california natives

One of the simple pleasures of gardening is the ever-changing landscape. No two plants are alike and no two seasons are quite the same. There are happy accidents everywhere, helping balance the ever-present and predictable weeds. San Jose summers are hot and long, but occasionally nature serves us a reprieve. I relish those days when the stars align and I have both the time and the weather to spend outdoors getting things done.

Of all the things you can grow in a small garden, pumpkins are among the most spectacular. It seems you can witness the change every day. Within 90 to 100 days, one healthy seed can sprout, grow, flower and fruit, trailing across the landscape at amazing speed.

Self-seeded pumpkin vine growing along the side yard

A couple of pumpkin seeds took root in our narrow and shady side yard, with one of those two vines traveling the length of the house and eventually rounding the corner. That vine is now winding its way across the patio. With leaves the size of a platter and flowers as broad as your hand, watching pumpkin plants grow evokes a certain optimism and joy.

The pumpkin vine emerging from the side yard and crossing the patio

Years of drought brought about many changes to our garden. It started with the removal of the “grass strip” between our sidewalk and the street. My husband grew up with spacious, green lawns. His reluctance to remove the lawn took some time to overcome, but in the end we replaced all of our lawn with native plants.

In preparation, I sheet-mulched half of the back yard for close to a year. The process destroyed the lawn, amended the soil, and prepared the area for native plants, all at the same time.

The process of sheet mulching: cardboard, dried leaves and other organic material

We replanted the entire area with California native and drought tolerant plants. They use far less water than a lawn, attract beneficial insects and birds, and are healthier than the monoculture of a lawn.

Healthy soil, several months after sheet mulching

Back garden replanted with natives (Mouse and Lindy on the chairs)

Back Garden: Half of the dried out lawn and half sheet-mulched lawn

Back garden replanted with natives about a year later

Removing the front lawn also brought about interesting changes. The act of turning the soil for native plants invigorated dormant seeds. The year after the lawn came out, we not only had native plants but sweet peas, cornflowers, California poppies and Nigella.

When the garden looked bare after the sweet peas went to seed, I hit upon the idea of planting pumpkin vines in their place.

I planted a few pumpkins in the front garden (the only plants that are not self-seeded this year)

I’m enjoying the variety of successive planting. I smile when I see a neighbor through my kitchen window slowing down to look at the garden. Tending a healthy garden means others can passively enjoy it too.

2010 Front Lawn

2017 Sweet Peas

2017 After the Sweet Peas went to seed

Newly planted pumpkins

2017 Pumpkin vines fill in

Learning to love succulents has been another big change for me. One by one though, I’ve been replacing potted annuals with succulents.

Succulents are well suited to our dry, arid climate. They get along well sitting in sandy soil. I water them sparingly, perhaps once a month, and in turn they reward me with color change and tiny blooms.

A trio of succulents near the front steps

Crassula alpestris

Assorted succulents on the deck

Tower of pots replanted with succulents

Small wooden box planted with succulents on the back patio

I planted a miniature peace garden earlier this year, only to see it collapse during a heat wave. The baby tears baked in the sun, even under the eaves of our house. I slipped out a few times to water the plants, but that tiny garden didn’t survive in the shallow bowl and the pounding sun.

Peace garden fizzle: triple digit temperatures were too much

Replanted miniature peace garden, sheltered by a coleus

Since I refuse to embrace any metaphors about a dead or dying peace garden, I composted the dried plants and started over. This time I changed out the annual baby tears for succulents and added chamomile, which can go almost dry between watering. I shaded the entire mini garden with a coleus, my one concession this summer to a water-loving plant. I find the color variations irresistible.

There is a twinkle of autumn in the air today, a reminder of the seasons ahead. My garden is a wonderful teacher, regularly reminding me that change is good.

Are there interesting changes going on in your life?

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California Native Plants Replace the Lawn

There are a number of things to consider when converting lawn to native plants. Economics is one of them. Up front costs are costly if you are unable to do the work yourself. If you live in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley as we do, labor is expensive.

When we bought this house in our thirties, my husband and I did most of the work ourselves. We spent hours removing ivy, digging a faux creek, planting and hauling stones from a quarry in the back of my hatchback. I mowed the lawn with a push-mower, and reluctantly got down on my hands and knees every few weeks to trim the blades of grass away from the curb.

Then life became more complex. I had two boys, three years apart, one requiring a number of early interventions. My husband traveled for one or two weeks each month and often worked long hours beyond a typical day. It made more sense to pay for big jobs then to attempt to do them ourselves. We’re both pretty handy, but we knew our limits.

Now that life is simpler again, I turned my back for five minutes and I’m now in my fifties.

What?

So while we now have more time, we lack the strength and the energy. Between the two of us we have problems with our backs, feet and knees. We used some of our savings instead.

Here’s the math:

Professional landscape design and installation: $7,658

This included labor for hauling of old sod and other debris, site prep, laying of irrigation, planting and mulch. A crew of three worked for five days to complete the project.

RJ Landscape Crew Installation

Material costs included irrigation pipe and emitters, edging, pea gravel, paving stones for the swing area and plants.

The Santa Clara Water District offered a handsome rebate incentive for converting your lawn. After submitting all the paper work, I received a $2,530 rebate.

Santa Clara Valley Water District Landscape Rebate Program

This reduced the overall cost by a third, bringing the price down to $5,128.

I am no longer paying a lawn service, saving $1,800 a year in maintenance alone this year or $3,600 over the next 24 months. There will be additional savings in our water bill as well.

Between the rebate and the savings on lawn maintenance, the overall out-of-pocket cost of the conversion is about $1,528. In three years, the project will have paid for itself.

Why replace your lawn? Here’s a handy list published by Green Town Los Altos:

1. Healthier Creeks. Fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are top polluters in our creeks, killing aquatic life and spreading disease.

2. Less Storm Water Runoff. Deep roots of native plants and trees surrounded by mulch retain more water on site.

3. More Free Time. Native plants don’t require fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides and benefit only from annual or semiannual pruning.

4. Save Water. Lawns require more water than our climate can provide. Reducing our draw of water from the Delta and the Sierras helps maintain their ecosystems.

5. Save Money. All the mowing, fertilizer, herbicides and irrigation of lawns cost a lot of money. Native plants need substantially less effort and money to maintain.

6. Cash for Grass. Santa Clara Valley Water District will pay you up to $2000 to replace your lawn. Note: Sadly, this program is currently out of money, but local citizens can put their name on the waiting list.

7. Good Bugs, Not Bad Bugs. Mosquitoes in our dry summer? There must be a lawn nearby. Frequent watering creates tiny pools just right for mosquitoes to breed. Native plants attract good bugs and birds, ones that eat mosquitoes and other pests.

8. Biodiversity. Other than hardscape, there isn’t a more inhospitable surface to biodiversity than the mono-culture of lawns.

9. Less Greenhouse Gases. Manufacture and transportation of fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and mowers has a substantial carbon footprint. Transportation, pumping and treatment of water requires energy. When you save water, you also save energy!

10. Smart Choice. Landscaping with plants that are native to our climate is a smart choice. If you want soft areas for kiddies to roll in, native grasses come in all three flavors: seeds, plugs and sod.

You can read the full article at Green Town Los Altos.

One last thing: An amazing thing has happened since removing the lawn. Now that I’m taking care of the entire garden once again, I feel more connected to my little patch of earth. It’s been a welcome and unexpected gift.