The California Native Garden Foundation at The Center for Urban Sustainability offers ecological garden design, build and management services. We specialize in garden landscape designs that reflect the natural beauty of California, conserve precious natural resources and link the urban landscape closer to nature. Our focus is ecology-based landscaping with the use of California native plants, carbon-neutral products and water conservation techniques, all of which help build beautiful, sustainable gardens.

Alrie Middlebrook began working with tropical plants as a professional in San Jose in 1976. She founded Interior Landscape Design in 1980, which specialized in interior garden design, installation and maintenance. The firm received more interior awards than any other California-based indoor landscaping firm. In 1995, the name of the company was changed to Middlebrook Gardens. It expanded its practice to include native garden design and went on to design and build over 800 native gardens that reflect the natural beauty of the local ecology, conserve water and eliminate the use of harmful chemicals.

In 2020, Alrie handed over the thriving business to her nonprofit, CNGF, employing the same talented designers and builders. In recent years, we have added regenerative food gardens to our portfolio. We have continued to produce the highest quality of native and food gardens throughout the Bay Area.