Suburban Standout
Along a lawn lined street, this front yard is a standout for several reasons. This landscape renovation, designed by local landscape designer Roberta Walker, chose to go ‘lawn-less’ in 2010 and created an attractive front yard that is envied by neighbors. While others are mowing their lawn on Saturday mornings, this homeowner can sit on their front porch, sip some coffee and enjoy the beauty of their efforts.
The wide inviting entry walk is flanked by a variety of plants that embrace the ‘greener’ gardens concept and evoke the feeling of a residential botanical garden. Predominantly a full-sun exposure, these sun loving plants bloom throughout the year providing continuous color and interest. Varied foliage color, juxtapositions of texture, and combinations of form makes for an aesthetically pleasing and interesting composition of plant material that requires less water, less fertilizer and less maintenance than the traditional front yard lawn.
Being water-wise, the edible plant selections (Washington Navel Orange and ‘Misty’, ‘Sunshine Blue’ and ‘Blue Moon’ blueberry varieties) left of the driveway, and design elements such as an ornamental address stake, large scale boulders and river bed and decorative lighting make this yard a suburban standout.
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Plant List
- Crape Myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica
- Australian Willow, Geijera parviflora
- Trailing Gray Gazania, Gazania rigens var. leucolaena
- Clumping Gazania, Gazania rigens
- Icee Blue® Juniper, Juniperus horizontalis ‘Monber’
- Dwarf Japanese Barberry, Berberis thunbergii ‘Crimson Pygmy’
- Frosty Curls Sedge, Carex albula ‘Frosty Curls’
- Peach Drift Groundcover Rose, Rosa ‘Meiggili’
- Variegated Yucca, Yucca fillamentosa
- Orange Sedge, Carex testacea,
- Angelina Stonecrop, Sedum ‘Angelina’
- Provence French Lavender, Lavandula x intermedia ‘Provence’
- Bowles’ Mauve Wallflower, Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve'
- Green Lavender Cotton, Santolina virens
- Tricolor Stonecrop, Sedum spurium ‘Tricolor’
- John Creech Stonecrop,Sedum spurium ‘John Creech’
- Tasmanian Tiger Euphorbia, Euphorbia characias ‘Tasmanian Tiger’
- Kangaroo Paw, Anigozanthus ‘Red’
- Autumn Sage, Salvia greggii
- Blue Fescue, Festuca ovina glauca
- Snow-in-Summer, Cerastium tomentosum
- Moonbeam Coreopsis, Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’
- Trailing Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Prostratus’
- Japanese Blood Grass, Imperata cylindrica
- Upright Japanese Plum Yew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia 'Fastigiata'
- Spiral Leaf Japanese Cedar, Cryptomeria japonica 'Spiraliter Falcata'
- Burgundy Glow Carpet Bugle, Ajuga reptans ‘Burgundy Glow’
- Black Scallop Carpet Bugle, Ajuga reptans ‘Black Scallop’
- Coral Bells, Heuchera ‘Crème Brule’ or ‘Southern Comfort’
- Coral Bells, Heuchera ‘Purple Petticoats’
- Golden Variegated Sweet Flag, Acorus gramineus ‘Ogon’
- New Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax ‘Bronze Baby’
- Dwarf Heavenly Bamboo, Nandina domestica ‘Nana’
- Wormwood, Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’
- Dwarf Bottlebrush, Callistemon ‘Little John’
- Jester New Zealand Flax, Phormium ‘Jester’
- Yarrow, Achillea millefolium
- Golden Breath of Heaven, Coleonema pulchrum ‘Sunset Gold’
- Brass Buttons, Cotula ‘Silver Mound’
- Red Hot Poker, Kniphofia uvaria
- Aloe, Aloe vera
- Apache Beggarticks, Bidens ferulifolia
- Mexican Feather Grass, Nasella tenuissima
- Sour Grapes Beardtongue, Penstemon ‘Sour Grapes’
- Old Gold Juniper, Juniperus chinensis ‘Old Gold’
- Dwarf Japanese Silver Grass, Miscanthus sinensis ‘Adagio’
- Butterfly Guara, Guara lindheimeri ‘Siskiyou Pink’
- Santa Barbara Daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus
- Bearded Iris, Iris germanica
- Scarlet Sprite Grevillea, Grevillea ‘Scarlet Sprite’
- California Fuschia, Epilobium canum (syn. Correa or Zauschneria)
- Dwarf Fountain Grass, Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'
- English Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia
- Washington Navel Orange, Citrus sinensis
- Misty Early Season Blueberry, Vaccinium x 'Misty' (right)
- Sunshine Blue Blueberry, Vaccinium x 'Sunshine Blue' (left)
- Blue Moon Blueberry, Vaccinum x ‘Blue Moon’ (back)
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 Lower Laguna Creek.
