I do not think that replanting a grassy lawn with wild flowers will save you that much money.
Planting wild flowers takes a little work. Who will kill the grass, rototill the soil, buy a quality seed blend, fertilize, and care for the plants until they grow.
I assume that you are having the property cared for by a maintenace crew? If yes, go to them and ask how much you would actually save.

You're right, it will take effort and upfront cost, but I'm not expecting a magic overnight solution.

I just was hoping to hear some ideas that in the long run would be more fiscally smart.

As in, are there any low-water, low-maintenance grasses and/or groundcover that will fill in the space relatively easily over time?

For it to work the site has to have conditions that enable the kinds of flowers chosen to compete with and survive among the grass. The common thing on many sites where this is attempted where I live is for the flowers to disappear and the grass to take over.

Oddly enough, I am presenting Phase IV of a 1970' condo redo tomorrow morning. The thing that you might find interesting is that they are converting a lot of area into lawn to save on maintenance costs. The cost of bark mulch and weeding has been killing them. The maintenance crew cheif loves it more than anybody. Mowing equipment is very fast and just about anyone can do it with good results.

Environmentally incorrect? Well, here's the thing. There is high nitrogen in the ground water from septic systems that migrates from miles away toward the coastal ponds in the area.

Lawn is a heavy consumer of nitrogen.

One way to look at that is to assume that excessive fetilizer will be dumped onto the grass to try to make it greener than green resulting in the excess going into the groundwater and eventually causing algae blooms in the ponds.

An alternative is to harness the grass's ability to consume nitrogen by using wells to remove the existing groundwater with its excessive nitrogen from the ground and feeding it to the grass. The water returns to the ground and continues on to the ponds with less nitrogen than it had before because the grass uses it up.

I'm sure that it is a very different ecosystem where you are than what we have up here, but it is interesting in terms of regional differences.

Think about all of the conditions the various parts of your site are in such as lawn, natural woodlands, perennial beds, younger shrub plantings, treed areas, understory areas, buildings, pavements, surface water or whatever else there is. Ask yourself and others what they really like about where the current landscape. That is how we started with this and another similar condo redo project that I was involved in. That will give you (the collective you) a better understanding of the quality of life issues that are part of what you as a community value.

Those quality of life values have to balance out with other values such as cost, environmental consciousness, or others. It can be very easy to make a mistake in applying only your own balance of values and imposing them on your community with only the best of intensions.

You stated that one of the problems that is driving up the cost of your maintenance is the mature planting. You also make a strong statement about the unused lawn area in terms of energy, water, emmissions, and money. The assumption is that what lies between these two extremes of conditions is either very little in terms of area, or does not drain your resources. Could converting toward those undescribed conditions keep maintenance costs down without introducing an experimental condition or changing the quality of life that the community enjoys?

Look around your area to see what is working on other sites before you become a pioneer. Usually, good ideas catch on and become common place especially if they are economical. If you don't see fabulous swathes of wildflowers as you envision it is much more likely that they are not so easy or not so economical than thought rather than you being the first to consider it.

One of the best things you can do for economy, environment, maintenance, and successful landscaping is to put in place what would grow naturally. You need to be more proactive than just getting a list of native plants. You need to know the local conditions very well and recreate what would grow there if we all disappeared and nature reclaimed it. You also have to be very aware of what might try to "reclaim" your plantings.

The biggest problem with the wildflower "set it and forget it" seed mixes is Darwinism. Competition. Sometimes it is competition between what comes out of the seed bag, but more likely it is going to be some other crop that is better suited than what was in the mix. Local conditions are going to weaken some plants dominance while enhancing anothers. What will you wind up with? Hopefully, others in your area have found out and it is good, but you should do your best to find out before you commit.

If you're in/near San Diego county, visit the Spring Home/Garden Show at the Del Mar Fairgrounds this weekend and check out some of the indoor display gardens for low-water gardens that don't look stark. Also, the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Discovery Center in Carlsbad (off Cannon Rd.) has a great native garden. In El Cajon visit The Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College for some terrific ideas.

This post brought to mind some thoughts developed while traveling the rocky road of life.

1. Do not buy into a HOA that does not have enough units to support the complex. Always insist on inspecting budgets, reserve funds, etc. before making a purchase offer.

2. Adressing the mature planting situation. Carefully study which of these might be providing privacy or shade to property owners. Think before you whack as you could run into a 'people' problem! What appears to be overgrown may be treasured by some owners for various reasons.

3. Wildflower gardening is the garden writer's fantasy and the gardener's nightmare. Will not solve your problem.

4. All sorts of creative ideas are being trialed on the west coast dealing with sustainable landscaping. Begin your research with your local extention agent. No cost to you and they do make housecalls if the subject site is fairly close to their offices.

5.

2a. What appears to be overgrown to non-gardeners who think sheared tombstone plantings* are the ticket may just be a nice mature planting with natural plant shapes and filled spaces.

*Tight, geometric shapes with big empty spaces between - becoming, unfortunately, the norm in commercial plantings here as well as residential properties that are trying to appear fancy; a typical informal planting at a shopping center or around most houses is not a Japanese garden

Nandina's #1 listing is probably the major hurdle. My only experience with an HOA was a large planned development where once a unit was constructed and all the construction debris was somewhat carefully bulldozed into what was to become the lawn and some inappropriate and awful plantings were thrown in, it was the individual owner's responsibility to maintain it. Now the common areas, parks, etc. were beautifully maintained by the corporation with our fees which never stopped going up.

With a large corporation, the bylaws can easily be changed to suit current needs and trends and fees will increase to pay for it - and even groups of homeowners with independent counsel could never seem to win against "the corporation". With a small community, however, the level of expectations of those who bought in really has to be considered - because it's much more personal than it was with the 50,000 people I lived among.

With regards to the "old landscapes", as an initial step - any way to schedule a homeowners meeting? There could be people who know how and like to do things, but just don't want to be in charge. Nothing like a Power Point slide show with out of control shrubbery, maintenance nightmares easing into more eco friendly plants without going hardcore xeriscaping. There should be great examples to draw from so folks know it's not prickly pear and tumbleweeds. Weave in water issues and a break out of cost factors that you're facing as a group of homeowners for just landscaping issues alone.

Maybe some would be interested in a gardening club or a Garden Day twice a year where people get together and help out with pruning and spruce up for those who might need a little help.

But a large swath of grass under powerlines... obviously the city or power company has easements or right of way or whatever legal access to their power lines might be. Those areas always seem to be clear cut giving wide clearance to the lines. I wonder if you'll need to inquire what might be allowable in such a space. It might only be mowing.

If you wanted to keep the lawn look but use a lot less water and be able to get by without mowing you could convert to buffalo grass. UC Verde was "designed" for the Southwest and it is an attractive lawn with the downside that it is winter dormant.

Can we assume you are in coastal So Cal? The Ca chapparral is lovely to my eyes and once established should use very little in the way of water or maintanance. Bob Perry, who used to teach landscape Architecture at Cal Poly has a great book you could find at the library "Landscape Plants for Western Regions" that has sections on plant communities. The Coast Live Oak community includes attractive, evergreen, low water use plants like sages (salvias), manzanitas (arctostaphylos), sumac(Rhus Ovata) and ceanothus along with others.

This is a great opportunity to do something good for the environment and save your HOA money in the long term. I wish you success with your project.

Maria

I had a busy weekend and finally got around to checking back in, thank you for all the wonderful thoughts and advice!

As I said in my first reply, this is definitely NOT a problem with an overnight solution. However, you all have given me some things to think about...

nandina - you are right. this unfortunately was my first experience buying into an HOA, so we didnt know the ins-and-outs of being able to inspect all the financial info up front. next time we will know better.
the thing that we love (which is also part of the problem) is that this complex is small and old and feels "lived in". its not of those monolithic new breed of apartments with the tombstone plantings--yech. (i personally call those strip mall gardens!)
also in regards to removing the mature plantings--pretty much nothing gets done around here without asking 18 peoples opinions about it first. anyone who cares about the tree in their front yard definitely has a voice unless of course its a major hazard. (actually on this note.. a large tree was scheduled to be removed about 5 years ago from one of our lawns above the North pool. people screamed bloody murder about it going away, so they left it. now we're almost 10k deep into a wall and stairway repair due to the roots of that same tree. you cant win...)

duluthinbloomz - fortunately we're not part of a corporation. i love your idea about a Gardeners Club. Maybe thats a way to get homeowners more involved. i've been to a few of our Homeowners Meetings before being on the board, and no one shows up, unless they have a crisis to be addressed. maybe that would get people more interested. there's also a huge lawn up above our home that gets really good all day sun. i was thinking of asking for approval to put in a few raised beds for veggies etc. Maybe that would be another way to get people involved--anyone who wants a bed just has to claim one and sign a contract to maintain it...?
also, your mention of the city and the lines--makes me wonder if *they* have any responsibility in maintaining that land??? i'm sure its a longshot but its worth asking. or, on the other hand, maybe we are stuck with what we have due to their requirements... no one on the board seems to know the answer to that question

susie and maria, thanks for the ideas. that was what i was leaning towards, native,low maintenance options. when i said wildflowers i think i threw people off... thats the last thing anyone wants to deal with.
any more ideas/opinions out there are welcome. this will be a long road that i will be on at best/worst(?) for another year... they may vote me out for being too revolutionary! :)

thanks all.

also, your mention of the city and the lines--makes me wonder if *they* have any responsibility in maintaining that land???

you can ask but i doubt it very seriously. usually a utility ROW gives them full right to use the land as they need, but the real landonwer is responsible for all grounds maintenance. if you plant trees or any type hardscpae there, they WILL rip it out and not reimburse you. usually ROW clauses dictate that you can only plant low growth items and that the utility is not responsible for damage to them.