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Lush and Lovely
Spanish Lavender
Pink Stripe Flax
Catmint
Wheeler's Dwarf Pittosporum
Maiden Grass
Strawberry Madrone
Jerusalem Sage
Weber Agave
Yarrow
Spanish Lavender

Common name:Spanish Lavender
Botanical name:Lavandula stoechas

This dense shrub grows 2'-3' tall with blue gray foliage and deep purple flowers that have large showy bracts near the top of the spikes. It is drought tolerant . - Cornflower Farms

Pink Stripe Flax

Common name:Pink Stripe Flax
Botanical name:Phormium 'Pink Stripe'

Phormium 'Pink Stripe' is an evergreen perennial. It is a big, dramatic plant composed of many swordlike, stiffly vertical gray-looking leaves with a pink edge, in a fan pattern. Flowers stems reach high above leaves, bearing clusters of 1"-2" blossoms in dull red to yellow.

Catmint

Common name:Catmint
Botanical name:Nepeta X faassenii

Nepeta faassenii makes soft, gray green, undulating mounds that are 1.5' high when blooming. The small leaves are attractive to cats. This perennial has lavender blue flowers in late spring and early summer.

Wheeler's Dwarf Pittosporum

Common name:Wheeler's Dwarf Pittosporum
Botanical name:Pittosporum tobira 'Wheeler's Dwarf'

This handsome dwarf form of the Pittosporum tobira grows into a low, dense mound that is covered with glossy, evergreen foliage.

Maiden Grass

Common name:Maiden Grass
Botanical name:Miscanthus sinensis 'Gracillimus'

The 'Gracillimus' is a taller variety, often growing to 6'-8' tall with delicate feathery plumes and very thin graceful leaves. It should receive sun to part shade, and average to little summer watering. Tall grasses are highly combustible.

Strawberry Madrone

Common name:Strawberry Madrone
Botanical name:Arbutus 'Marina'

The 'Marina' has gorgeous bark, with leaves that are smaller and not as glossy as Pacific Madrone. Its flowers are pink, borne in pendant clusters in the summer. The fruit is large, red and quite ornamental. The plant should be grown in sun to part shade, with little or no summer watering when established. The 'Marina' prefers good drainage. -Monterey Bay Nursery

Jerusalem Sage

Common name:Jerusalem Sage
Botanical name:Phlomis fruticosa

This hardy perennial is a useful, old-time garden plant with coarse, woolly gray green, wrinkled leaves and yellow, 1" flowers in ball-shaped whorls. It handles drought and poor soils but needs full sun.

Weber Agave

Common name:Weber Agave
Botanical name:Agave weberi

This is a striking medium-sized Agave that can grow to 5' tall by 6'-10' wide. This agave has very fine marginal teeth and is sometimes spineless. Supplemental summer watering can prevent yellowing from heat stress in the summer. These plants are also moderately cold hardy and tolerant of temperatures down to 12 degrees F. It is more refined looking than americana. It is native in central Eastern Mexico. It is one of the largest of the Agaves. - Mountain States Nursery

Yarrow

Common name:Yarrow
Botanical name:Achillea millefolium

This Achillea features spreading mats of fern-like rosettes, along with deeply divided leaves of a green or gray green color. In this form, the flowers are usually a white tone. Stems can reach 2'-3' above foliage. Yarrows propagate easily from rooted cuttings or division, which should be performed in the early spring or fall. Following bloom, one should dead head the plant and divide the clumps when it appears crowded.

Designer: Barbara Jackel Landscape Dsgn

Lush and Lovely
Image: 4 of 11

Photographer: GardenSoft

 

Soils and Compost:

Practice grass-cycling by leaving short grass clippings on lawns after mowing, so that nutrients and organic matter are returned to the soil.

Water-Saving Tip:

Replace turf with groundcovers, trees, and shrubs. If you have areas where no one uses the grass, patches that do not grow well, or a turf area too small to water without runoff, consider replacing the turf with water-efficient landscaping.

Integrated Pest Management:

Attract, or buy beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings to control pest outbreaks in your garden.