Fierce winds toppled our 36” diameter, 100-year-old, double-trunked live oak last week. The massive tree grazed smaller live oaks as it fell, crushed 3 Prunus ilicifolia ssp lyonii, stripped the leaves off 5 Plumbago auriculata ‘Imperial Blue,’ and shredded 6 Agave ovatifolia ‘Frosty Blue.’ Where nature’s Rip-Van-Winkle-esque miracle had graced our outdoor living area, a… Read More When a tree falls…
Shrub. An ugly word for a plant category that can provide such beauty, function, and strength, isn’t it? My dry-climate darlings are Pisonia umbellifera ‘Variegata,’ Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Snow Queen,’ and Coprosma repens. Pisonia umbellifera ‘Variegata’ – Map Plant No words or photos can capture this plant’s distinctiveness. Our 7 in the entrance garden are magical… Read More My 3 favorite shrubs
Garden benches are prized as places to relax, focal points, and landscape design unifiers. Let me champion their conservation potential too. Witness data for our 4 benches. Consumption is zero for the 700 square feet of hardscape or mulch in front and under them. By contrast, that space done as usual in grass consumes 4,500… Read More Save with benches
‘Drought tolerant’ misses the point. Yes, these plants and their gardens withstand a drought better than others do, but the lasting value is relatively low consumption. How about naming them what they are: ‘low-water’ or ‘waterwise’? ‘Dry-climate appropriate’ works too, but that’s a mouthful. Now that we rectified that misnomer, three geographies offer diverse choices:… Read More A world of waterwise choices
Just look at an agave, and you fall in love with this sculptural, rosette-shaped succulent. Touch one, and you may find leathery leaves and wicked spines. Trim one, and you may get caustic sap that causes severe rash. Plants may not flower for many years, but once they do they die, usually leaving offsets behind… Read More My 3 favorite agaves
After removing 9,000 square feet of lawn in 2014 and early 2015, all we had left was 8-10′ wide strips behind the house and on 2 sides of the pool. So close with such outdoor living functionality and aesthetic appeal, this band was precious to us. Even so, in June 2015 I realized we could… Read More Grass be gone #4
What made you so intent on waterwise gardening? Asked that this week, I replied that our water district was first to ration in California and I feared our 55% mandatory cut would doom our huge new landscaping investment. And so this adventure began. The next question was why, besides to preserve resources for the next… Read More Seeing is believing
NEWSFLASH: Your biggest untapped water saver may be to control the irrigation controller. Do not shy away from this device as too complex or for specialists. Unlike IBM Watson that “destroys humans in Jeopardy” or Google DeepMind that won 9 of 10 games with top Go players, we humans can win this one. The key… Read More Control the controller
Do you want a waterwise plant to underscore a path transition or accent a small space? I call them punctuation hedges, and my three favorites are Prostanthera ovalifolia ‘Variegata,’ Westringia ‘Wynyabbie Gem,’ and Rhaphiolepis umbellata ‘Minor.’ Climate and soil qualities in their native regions of Australia or Japan make these tough plants good choices here… Read More My 3 favorite low hedges
Binge-watch season of House of Cards? Or binge-read tomes on gardening in dry climates? Coupled with on-site research, my waterwise landscaping crash courses these past 2 years were fueled by scouring the internet, buttonholing experts, and attending classes. I digested Western and California books in my library, and drilled deep into 72 more. Aha moments… Read More Binge-reading revelations
Landscaping Water Wise 