First off, my UC Verde hybrid grass is coming in quite nicely. I was worried that it might not fill in before it went into winter hibernation, but I don't think I have anything to worry about.
Here's a close up of how the grass plugs are expanding and interknitting.
I've been trying to decide what to do about the path to the front door. Almost all the small penstemon died, either in the floods of winter or later in the spring. I think only three are hanging on and none of them are doing all that well.
In the end, I decided to go with seaside daisy (Erigeron glaucus Cape Sebastian)
These are looking a little ragged and need some pruning (they bloom mostly in the spring), but if you want to see what they look at when they grow a bit more, click here: http://www.yerbabuenanursery.com/viewplant.php?pid=855
I pulled out what was left of the silver snowflakes and decided to replace all of them with california fuschias. These have really been thriving in the side yard, but I picked a low growing variant (Zauschneria californica Mattole Select).
As you can see, they are pretty small and will contrast nicely with the larger, more established plants, like the pitcher sage and the Margarita penstemon.
If you want to see what they look like when the grow and bloom, click here: http://www.yerbabuenanursery.com/viewplant.php?pid=901
The pitcher sages are continuing to bloom and thrive.
All the low growing manzanita I planted have survived and begun to expand, but it will be quite a while before they fill in even part way, so I decided to move things a long a bit by mixing in some low growing ceanothus (Ceanothus gloriosus Anchor Bay).
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One thing that I really like about it is how it meshes in shape and form with the manzanita.
Unlike the manzanita, however, this will bloom in the spring. To see what it looks like then, click here: http://www.nativerevival.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=112:ceanothus-gloriosus-anchor-bay&catid=40:plant-list&Itemid=92
So here's what the front yard looks like in late summer. Several of the greyish green plants in front of the desert willow are blue flax and are actually in bloom (cornflower blue flowers), but they've already closed up for the day.
Here's what they look like in the morning:
And a close up of the blue flax:
