How to Grow the Best Garden for Southern California

Southern California can get hot in the summer. Some higher elevations can get quite cold in the winter. And after years of extreme drought, water is becoming a serious concern. For a long time people have moved into Southern California, bringing with them their favorite garden styles from other parts of the country. So, tropical gardens, southern lawns, and woodland gardens have cropped up throughout the natural chaparral environment. These gardens require a lot of extra effort and water to recreate their different environments. When the population was low or rainfall plentiful, this habit of gardening was not so much of a problem. But today there are better choices to be made. And they can actually make for beautiful gardens. Here are some tips on how to grow the best kind of garden for Southern California.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    
   Create a woodland landscape with drought tolerant plants

   Yes, you CAN design your garden to be English, Asian, Tropical, Mediterranean, woodland or any other style and still have it be eco-friendly in Southern California. But you need to do it with a little extra effort. If you can do some extra research or call in a good, knowledgeable designer, you can find ideas, designs and plants that will give you're the look you want without making heavy demands on the environment. There are drought tolerant plants that can be planted so they LOOK tropical or woodland. You can build hardscapes and use décor that can complete any effect, all without requiring extra water or demanding impositions on the ecology.

2. 
    
   The flamboyant Caesalpinia gelliesii is very drought tolerant

   Don't automatically plant flowers just because they look familiar or because they are pretty. Do a little research. You can find plants with showy flowers and leaf forms that will use less water. Plants like Sages, Teucreums, Caesalpinias, Oenotheras and Galvezias are just some plants that offer brilliantly colored blooms. Many succulents offer sculptural forms while still other plants have dazzling foliage. Grasses can be very drought tolerant and add graceful motion in Southern California's winds.

3. 
    
   Use design elements that don't need water.

   Add creative stone work and interesting décor to your landscape. Make use of natural hills and crevices. Design in planter beds and wandering pathways to make the most waterwise garden into something exciting and decorative. Plan areas where no living things need to be watered at all. Laying patios, stepping stones and flagstone areas, designing in mosaics with tiles, gravel or pebbles, stacking stones, wood or placing dramatic boulders all make powerful statements that will make your Southern California garden the envy of all your neighbors.

4. 
    
   Gardens can be low maintenace, eco friendly and beautiful - no matter what style you like!

   There are many ways to build the best kind of garden for Southern California. With careful forethought, a well-designed garden will use less water, be less flammable in areas where wildfires threaten, and look spectacular with a wide assortment of styles and effects. If all this doesn't convince you there is a better way of landscaping than most Southern Californians have been using, consider that gardening with these techniques will also create the most low maintenance gardens you can have. Now, if you factor in saving money and work into a safe, eco-friendly and georgeous landscape, this HAS to be a better kind of garden for Southern California, doesn't it?

Resources

• Landscape design and gardening information and ideas for Southern California

[rickmac]

on 5/9/2009 Good article on gardening and conserving resources. I think xeriscaping is going to really catch on because of the need to save water.

[sonni57]

on 5/7/2009 We all want our garden to be the best it can be thanks for the good advice.