With California in a major drought, people are facing the challenge of what to do about their yards. Many homeowners are tearing up their water-hungry grass and replacing it with a more drought-tolerant landscape.
In wealthy Rancho Santa Fe, a suburb of San Diego, many families are less eager to cut back water use, but one couple is exploring that option, with the help of a well-known landscaper.
Drought Landscaping Tips
Use recycled or grey-water to irrigate fruit trees and other non-edible plants
Avoid Bermuda grass, which is harder to dig up than sod
Try “solarizing” or the “cover and smother” method to kill grass in place instead of tearing it out
Water-Wise Plants
Cork oak
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Bay
Oregano
Rock roses
Westringia
Peruvian lillies (Alstromeria)
Blanket flower
Grevillea
Sage
Photos from Robin Young’s visit
Guest
Nan Sterman, host of the Growing Passion on KPBS-TV, Nan tweets @growingpassion.
Tom and Gay, homeowners in Rancho Santa Fe.
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This back yard lawn will be killed and replaced with rocks. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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View of house from the road. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Neighbor's home that has an almost three acre lawn. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Landscape designer Nan Sterman, Rancho Santa Fe clients Gay and Tom, and Robin. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Side lawn. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Home in Rancho Santa Fe. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Home in Rancho Santa Fe. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Cork oak, Quercus suber. This is the cork tree that all the wine corks, cork flooring, cork boards, etc comes from. It’s the outer bark that is the corky part of the plant. In Portugal, they harvest the trees by peeling off the bark every 9 or 10 years. Trees live 150 years or more and are handed down from generation to generation. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
4. Salvia ‘Hot Lips’ has the red and white flowers. The pink flowering salvia is probably Salvia microphylla. Hard to tell if that is correct. Those are all flowering members of the sage family. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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5. Orange is Peruvian lily, botanical name is Alstroemeria. From Bolivia, not Peru. Oh well. Pink is Jupiter’s beard, Centranthus ruber. It’s very weedy. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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6. The blue flower is Agapanthus. The pink flower in the background is Centranthus ruber, Jupiter’s beard. The orange flower in the foreground is Alstroemeria, Peruvian lily. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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This is a pink Alstroemeria. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Another Alstroemeria. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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Blue flowering shrub is a Ceanothus, California lilac is the common name and native to the area. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
Two native oaks. Big one on the right is California live oak, Quercus agrifolia. Small one in the middle is a young Englemann’s oak, Quercus englemanii. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
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12. Two fruiting olive trees. Big one in the back, younger one in front. The orange flowers are lion's ear or lion’s tail. Botanical name is Leonotis leonurus. (Robin Young/Here & Now)
