New Southern California Lush – Water saving garden ideas from bewaterwise.com that conserves our precious California water resources and saves you money each month.
Increase the Value of Your Home – Staying or Staging
Garden Gallery Ideas:
1. Beautify and add curb appeal with stunning drought resistant plants
2. Have a Landscape Plan that increases the beauty and value of your home
3. If Staging for Sale – Your homes curb appeal can sells it quickly at a top price.
http://www.bewaterwise.com/Gardensoft/garden_types.aspx?listType=types
Step 1: Select a Theme
The successful heritage garden plan starts with a theme that unites the garden, the style of the home, the weather and the functional uses of the garden. These planning steps apply to a new home or a home with an existing garden. A theme utilizes a central component, such as a specimen tree(s), groupings of similar plants, compatible colors, and recurring groups of plants and/or plants that are found together in nature.
- The specimen tree theme
- The dominant plant theme
- Compatible colors (flower)
- Recurring plant group theme
- Natural plant grouping theme
The garden can also be planned according to functional uses that are desired, including:
- Wildlife garden
- Edible garden plants
- Cut flower garden
- Fragrant garden
- Shade garden
Step 2: Evaluate Your Site.Every successful garden needs a thoughtful site evaluation. The following list will help you get started:
What type of soil does the site have (sandy, loam, clay loam, clay)? The soil type will determine (1) how to prepare the soil for planting, (2) how to water the garden, (3) what type of plants are best suited to the site.
What type of soil does the site have (sandy, loam, clay loam, clay)? The soil type will determine (1) how to prepare the soil for planting, (2) how to water the garden, (3) what type of plants are best suited to the site.
- Where is the sun and shade around the site? How does it change throughout the year? This will determine the plants best suited for specific areas of the garden.
- What about the climate of your location? It will influence your plant selection. Group plants according to climate zone preference.
Step 3: Ask Yourself Some Questions
- What do you like the most in your garden?
- What do you like the least in your garden?
- How do you want to use your garden?
Step 4: Put It On Paper
You don’t need to be an artist to do a simple sketch of your home lot – and it is a tool that will really help you visualize what should go where in the garden. This step also allows you to test your ideas on others, say at the garden center, family members, etc.)
- Divide the yard into different areas:
- Sun areas – Good for flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, and dries out more quickly
- Shade areas – Limits the types of plants to choose from, dries out slowly and stays wet longer
- Screening for privacy – need upright plants
- Shading windows or hot spots – determine if deciduous trees (trees that loose their leaves each winter and allow the winter sun to penetrate) or if evergreen trees fit better
- Lay out areas for hardscapes (patios, decks, planters, walkways)
- Assure easy access make moving around the garden, to BBQ or storage area easy
Excerpt from: http://www.bewaterwise.com/Gardensoft/tips_02_03.html
Step 5: Placing Plants: Where and Why?
Placing Trees:
- Trees are the most dominant plant in the garden
- Trees grow and deliver shade, which makes growing many plants beneath trees difficult…plan for garden changes as trees bring shade
- Trees have deep roots and need infrequent, deep watering. Don’t place trees in turf that wants water on a regular basis.
- Keep trees away from the house foundation, sidewalks, walls and hardscape in general. Why? Tree roots are famous for lifting and cracking hardscapes and clogging sewer lines. Choose tree locations first and with care.
Placing Turf Grass:
- Plant turf where it will be used for playing. Otherwise, turf is better to do without because it takes weekly labor time and is the highest water using plant in our climate.
- Avoid placing turf under trees. Why? Trees want less water. Tree roots will come to the surface when planted in turf (raising the risk of blowing down in high winds), and trees shade turf when most turf wants full sun.
- Use turf in the back yard where it is most likely to be used for recreation.
- If you have existing turf areas and don’t use it for recreation, consider native and other low water use, lower maintenance plants.
Placing Shrubs (native plants, roses, flowering plants, hedges, perennials, annuals): General Rules…
- Place the plant(s) in the proper “exposure” (sun, shade, filtered sun)
- Place the plant(s) in similar water use groupings (low/drought, medium and high)
- Place plants in areas that are large enough for their full growth habits
- Place plants with compatible flower colors
- Place plants in locations where they won’t need to be pruned to “fit” or be kept from obstructing views
- Read text accompanying plant images in this CD and other sources (see Resource section) for the height and spread of the plant, colors, preferred sun exposures and soil types, etc.
- Place plants so they can grow naturally (without pruning to keep them in a certain space so they don’t grow into each other)
- Place plants in groupings of the same plants (mass plantings of the same plant) for dramatic affect
- Place flowering plants, such as bougainvillea, etc. in the full sun (to promote flowering)
- Place native plants in dry or low water use areas or where there is no irrigation system (though it will take some water for the first yearfor them to establish their root systems)
- Place native plants on separate irrigation system zones (valves or stations) so they are not over-watered, which is the primary reason native plants die
- Place annuals in areas of higher water application
Step 6: Planning the Irrigation System
- Plan for separate valves (zones or stations) for each different area in the garden (this will increase the number of valves, zones or stations, but it will help you to save plants from over watering, save on home damage from consistently wet soils, and increase your ability to manage the landscape efficiently)
- Plan for separate valves for sun areas, shade areas and filtered sun areas
- Plan for spray on groundcover and turf areas
- Plan for low-volume spray or drip irrigation on slope areas (otherwise too much water output by sprinklers will runoff, erode the slope and produce weak and unhealthy plants)
- Plan for drip line irrigation on native plants (many natives do not like water sprayed on their leaves)
- Plan to “match” irrigation heads (e.g., water output for a full circle head is twice the output for a half circle head) on each valve (zone or station)
- Plan to direct water spray away from house siding, sidewalks, structures to avoid mold, water damages and erosion
- See Watering section for more information.
Upgrade The Existing Irrigation System:
- Plan what you want the garden to “become” before planning irrigation system changes.
- With a new landscape plan, it is likely that new irrigation heads, perhaps more heads, or perhaps adapting to drip irrigation, etc. will need to be part of the plan.
- In many cases the existing irrigation piping can be used. Often modifications to different sprinkler heads and to drip irrigation can be accomplished with the existing piping system.
Questions to ask before planning the irrigation system retrofit include:
- Will the new plants block the water spray of the existing heads?
- Will the new design get uniform coverage of water with the existing irrigation system?
- Does the existing irrigation system spray water on the house, the street, fences, etc?
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