Curb appeal needed for So Cal...(pic)

19 years ago

This is the home where a disabled friend lives. He is not able to do much in the way of yard or garden care, and my DH and I want to try to spiff up the front of the place for him.

Our friend receives disability income and doesn't have a lot of money to spend on watering, as you can tell by the lawn and by the plants that have seen better days. The plant to the farthest right is rosemary, and the scraggly plants in front of the window in the "bed" on the right are euryops (sp?) daisies. In front of the porch, you see weeds and some kind of unrecognizeable volunteer plant.

There is no garage (it's been converted) and the car on the left is parked in the concrete driveway. There is a window off to the left that isn't pictured, and it has a window box much like the one that is seen on the right.

The house is in Southern California, and a water-wise curb appeal would be a good idea--something that also has little maintenance, but doesn't look like it's just white gravel with a cactus stuck in some place.

DH and I would like to do easy and low maintenance, not ugly. We plan on doing minor upkeep of the front every week or so, to maintain a nice front yard.

I've actually thought about putting in that fake green grass turf stuff, but know we couldn't afford to do anything like that! Besides, maybe it's ugly once you get up close to is (I've never seen it in real life unless it's that plastic-looking stuff they put on the football fields).

Any ideas would be welcome, or if there is another forum you'd recommend, I'll go post over there too! I just figured home decorating includes curb appeal, right? It starts from the outside...in. :O) Thanks for any help!

Smiles,

Sooz

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Comments (6)

mohavemaria
19 years ago
Hello Sooz,

I have a couple of ideas but it would depend on just what your friend wants. I have grown a patch of buffalo grass just for fun and it has surprised me with how little water it needs compared to the average fescue lawn. It also doesn't need mowing if you like the more natural look. We put in the varied called verde which is for the warmer areas of the southwest.

Also the look of ornamental grasses in gravel is great. A california native that is very drought tolerant, evergreen, and just lovely is muhlenbergia rigins, deergrass. We have several kinds of mulenbergias as well as dwarf pampus grass and just love them and they are also extremly low care just needing cutting close to ground once a year in early spring.

Another thing you could do is a kind of mediteranean garden. If the rosemary is happy lavender probably would be to and chaste trees are very easy and drought tolerant as are the california sages. I think all of the salvias from California are drought tolerant, low care and just wonderful.

Good luck, Maria
sooz
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks, Maria, for the helpful info! You've given me a good place to start in terms of plant suggestions!
Smiles,
Sooz
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scrub_sage
19 years ago
Dwarf Coyote bush is a drought-tolerant, sun-loving, alkaline-tolerant ground cover that could replace the entire lawn. It appears that the lawn slopes downward toward the curb. If so, dwarf Coyote will not only hug the slope, but its root system will also prevent erosion. Some of the large stores with garden sections will special order flats of dwarf Coyote ground cover which is much more economical than purchasing 1-gal. Deer Grass was suggested by another poster but it might be too busy and clash with the plants by the front porch (nor does it have the bright green look of Dwarf Coyote). You might want to try out a few options along the fence line before making a decision. Dwarf Coyote takes a couple of years to knit together so you could transition it in along the fence line and curve around the yard along the curb before tearing out the whole lawn.
desertlvr
19 years ago
If you're inland from the coast and would like a fast growing, drought tolerant tree to provide shade, a Mesquite or Mexican Palo Verde would be beautiful, provide filtered shade, as well as give you some sense of separation from the street. In general, it is best to draw out a simple plot plan and position trees, then shrubs. That will give you some structure to build the rest of the garden around. You'd be amazed at how beautiful and inexpensively a small front yard can be transformed. Plus you can do it in stages, tree(s) the first year, shrubs, flowers later. Should be a fun project. Browse the bargain sections of Barnes and Noble or Borders for bbooks on plants and garden design. Many are in the $5 to 10 range. Good luck.
terran
19 years ago
This is a good website to look at for California Native Plants.

We planted Ceanothus var. Joyce Coulter about 2 years ago and even with the dry weather it is doing well after it established during a winter planting.

Terran

Here is a link that might be useful: California Native Plant Gardening
mandyroy
18 years ago
I see a need for trees.