* Widen existing flowerbeds and foundation plantings, incorporating native plants.
* Add flower beds and mixed shrub borders along the fences
* Widen the front walk and add interesting plants along the walk.
Squire_Squirrely
Babe, you can do anything you want.
Fastest (not cheapest) way is rent a sod cutter and cut dat grass right outta dere
msmaynards
First look into lawn removal rebates. If eligible you may get some money for taking out the lawn. I’ve no idea if dead lawn is eligible though.
See the resources at [https://waterwisegardenplanner.org](https://waterwisegardenplanner.org) The webinars will help you figure this out. I grubbed and sheet mulched and played whack a mole with stray grass shoots through the first summer, wasn’t bad.
Your garden actually looks a lot like my Darwin flower garden border where I quit watering because of drought. Dwarf myrtle shrubs, Mexican Bush Sage, Dietes, various succulents, scented geraniums and more survived just fine. Some succulents like Aeonium go dormant, cut the spent MBS stems when they faded and it was good enough except for the ugly nearly dead circular lawn. Those plants are dead tolerant of California dry summers and you can leave them be. Most ‘drought tolerant’ plants can survive a month of no water, we need plants that survive month-S of no water!
Yes, you could add more of the same to the former lawn. You can even grub out divisions of the Dietes and Mexican Bush Sage and take cuttings of the succulents and pick up free cuttings from generous gardeners for no cost but somewhat more babying. ID to be sure you are buying the same plants and you’ll be watering the baby plants weekly for at least the first year.
If you do that then I’d plant a small native tree/arborized shrub as a focal point in the former lawn probably with a little seating area to the north of tree for a chair or two because the whole bed would be a bit monotonous on its own. Use some of your existing plant palette so garden is coherent. Don’t use all of them, just a few species. Establish a strolling path through the whole space with a birdbath along the way and fill in those empty places in the original bed with native plants – California Poppy for starters. California Fuchsia and buckwheat can fill in-between those widely spaced plants there now for late season flowers. I’d add a medium sized native grass to the mix. Dietes is a great texture but grasses have a finer texture. Deergrass is my tried and true and I’m impressed with a new to me Canyon Prince ryegrass’s blue color and bolder leaves.
Native plants are even better than your surviving toughies. When I removed dead lawn I planted natives and have been taking out placeholder Darwin plants as I am inspired. The only annoying bit is you need to water baby plants weekly so have to drag a hose out for the first year.
4 Comments
East Bay Area, CA.
Things you can do piecemeal …
* Widen existing flowerbeds and foundation plantings, incorporating native plants.
* Add flower beds and mixed shrub borders along the fences
* Widen the front walk and add interesting plants along the walk.
Babe, you can do anything you want.
Fastest (not cheapest) way is rent a sod cutter and cut dat grass right outta dere
First look into lawn removal rebates. If eligible you may get some money for taking out the lawn. I’ve no idea if dead lawn is eligible though.
See the resources at [https://waterwisegardenplanner.org](https://waterwisegardenplanner.org) The webinars will help you figure this out. I grubbed and sheet mulched and played whack a mole with stray grass shoots through the first summer, wasn’t bad.
Your garden actually looks a lot like my Darwin flower garden border where I quit watering because of drought. Dwarf myrtle shrubs, Mexican Bush Sage, Dietes, various succulents, scented geraniums and more survived just fine. Some succulents like Aeonium go dormant, cut the spent MBS stems when they faded and it was good enough except for the ugly nearly dead circular lawn. Those plants are dead tolerant of California dry summers and you can leave them be. Most ‘drought tolerant’ plants can survive a month of no water, we need plants that survive month-S of no water!
Yes, you could add more of the same to the former lawn. You can even grub out divisions of the Dietes and Mexican Bush Sage and take cuttings of the succulents and pick up free cuttings from generous gardeners for no cost but somewhat more babying. ID to be sure you are buying the same plants and you’ll be watering the baby plants weekly for at least the first year.
If you do that then I’d plant a small native tree/arborized shrub as a focal point in the former lawn probably with a little seating area to the north of tree for a chair or two because the whole bed would be a bit monotonous on its own. Use some of your existing plant palette so garden is coherent. Don’t use all of them, just a few species. Establish a strolling path through the whole space with a birdbath along the way and fill in those empty places in the original bed with native plants – California Poppy for starters. California Fuchsia and buckwheat can fill in-between those widely spaced plants there now for late season flowers. I’d add a medium sized native grass to the mix. Dietes is a great texture but grasses have a finer texture. Deergrass is my tried and true and I’m impressed with a new to me Canyon Prince ryegrass’s blue color and bolder leaves.
Native plants are even better than your surviving toughies. When I removed dead lawn I planted natives and have been taking out placeholder Darwin plants as I am inspired. The only annoying bit is you need to water baby plants weekly so have to drag a hose out for the first year.