Rock Lover’s Landscape
Designing shallow front yards can be challenging and requires the careful selection of plant material that is in scale with the space and facade of the house. Although newly planted, this landscape will mature beautifully to complement the home without overwhelming it. The existing Red Maple and Purple Leaf Plum provide the framework to create a shady understory for plants in the summer and filtered sun in the winter.
A variety of native bulbs will bloom in the spring, sages in reds and purples will bloom throughout the summer and fall and the ornamental grasses and varied foliage colors of blue grays and gray greens will also add interest year-round.
The practical use of the narrow side yard is both functional and attractive. Moss rock is used to create a casual retaining wall and level planting beds for a variety of edibles. Decomposed granite serves as permeable paving and allows access to the backyard gate. The southern exposure is perfect for growing vegetables, leafy greens and herbs and transforms an impractical strip of lawn into a productive element of the landscape.
Stacks and clusters of moss rock emerge through the walnut shell mulch and complement both the paint colors on the home and the tones in the ledgestone. The gray green lichen on the rocks ties in beautifully with the gray green plant materials in the landscape and makes this landscape a rock lover’s favorite.
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Plant List
- Concha California Lilac, Ceanothus ‘Concha’
- Skylark California Lilac, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus ‘Skylark’
- Mound San Bruno Coffeeberry, Frangula californica 'Mound San Bruno'
- Mexican Blue Sage, Salvia chamaedryoides
- Australian Bluebell Creeper, Sollya heterophylla
- Pacific Coast Iris, Iris douglasiana
- Black and Blue Sage, Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'
- Autumn Sage, Salvia microphylla ‘Berzerkley’
- Hummingbird Sage, Salvia spathacea
- Silver Carpet Lamb’s Ear, Stachys byzantina 'Silver Carpet'
- Berkeley Sedge, Carex divulsa
- Blue Oat Grass, Helictotrichon sempervirens
- Idaho Fescue, Festuca idahoensis
- Sunset Hyssop, Agastache rupestris ‘Vivid’
- Purple Leaf Plum, Prunus cerasifera ‘Krauter Vesuvius’
- Autumn Blaze® Maple, Acer × freemanii ‘Jeffsred’
Native Bulbs
- Queen Fabiola Starflower, Triteleia ‘Queen Fabiola’
- Spring Starflower, Ipheion uniflorum ‘White Star’
- Spring Starflower, Ipheion uniflorum ‘Rolf Feidler’
- Dog Tooth Violet, Erythronium revolutum ‘White Beauty’
- Fork-tooth Ookow, Dichelostemma congestum ‘Pink Diamond’
Designer: Soleil Tranquilli, Tranquill Gardens
Contractor: Eric Zemlicka, Z-scapes
Project Cost: $10,000
This 'greener' garden is within the Laguna Creek Watershed. A river friendly garden like this one reduces runoff and the pollutants that would otherwise drain into Elk Grove Creek, a tributary of Laguna Creek.
