CALIFORNIA, ITS TIME TO LOSE THE LAWN

I am a Californian, and feel fortunate to live in this amazing place.  I respect its bounty and its limitations. And as a gardener, though I'd love to have plentiful water, I am happy to work with Mother Nature and go 'water wise' in this prolonged drought.

Besides, I'd rather have flowers than lawn anyway! (And the birds and bees are happy...)

I've converted to 'water wise' plantings in my front and back yards.   My neighbors are getting on board as well,  To encourage and inspire them, I've done a bunch of photo mockups showing what their homes will look like with drought tolerant landscaping.

Since I'm a firm believer in pictures speaking louder than words, here are some "mockups" of potential transformations.  Hope it inspires you as well!

REPLACE THE LAWN AND GET DROUGHT TOLERANT FLOWERS

Remember that post about removing the front lawn and planting drought tolerant flowers and shrubs instead?  Here's how it looked earlier this year, and how it looks now.  The coreopsis have re-emerged, the mallow and iceberg roses are blooming, and the jasmine is in full force:


ORIGINAL GARDEN







HOW IT LOOKS IN JUNE



LINKING TO 

REPLACE THE LAWN AND GO DROUGHT TOLERANT

Ack, sometimes grass is just too much  trouble.  I'm not anti-lawn by any means, its a lovely soothing foreground for flowers, and I love watching the birds that are attracted by grass lawns picking for seeds and bugs.

But.... sometimes its just too much trouble....

My front yard was blah with so-so fescue turf, bald spots, and weeds.  Not to mention, boring.  So a while back I dug it up, rototilled the soil, and planted a butterfly garden.

INGREDIENTS:

Burgundy and White Iceberg roses

Goodwin Creek and Spanish Bee lavenders

Pink Princess Indian hawthorne (Rhaphiolepsis)

Wheelers Dwarf pittosporum

Tuscan Blue rosemary

Teuchrium

Salvia

Gaura

Mallow

Cuphea

Chrysanthemum, Coreopsis, Aeoniums, Asters, and annual flowers

I laid a flagstone path in a bed of sand and filled the gaps with pea gravel, and laid down shredded bark for mulch.

Here is how it looked before:

   

And here is what it looks like now, a year later...

  

p.s.  Here is the other side of the driveway, kind of matching: