller than 6 ft now...

...with Mat for scale

Of course I was focused on agaves and aloes:

Agave guadalajarana and Aloe broomii

Another perfectly grown Agave guadalajarana

Agave nickelsiae and bowling balls. They seem to be a thing in Berkeley gardens — see here.

Impossible to miss near the front door:

Tradescantia pallida ‘Purple Heart’ on the left, related Callisia fragrans on the right

I have Tradescantia pallida ‘Purple Heart’ in the back yard, and it’s done great. Callisia fragrans was new to me. Mat sent me home with a half dozen offsets, so I’ll soon have this growing in my garden.

Finally, a “before” photo from 2021:

Listing photo from 2021. So much bark!

Insane, right?

Check back in a couple of days for a tour of the back yard.

RELATED POSTS

• Designer Mat McGrath’s garden at age 4 (November 2025)
• Designer Mat McGrath’s garden at age 3½: front yard (May 2025)
• Designer Mat McGrath’s garden at age 3½: back yard (May 2025)
• Designer Mat McGrath’s garden at age 3: front yard (October 2024)
• Designer Mat McGrath’s garden at age 3: back yard (October 2024)
• Mat McGrath’s new one-of-a-kind Bay Area garden: front yard (June 2023)
• Mat McGrath’s new one-of-a-kind Bay Area garden: back yard (June 2023)

To see Mat's art, check out his Instagram account or go to his website, mathewmcgrath.com.

© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.