Common name:Oriental Fountain Grass
Botanical name:Pennisetum orientale
Oriental Fountain Grass is a clumping, warm-season grass with spectacular pinkish white flowers in summer and sometimes fall. Flower plumes change to light brown. Foliage is a bright green that changes to straw color as winter approaches. This grass is 1'-2.5' tall and wide. It usually does not reseed. This grass is striking if backlit to show off flower plumes.
Common name:California or Golden Poppy
Botanical name:Eschscholzia californica
This small annual (sometimes acts as a perennial) plant will grow to less than 1' tall and has light, small blue-green leaves with gold and orange flowers that bloom in spring and summer.
Common name:Yellow Dietes or Fortnight Lily
Botanical name:Dietes bicolor
This clumping perennial iris relative stands 3'-4' high. It has light- yellow, iris-like flowers with maroon blotches that are about 2" wide. It performs best in full sun and in soil with good drainage.
Common name:Flamingo Green Eulalia Grass
Botanical name:Miscanthus sinensis 'Flamingo'
These deciduous grasses grow from 4-5' tall, and often turn rose colored in fall before going dormant. Tall, showy spikes of feathery, pink, curved seed heads and flower panicles appear in summer. It should receive sun to part shade with little to regular summer watering. It is deer resistant. Flowers are great for arrangements.
Common name:Royal Purple Smoke Tree
Botanical name:Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'
Royal Purple Smokebrush is a large shrub or small tree with handsome, oval purple leaves all summer which turn scarlet color in the fall. Silvery-purple clouds of seed heads appear in fall. This striking shrub prefers full sun and low amount of watering once it's established. Prune in winter to shape. This shrub reaches 15' tall and 10' wide.
Common name:Lamb's Ear
Botanical name:Stachys byzantina
This tiny shrub will grow less than 1' tall and has medium-size, greyish-green leaves with blue and lavender flowers that bloom in the spring. This shrub is grown more for its velvety leaves than the flowers. It is drought tolerant once it's established. Be careful not to overwater.
Common name:Sunburst Honey Locust
Botanical name:Gleditsia triacanthos inermis 'Sunburst'
This beautiful deciduous tree has tiny, yellow leaflets in spring, changing to lime green in summer, then golden in fall. It has an oval and pyramidal shape reaching 40' tall and 30' wide. Flowers are considered insignificant. This tree is used in urban areas as it tolerates heat, smog, drought, occasional flooding and saline soils.
Common name:Rose selected cultivars
Botanical name:Rosa species
These shrubs and vines are the most-loved in the West and are very resilient. They come in a wide variety of sizes and colors and are easy to maintain with proper care. Roses can be espaliered or used on a trellis or as shrubs along walkways. Some are fragrant; most have thorns.
Designer: Jody Palmer | Blend of turf and water-wise plants |
Photographer: GardenSoft |
Practice grass-cycling by leaving short grass clippings on lawns after mowing, so that nutrients and organic matter are returned to the soil.
Group plants in your garden according to their water needs (hydrozone).
Remove irrigation water and fertilizer from areas where you don't want weeds to grow.