Borders

I've been working on the various borders for the front of the house. The key limiting factor has been water: The area in front of the bedroom window will receive no additional water. I'm planning on planting UC Verde grass, an improved Meyer Lemon, and a Valencia Orange. All these plants should only receive limited to no additional water in the summer.

As a result, I've chosen a mix of three plants that require little to no additional water in the summer. All of them are also small enough to grow in the three foot border that will run along the three sides of the lawn (the fourth side being the planter box):

White Sage:

California Fuschia:

Saffron Buckwheat


I have a lot more options for the lawn area in front of the living room. That's because I will probably water this area once a week.

The center piece will be a desert willow:


For ground cover, I will either use strawberry


or kinnikinnick


And along the border I will plant
David's Choice Coast Sagebrush


Douglas Iris


and Blue-Eyed Grass



I'm also thinking of planting sets of bulbs that would bloom at different seasons of the year

I've Chosen a House Color

Meet Dunn-Edwards "Shaggy Barked"


What I like about this color is that it could never be mistaken for mint. Depending on the light, it either appears to be a grey sage green or just a light or tan gray. It also appears to work well on both wood and stucco.



I also like the use of black as the trim here.

Shades of Green

I've been trying to figure out 1) what shade of green I currently have; and 2) which shade of green I want to have. Part of the problem is that my house faces north and so receives very little direct sunlight. The other part of the problem is that the rest of the house is stucco, which reflects light differently than wood.

I photographed the green in closeup. This first one is in shade

The second one is in sunlight.



I've been cycling around the neighborhood, photographing both paint colors and gardens.

This is an example of what looks like mint. You can see how the color changes based on the texture of the material. This is also an example of a color I don't like.



This next house I really liked. Particularly, in that they also use native plants in their garden. The problem is that part of what makes their house work is the stone on the bottom, which I don't have.





Here are two other variations
The first is right across the street from the above house.



I also saw this house, which I thought had a dramatic trim with the green. The first photo shows the house with the native garden, the next shows the trim:



I also liked this approach, which used a kind of camel yellow as trim:


There's one street in the California Heights neighborhood, where several people have put in native gardens. Here are some that I like or found interesting:










I also found one house in the neighborhood, whose landscaping I also really liked:

Left Front Planter Box

This one is right under my bedroom window:


The idea is to put in only plants that require no watering. The area on the far left will gets morning and afternoon sun; the rest get only afternoon sun.

[From left to right]:


Fuschia-Flowered Gooseberry (this will require a little extra water in the summer, but I can do that just with a spot on hose)


White Sage


Hummingbird Sage


White Sage


Red Monkeyflower

Front Planter Box on the North West Corner

Here's how it currently looks:



The space is mostly shady with some afternoon light, particularly on its western side.

Here's what I'm thinking of replacing it with (from left to right) (all plants are drought tolerant and need no summer watering):

Cleveland Sage

The following flower will be on either side of the central plant:

Island Bush Poppy

This will go right in the middle under the picture window:

Wooly Blue Curls


Island Bush Poppy

Finally, on the far end and jutting out from the corner will be this:

Ceanothus Concha

Landscaping

I'm beginning to think about relandscaping the house and putting in drought tolerant plants. I won't start until late October, but it would probably be a good idea to repaint the exterior at the same time.

Just a reminder, this is what the front and sides of the house look like:

The house is north facing, so it gets a little bit of afternoon sun.


The house currently has three exterior colors. The main color in front is a silver-grey green, perhaps "sage"? The trim is white. And then all stucco-coated parts of the house are a sandy brown.


I like the sage and am inclined to keep it and to have the stucco painted to match.



Keep in mind, I will have native plantings in these boxes. The flowers in front under the picture window will be blue, lavender, with yellow accents. On the side, I'm leaning towards more red. The leaves will be grey and green, with plenty of sage.



I cycled around the neighborhood this morning trying to find houses with similar colors for contrast, particularly ones whose fronts face north, like mine.

Here's an example of a house that is identical in model to mine. They've used a slightly mintier green:



This one is a much darker, more olive green than mine. I don't care for it, but I'm intrigued by the reddish brown door and wonder what a similar trim or door on my house might look like:


This house used a dark olive color as trim:



This one used a more brown color, but those are the sorts of native plants in front that I would use.