ASKING A FAVOR FOR ALL YOU EARTH FRIENDLY LANDSCAPE LOVERS

This is a garden in Fullerton that was designed by me.  I have entered this garden into the Roger's Gardens CA friendly garden contest and would love to get the most likes.  All I ask is that you click on the link and hit the like button.  This would involve having a facebook account so if you do not have one then no sweat.  It's all good.

A few details about this garden for those who are curious:

• 60% of the plants are CA native
• 20% of the plants are CA friendly
• 20% of the plants are succulents
• There is a dry creek bed that leads to a secret garden
• There are decomposed granite paths
• There is an energy efficient overhead irrigation system (natives like to be overhead watered to mimic natural rainfall)
• There is also an energy efficient lighting system 

UPDATE ON SANTA ANA LAWN GONE GARDEN

Previously I did a blog post about a garden that I designed in an unincorporated area of Santa Ana (you can see the post here).  This was a fun project as it involved doing something I like and that is to kill lawns.  We killed every square inch (their kids had fled the nest and they no longer had use for it) and replaced it with CA native plants. We also added a large seating area and two pilaster to frame the entry.

One interesting fact is that there is no sidewalk on this street so we created a 4' decomposed granite path to mimic a side walk.  We were even able to reuse pieces of an old tree that is being used as a side table.  With any design you have to take into consideration not only how much the client can realistically afford but also what is existing that may be re-purposed.  I will give you further updates in a few months.

CONCEPT DESIGNS AND SOME RANTING

It is safe to say that my vision to blog weekly went haywire for sure.  I am not going to make any excuses for this other than to say that I got lazy.  Well sort of.  To be truthful I needed a break and had to think about the direction I wanted to continue to take this blog in.  The plan for this year to have (do) more video blog posts and more DIY posts.   I would also like to cover topics that you would like to see.  Any ideas?  All are welcome.  Now on with the real post hee hee


I was asked by a homeowner and her husband in Lake Forest to design their front yard.  They had done their parkway using CA native plants and wanted to continue that theme throughout the rest of their yard.  I was up for the challenge and excited that they wanted to go native.  They were also going to take advantage of the turf rebate program.

As I do for most of my clients I created two concept drawings that would give them ideas and options for their yard.  These options are based on their budget, needs and my vision for the space.  In the first option there is more hard surface by the front door to allow for table and chairs with a path leading from the front door to the street.  I always advocate to having some sort of path to the street so that guests don't have to squeeze past cars that may be parked in the driveway.

In the second option the path to the street also becomes an extension of the driveway.  There is also a 2 feet path that looks as if it end nowhere.  It will eventually end at a freestanding bench.  The plant palette for both are a combination of Manzanita's, Blue Eyed Grass, Iris's and various other natives.  In this case the design is not all that complicated.  There are much more elements that I could propose but budget does not allow.

Now that you have seen both concepts and gotten the basic gist I would like to know which you fancy?  Just curious.  In a later post I will share which they liked and show pictures of the final product.