Mountain View Neighbors Discuss Waterwise Front Yards

Drought is the gardening theme for the year. 

In February 2014 I sat in on a meeting with Mountain View residents who are exploring waterwise gardening and thinking about taking out their lawns. Alan Whitaker was invited to share what he’d learned about waterwise and native plantings with his neighbors.

Whitaker has lived in and around the Bay Area all his life, and he has been gardening with natives since 2005. His sun-baked Monta Loma front yard is in its fourth incarnation. His grandmother introduced him to plants, and 20 years ago, his water-hungry plants were a reflection of his grandmother’s garden. To reduce water use, he transitioned to succulents, and then to Australian and South African plants, but he missed the birds and bees he’d had before. Finally, in 2005 he planted drought-tolerant natives. The fourth time was a charm. He has been “hooked on [natives] ever since.”

His front yard gets no water except winter rainfall, and is hand-watered this droughty season. Above, sage in the foreground and blue-flowering ceanothus in the background require little or no water once established. Various sages as well as California poppies, tansy-leaf phacelia, clarkias, hummingbird fuchsia, and several buckwheats promised flowers later in the year. At left, the lush foliage and red flowers of a native gooseberry hide the long, sharp spines that make it a great plant for wildlife cover, protecting them from predators. Below, golden currant and especially pink-flowering currant are show-stoppers in this drought-tolerant winter garden. The lovely fragrance from the resinous leaves permeates the garden.

The neighbor who called the meeting was motivated to look for do-it-yourself alternatives after getting  an estimate of almost $5000 to replace 250 square feet of lawn with natives. “You can spend $2000 on mistakes of your own and feel better about it than writing a check,” Whitaker said. 

He learned from experience -- by losing $600 worth of plants -- that natives don’t like soggy roots. To promote good drainage, raise the roots a foot or two using berms. If you mound the existing soil excavated from other projects, you don’t have to buy additional soil. Or you can use a sod cutter to dig up your lawn, flip the pieces of sod, and use them to create mounds.

Whitaker also suggested using urbanite to displace soil in berms or dry streambeds. Urbanite, a plentiful material available for free, is simply chunks of concrete from demolished sidewalks or driveways. It can also be used to make low walls. A dry streambed is often featured in drought-tolerant gardens for channeling rainwater where you want it. If you dig an extra-deep channel for the streambed, you can line it with urbanite and buy cobbles to top-dress it. The deeper channel can handle a larger volume of water, and using urbanite means you can spend less on purchased rock.

Rather than planting single plants, as he did, Whitaker said a more designed look results from choosing fewer varieties. Plant groups of 3, 5, or 7 plants of a single variety. 

Whitaker advised waiting until September or October before planting natives. It takes soaking rains over one to three rainy seasons, plus some supplemental water their first year or two, to help natives grow the roots that make them drought-tolerant.

This summer, he suggested, you can pay neighborhood kids to dig dry streambeds, make mounds, move earth, or sheet-mulch so you’ll be ready to plant in the fall.

For the rest of the yard, Whitaker said, “Know what your neighbors are doing on the other side of the fence.” Because his neighbors water a lot, he never has to water his fruit trees along the fence.

See the facebook page entitled Mountain View Water-wise Gardens, created by Erin Brownfield, for more ideas.

copyright 2014 Tanya Kucak