My first reaction in looking at your home is that the lemon tree is in front of a large window which it's blocking to a large extent. If it has to stay can it be cut somewhat lower and the branches thinned out so that it doesn't present such a solid mass? Since you're working with a small area I wouldn't add any more hardscape but instead would plant the garden as a cottage garden using mostly drought-tolerant plants. I believe I see Mexican sage (salvia leucantha) there already. I'd also plant a few antique roses such as polyanthas which don't grow too large but look very lovely. A dwarf crape myrtle (purple or white) or butterfly tree on the left to counterbalance the lemon tree might be a good idea. A new fence with perhaps a gate would dress up the whole garden. I would consider having a white fence to tie in with the white trim of the house.

Ingrid

First of all, I would applaud your work and planning so far. It sounds to me like you are exploring your options and moving toward a balance between what you are dreaming in your head and what will actually function / look well on the ground.

In your post you've shared "out loud" some of the process of your decisions:
> You've renovated roof and driveway;
> You've identified the need to determine hardscape--and the function of that hardscape--before moving on to final planting decisions;
> You've thought about what to keep (lemon tree), what to renovate (paths, steps, splitrail fence), and what to add (strong design element).

I am curious about that point. You say, " I really think that I need a strong design element that is not based on plants." Can you tell me "Why?" What are you hoping that a "strong design element" will accomplish?

It might be that you are looking for something to give a strong cohesive backbone to this garden? Or, it might be that you are hungering to put your own unique mark on this landscape? To do something a bit different, but fitting with your native plant ideas? Maybe you're not completely reconciled to the native plant thing and the stream bed is helping you to see it as more interesting, satisfying, romantic?

All I do know from reading is that it is very tricky to make a fake natural stream look, well, natural. It might also defeat your desire to create the illusion of more space? That's an issue that really does intrigue me. California seems to offer some very creative approaches to optimizing small spaces and uses options not commonly adopted where I live (the midwest). I'd be looking to those resources to make sure I knew what might be possible?

I do understand the "I've thought up a great idea and can't get it out of my head" syndrome. Happens to me all the time.

I put lots of question marks into this post. I guess I'm feeling tentative today. Hope it at least stirs your imagination!

Wellspring

I would actually try to get the Lemon tree to grow taller rather than keeping it lower, if it will do that. I'm guessing you could use the shade.

I think what has happened here is that in your brain, you have written off what seems to me to be exactly the solution to your problem, namely a more striking fence. You've made your plant decision first, then chosen your fence style to go with the plants, and now you're saying you need something in the approximate location of the fence to go with the house. Why not just choose a fence to go with the house in the first place?

If this were mine, I would make the fence a total focal point, in particular I'd run it right to the driveway unless there is some reason not to (on your plan it looks like you do plan to). It doesn't have to be a closed fence to have visual weight; it could even be rail, or small pickets - just painting it (to match the window frames on the house) would give it some presence, would and provide the visual element you seem to be saying you want. I think I'd also make the fence rails level, from this photo they seem to follow the slope. Shorter sections, taller posts, one more rail... might all help.

As for making the yard look smaller or not... well, it is small (so is mine, so I empathize). The fence you have doesn't make it look bigger, just less well defined. I think small areas need to be well-defined and rationally organized; that does more to give an illusion of space than to have amorphous boundaries.

I don't particularly like or dislike your streambed idea but what bothers me about it is that I can see no reason for it unless you want to do a whole bunch of back-braking work. Looks like you've got enough of that coming with the flagstone.

Why not do the things you know - pathway, and fence - and then decide whether you need any more? That is the prerogative of DIY; a luxury that a professional contractor rarely has. Use the freedom to defer some decisions till later!

And for the benefit of Wellspring, who somehow adds valuable input on landscaping without being able to see pictures, I'll say that is one spanking cool chimney - looks like a cylinder topped with an upside down cone and done in very charismatic brickwork. Very hobbit!

KarinL

Thanks so much for everyone's time in posting. I think my response is going to be longer than my initial post!

The lemon treemaybe I should take a picture from the sidewalk. The picture I posted was taken from my neighbors deck as the "before" of our roof. I think the tree looks taller from the sidewalk. And we like it covering the window. We can see out, but people on the sidewalk cant see in. All the yellow lemons are really very pretty from the inside, almost like Christmas ornaments! We dont spend much time out front because we have a large, gorgeous backyard. We get shade from several other trees. Matter of fact, I am always concerned about having too much shade to grow some of the plants I want.

I really do feel very strongly about the natives. I volunteer on an annual native plant tour. I raise butterflies in the backyard. The front garden needs to be drought tolerant, deer resistant and butterfly friendly. I could probably accomplish that with Mediterranean, but the natives are important to me. Mediterranean plants are in very heavy use in our microclimate. Maybe Im having a Mediterranean backlash like I had a purple backlash several years ago.

I guess part of wanting a "strong design element" in front is based on the fact that with natives, the front yard isnt going to be in bloom all year. I want it to be interesting to look at. Also, I spend a lot of time maintaining our backyard and really cant come up with a whole lot more time to spend on the front every week. I have driven around looking at front yards and I like the ones that look like the owners spent some time on the design rather than just an accidental collection of plants. But I dont want a highly formal design. I tend to be a plant collector in the backyard, so I want to have something a little more restrained in the front.

I have seen dry streambeds done well and not so well. So I understand your concerns. I'll put that in the "don't do that" file. I should probably explore berms, but I dont know if they look any more natural than dry streambeds. One of the main plants I know I want is the vine maple and I want it to be well planted and integrated into the design.

With our backyard, we could divide it into sections and work on it a little at the time. The front yard seems to need a cohesive plan. I will have to have some dirt hauled in, so if I am going to add any dirt, I probably want to do that before putting down the new flagstones. I'm not really seeing this as increasing the hardscape unless you are talking about the streambed as hardscape. We are basically going to redo the existing front walk and then where it going from the front walk to the driveway.

Yes, the fence would go all the way to the drive. I was almost embarrassed to post that picture. The fence has been taken down in sections as weve had the work done on the driveway and the roof. Weve got to get rid of a ton of red rock and black plastic. Im under no illusions that this is going to be easy, but I want to make sure I dont get to a step and realize that Ive done something out of order or something that created another problem.

Later, I am going to bust up the concrete between the sidewalk and street to get rid of those diamond shaped planters that have been so hard to deal with, but that is further down the road and I can easily separate that from the main project.

Ill give more consideration to a post and rail fence painted white rather than a split rail left natural. My partner found a round stone patio with a bench in one of the library books I brought home. If I could find a bench that really spoke to me, I may go in that direction. Oh no! Now I'm feeling unfocused again and that makes me afraid that this project is going to keep stretching out...

Yes, the chimney is quite the focal point! There are several like it in our neighborhood.

It isn't all that back breaking to put in a dry stream bed effect, so I wouldn't let that discourage you. I would also suggest that you do some thinning on the lemon to open it up a bit and give some partial views out of your front window; however, lemons want to regrow to be dense and bushy, so this will be an ongoing annual or biannual pruning chore. From the photo's viewpoint, it also looks like the garden might be nicely balanced if you planted a small tree of similar ultimate size to the lemon at the left front corner of the garden, near to where the blue car is parked. If you only want natives, something like a Western Redbud, California Flannel Bush or a Ceanothus could work well there, and I would think it would help balance the yard without creating too much shade up against the house. Vine Maples are not as drought tolerant as the majority of our truer California natives, and this will need babying water wise if you want it to do well. I could just as easily see using some Mediterranean climate plants for the small tree suggestion at the front, and Acacia subporosa or Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' could also look great there. Some California natives that I really enjoy for the vivid summer bloom with just a bit of irrigation would include Zauschneria, Eriogonum grande var rubescens, Dudleya brittonii, Salvia clevelandii 'Winifred Gilman', and Diplacus aurantiacus. Not natives, but combine well color wise with the yellow green of the lemon foliage, you might consider using Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold' and/or Choisya ternata 'Sundance'. If you like bluish foliaged grasses, the native Eleymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince' looks good year round and can be a great taller vertical foil for blooming things, and could be repeated color wise with either Juncus patens or Festuca glauca. Carex tumulicola is also a very easy to grow green grassy looking sedge that would look good as a dry creek bed planting. For an easy shot of color that is also drought and deer resistant, you could have some airy clumps of Verbena bonariensis for both the deep purple color, kinectic quality of the stems, and their attractiveness to bees and butterflies. Taller growing Kangaroo Paws, Anigozanthus flavidus hybrids could also work in the same way as the Verbena. Lastly, some of the dwarf, flat growing Manzanitas could look superb in your front yard, and give that late winter/early spring bloom. Low growing Teucrium cussonii is another low growing long blooming ground cover that combines well with California natives. All of these plants are perfectly deer resistant in gardens where I have used them, and low water use as well.

And if you have it in your budget, I would try and get at least a few really special boulders to set in one or two spots to complement your dry creek bed, and you can find some that already have lichen and moss on them, or have depressions in them that hold water when it rains, or could be incorporated as a naturalistic fountain/birdbath.

Just thought I'd mention that your chimney is really an attractive feature of your house, and I would try to keep it visible from the street, whatever landscaping you end up doing. If you have your heart set on the stream bed, I don't think you actually need the fence, and could lose it altogether without hurting the overall design.

Hi,
your big chimney is a very strong non-plant element, at least when seen from this angle. I'm guessing your instinct tells you to balance this with another strong element. My suggestion would be to use a similar material or color for a horizontal, or rounded form on the left side; it could be a low brick fence between you and your neighbor, brick fence posts or gateway; or a terra cotta pot - these are just some ideas thrown in the air, and maybe you'll come up with better ones.

That chimney is amazing! And eccentric.... :-) It looks to me like a giant brown beer bottle! To me, it calls for an exhuberant and somewhat eccentric garden to go with it! I would avoid anything that looks too conventional, like a white painted rail fence. I like the natural rail fence. Is there a big, exhuberant red/orange flowering vine you could plant on the current fence to pick up the colors in the chimney brick and the mulch (or whatever is the reddish stuff on the ground)? With that chimney, sedate plantings wouldn't do anything for me but plants with rusty reds and oranges in flowers or foliage would look great I think if the plants have enough presence to stand with that chimney. Wimps just wouldn't do in my opinion!

Yes: It would have been preferred to have the lemon in front of the blank wall left of the chimney. Now to eliminate the problem of it blocking the window it will either have to be removed or you will have to wait for it to grow tall enough to perhaps be limbed up in a reasonably presentable way. If this ever becomes possible it will be years from now. In the meantime the window will remain blocked.

Instead of gardening to the street, with the point of view being from the street looking in, I would fence the yard and enclose it. The point of view would be from inside the house, looking out the now-blocked window. Trees and shrubs would be planted around the edges to form a private oasis. In your soft climate it should be possible to put furniture in the center and sit out there often. A small fountain could be included to reduce psychological impact of street noise.

OK. You can select a variety of natives and have year around bloom. You can contrast colors and textures - green Mahonias and gray California sagebrush and undulating sedges.... how about Malus fusca and Mahonia for wildlife food - and place a pebble fountain near a larger Mahonia to provide cover for visiting wildlife? Mahonia, wild filbert, and Oregon crabapple all attract birds and other feeding animals.

Oops! I forgot to mention wild grape. A post and rail fence with wild grape trained along it could be very attractive and definitely interesting to the viewer.