View Finder: Michael Eurs' Native Garden

The first annual California Native Garden Tour is Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Private sustainable gardens all over Santa Cruz County will open their doors to the public. The event is free; you just have to register to receive an emailed list of participating gardens and a schedule of educational talks.

Organizer Lindsay Goldberg hopes that people who know little about native plants will check out the tour.

These photos were taken at Michael Eurs' garden, which he has been working on since he moved there 17 years ago. The property, three miles up Soquel Creek from the Capitola Beach, was once overgrown with cape ivy, an invasive plant native to South Africa. It is now a wonderland of native plants, roses, a vegetable garden, chickens, tortoises, birds and butterflies.