SAN FRANCISCO—In May, the yard at the corner of Moraga Street and 41st Avenue belonging to Wilson Ng, 32, and his wife Neva Nguyen, 29, was voted the city’s ugliest lawn.
On July 18, it took the crown in the first annual Ugly Yard Contest. The couple won a complete makeover that will turn their lawn into a model for water conservation. Ng and Nguyen also won a family-friendly block party for their street that was held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
According to Ng himself, the lawn was infested with gophers, bugs and snails, while being littered with overgrown weeds, unsightly cement cracks and dog feces.
In an honest admission, Ng told to the San Francisco Chronicle, “I knew it had to be the ugliest lawn in San Francisco… I obviously don’t have a green thumb.”
Neighbors regarded the lawn as being an eye sore. A panel of judges chose Ng as the winner from 79 entries, twice the number of entries that were expected to be seen. A total of 6,900 votes were cast. Three other winners received landscape consultation, native seeds, and 500 square feet of compost material to makeover their lawns.
The contest aims to promote the implementation of more drought-resistant gardens given the severe drought in the state of California.
