By Julie Orr and Stephanie Morris

1) Winnifred Gilman Salvia, Salvia Clevelandii ‘Winnifred Gilman’ – This cultivar related to Cleveland Sage is evergreen and shoots out sprays of tall blue-violet flowers drawing delicate hummingbirds, butterflies and helpful insects.

2) Saint Catherine’s Lace, Eriogonum giganteum – The evergreen is valued for rapid growth, gray foliage and white blooms.

3) California Fuchsia, Epilobium canum- Easy to grow, this flower is most alluring to hummingbirds. It has red flowers and sweet nectar.

4) Deer grass, Muhlenbergia rigens – This excellent accent plant features long seed heads, and you can enjoy seeing them sway under a gentle breeze.

5) Ray Hartman Ceanothus, Ceanothus ‘Ray Hartman’ – A popular California lilac, this small tree makes an excellent focal point for tiny gardens. Also looks amazing against a wall or fence as an espalier.

6) Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis- This treasure features heart-shaped leaves and gives off a breathtaking winter show of hot pink buds.

7) Bush Anemone, Carpenteria californica– The joyful evergreen native features dark green leaves year round and surprises all with white fragrant flowers blooming from spring to summer.

8. Paradise Manzanita, Arctostaplyos parahoensis- This is considered a great plant because of its year round appeal with evergreen foliage and nice red bark. Hummingbirds love its bell shaped flowers.

9) Pacific Coast Iris, Iris douglasiana ­­ ­­- A spring blooming small scale plants tolerant of part shade and moist or dry soils, with showy flowers in the spring.

10) Seaside Daisy, Erigeron ‘Wayne Roderick’- It is one of the few that flowers in the spring, summer and fall as long as you keep deadheading the spent flowers. Perfect along the edge of a pathway.

This Santa Clara couple did an Express Garden to come up with a plant pallet that would encourage hummingbirds while also being a safe haven for their two new dogs. Since puppies are known for nibbling, the plants selected were not only durable but also non-toxic. The theme is causal, low maintenance and relaxing.

The homeowner’s favorite pastime is to sit under under the arbor with his laptop on a sunny day and hang out with the dogs.

Did you know that even the careful use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides may cause illness in some people or their pets? By using organic methods of landscaping, you can reduce the health risk to you and your loved ones, save money and contribute to the well being of your local ecosystem/environment.

Organic gardening protects all of us

Here are five organic techniques you can use on your lawn and in your garden.

1. Wherever possible, use native plants or plants from similar environmental conditions, to make organic gardening easier.  Natives frequently require less water, fertilizer, and care than non-native, exotic plants. Click herefor more benefits while gardening with natives.
   

   California native front yard garden

2. To keep your lawn healthy and resistant to weeds, use organic methods to care for the soil and the grass. Organic fertilizers, compost materials, and worm castings may be more expensive to purchase than chemical fertilizers, but they do not need to be applied to lawns as frequently, making the actual costs even out over the long term. Using the appropriate amount of water by staggering your watering intervals, will also keep your lawn healthy and stimulate long root growth.
3. Use aeration, a technique of punching small holes in the lawn, to allow air, water and nutrients to reach more deeply into the lawn’s root system. Not only will your lawn be more beautiful, a healthy lawn will be weed and pest free. You can also use a 50:50 mix of sand and organic compost spread in a thin layer over your lawn as top dressing to strengthen your lawn.
4. Collect leaves, pine needles and weed-free plant clippings to create compost that you can use on your lawn and your other plantings. Leaves have an appropriate name because it’s ok to actually ‘leave’ them where they land in your yard.  For example, oak leaves make excellent mulch around the base.
   

   Fallen leaves look natural in this lawn-free front yard

5. Hire a landscape maintenance company who also practices organic methods. Again, the initial expense may be higher than your typical mow-blow-and-go type service, but it’s not worth it to have you or your garden’s health compromised.

Practicing organic gardening techniques can save you money, reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals, and improve the planet.

The Ruth Bancroft Garden is a wonderful example of how one woman took a succulent and cactus collection and transformed it into bold compositions of colors, textures and patterns. Even if you think you don’t like these types of plants, this garden will change your mind. Seeing large masses of the same plant grouped together gives you a better understanding of the architectural and sculptural qualities of these beauties.  And when you see them in bloom, you won’t be able to resist!

This drought tolerant, water-wise garden features plants from desert and Mediterranean climates including: aloes, haworthias, gasterias, yuccas, euphorbias, cacti, echeverias, and agaves. The screening shrubs and trees include: pines, palo verde, palms, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis) and valley oak (Quercus lobata).

Once a year they have their ‘Sculpture in the Garden’ event in the summer. As you can see, the artwork looks right at home in this setting and for a price, can find a new placement in your garden.

A wonderful use of broken concrete called ‘urbanite’ is used for a retianing wall near the employee parking area.

This backyard  in Saratoga involved a huge transformation to remove a dominating and unused swimming pool and to find new homes for all the non-native plants. The result is a water-wise garden with features like a small twin-boulder fountain and a riparian rain garden that collects storm water from the home’s downspouts. The design meanders around the garden to reveal other outdoor rooms like a shade arbor for relaxing, a cooking platform and raised planter beds for vegetables and roses

Other Garden Attractions:  a boulder fountain pond and a riparian rain garden.

This is a Certified Wildlife Habitat. Shelter and nesting are provided by the abundant native plants, dense shrubs, a wood pile, and bird and bee houses. Seeds, berries and insects provide food, while the pond  supplies fresh water.

Before Julie Orr Design

This garden shows that sustainable landscaping can be accomplished through DIY talent and on a shoe-string budget when working closely with a professional landscape designer. The Craftsman home said goodbye to its water-thirsty lawn and concrete hardscape, and now features a dry creek bed that drains rainwater away from the house, marked by a rock fountain surrounded by California gray rush. The old concrete path was resurrected as decorative urbanite walls for native bunch grasses, Pacific iris, evergreen huckleberry and woodland strawberry.   Shrubs include ceanothus,  coffeeberry and manzanita.  Island alum root fills a large window box. A natural rock fountain and metal “cat-tails” birdfeeders encourage birds to visit the garden often.

Clay and Lisa already prided themselves in living a sustainable lifestyle, but this was not reflected in their garden. The water-loving lawn and impervious concrete had to go.

Before Julie Orr Design

The 6 California Native Sod products offered by Delta Bluegrass are a great choice for clients wanting to conserve water while saving time and money on maintenance.

Once established,  healthy turf can be achieved using 50% less water than traditional sod varieties. Native Bentgrass™ and Delta Grassland Mix™ are cultivated to become the first native lawns available that withstand mowing for urban landscape areas.

For bio-swales, roadsides, medians, irrigation canals, erosion control, and environmental mitigation areas, we have developed our Native Mow Free™, Biofiltration Sod™, Delta Native Heartland Sod™ and Native Preservation Mix™.

If you are looking for a meadow effect at a good price point and don’t feel like mowing but once a year the Native Mow Free is a great choice.

Lyngso
19 Seaport Blvd. Redwood City, CA 94063   650.364.1730     Hours: Mon – Sat 7 to 5, Sun 8 to 4

• Mulches, Compost, & Soils
• Fertilizers
• Stone
• Construction Materials
• Garden Ornaments
• Ready Mix Concrete
• Tools

• Organic Garden
• Improving Soils
• Pathways & Paving Materials
• Pervious Paving Materials