The work on the front yard patios is completed. I planted some grasses and other perennials but am waiting until next winter to plant a few shrubs. As promised in the previous blog post, here is a slideshow containing pictures from late February, when work started, to early April, after it was completed. I’m loving […]
design
Lawn-less sustainable garden
I got rid of the last bit of lawn in Wild Suburbia. We are lawn-less, lawn-free, turf-be-gone, but definitely not grassless! Deergrass, California fescue, melic grass, purple needlegrass, and even the non-grasses, blue-eyed grass (in the Lily Family), and rush (sometimes called rush-grass, in the Rush Family) have a place in my garden and in […]
Front yard makeover continued
It has been six weeks since the last post – shame on me! I really am trying to be better about this and do hope that I have not lost too many of you. After posting on October 18th I went into plant sale mode, preparing for the annual plant sale for the San Gabriel […]
Front yard plans
As you may remember, we had to remove a diseased, old avocado tree in our front yard last year (RIP Avocado). Since the avocado was removed we have had some pretty hot, dry and wet (summer rains!?) weather. Needless to say, the loss of the tree has had a big impact on the front yard. […]
Create your own garden paradise
Walking on a quiet street in a Los Angeles suburb, my eighty-year-old father and I approached a lovely adobe home. As we walked along, I noticed that he was slowly shaking his head as he simply stated, “It’s not for me.” I was showing him a garden in my neighborhood that I was especially fond […]
Life stages of a native plant garden
Gardens, like people, have life stages. In the beginning, they grow vigorously, even rampantly. Maybe the first year or two seems a bit slow for a new native plant garden. Some plants don’t do much and losses are usually higher in this very early stage. The next few years (around years two to five), however, […]
Top 20
People new to using California native plants are often overwhelmed by the many new and unfamiliar plants. Some of us “experts” further confuse these newcomers by using botanical names. Today I spent some time looking for short lists containing the most commonly used garden natives. The very best list I found was on the Tree of […]
A garden retrospective
We have lived here for fourteen years and the garden has taught me much. I am glad that I started slowly. Many of the original plants are gone. Some did not meet my aesthetic requirements, others were not well-matched to the site, a few grew out of control, spreading where they were not wanted, and […]
In the beginning
In the heat of the summer of 1999 I take pieces of scrap paper and sketch the long, narrow parkway bed on the east side of our corner lot. It is about 170 feet long and six feet wide, and covered with weedy grass. Two books, Bob Perry’s Trees and Shrubs for Dry California Landscapes, […]
Getting Ideas for a Front Parkway Habitat Garden
Between now and winter I will be planning a habitat garden in the parkway in front of my house. By November or December, just in time for the rainy season, I will be ready to purchase and plant. The process started this summer when I cut off the irrigation to let the grass on the […]