BobBIE asked about our landscaping project.
Kevin and I have been working hard. After the
driveway guys took the weeds down to the dirt with their
Bobcat, it was a perfect time to re-invent the front yard. Loving California like I do, and knowing we are always short on water, I insisted on populating the yard with California native, drought-resistant plants.
Serendipitously, just after Kevin and I finished the prep, the
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden started their annual fall plant sale.
So, I did some research for my
xeriscape. I looked on-line, and Kevin and I made a couple trips to the Garden. There were so many wonderful native plants! I didn't want to have borders or symmetry, so I just got what I wanted and followed my gut!
Here are some pictures before:



and here is our garden now:



The pictures don't do it justice....I think it looks great in person. It's a start! The green stuff on the ground is weeds and grass.
I bought a variety of plants, including some unusual ones. From left to right, front to back (front is sidewalk, back is house), we planted:
(note: most of these links are from The Theodore Payne California Native Plant Library. They have some wonderful images, so be sure to click on their photographs)Trichostema lantanum (Wooly Blue Curls)
Cistus incanus LASCA select (Rock Rose)
Eriophyllum "Canyon Silver" (Canyon Silver Catalina) -- grey lacey plant to the front right
Perityle incana (Guadalupe Island Rock Daisy)
Salvia Dara's Choice (Dara's Choice Sage)
Salvia Dancing Embers (can't find a link!--and I made a mistake (impulse buy); it's not native. darn.)
Sisyrinchium bellium Rocky Point (Blue-eyed grass) -- hugging the Sespe rock
Calamagrostis foliosa (Cape Mendocino Reed Grass) -- near the rock on the left
Ceanothus griseus horizontalis (Ceanothus Diamond Heights)
Festuca californica (California fescue)
Mimulus aurantiacus (Northern Bush Monkeyflower)
Ceanothus Centennial (Wild Lilac)
another Ceanothus Centennial
Ceanothus Concha (California Mountain Lilac) -- near the middle of the fence
Mimulus Robin (Monkeyflower)
Antother Festuca Californica -- by the "fin" rock to the rear
Another Ceanothus Diamond Heights
Aristida purpurea (Purple threeawn) -- grass near the rear left rocks
Salvia leucophylla Pt. Sal (Pt. Sal Purple Sage)
Ceanothus thyrisflores (Ceanothus El Dorado California Lilac) -- behind the rocks at the back
Salvia apiana (White Sage)
Last weekend, Kevin, Erin, and I made a trip up Highway 154 and grabbed some sandstone rocks off the mountains, including one from my favorite layer, the Sespe Formation. You can see it between the two bunches of Blue-eyed grass.
We also sprinkled California wildflower seeds over the whole area, mostly
California Poppy. We'll be sprinkling throughout the winter, too. By spring, if all the plants flower and the wildflowers come up, we should have a colorful yard!
My favorite genus is the
Ceanothus (Wild Lilac).....there are so many species in all shapes and colors. I have four species of Ceanothus! I also like the
Salvia (Sage) family, of which I also have four species.
I am also proud of planting the rare grass Calmagrostis Foliosa, as well as the
SBBG's own cultivars, the Catalina Silver-Lace and Salvia Dara's Choice.
I'm looking forward to watching my plants grow and spread out, and also getting new plants to fill-in in the future. I didn't get a single species of
Manzanita, so I suppose that will be my priority next go-round. I would also love a
Bush Poppy. Watch for future installments!
I'm beginning to like gardening!