Before anyone can give you any relevent advice, we need to know:

1. Where are you- in the hot dry, interior valley, or on the foggy coast, or up in the cold mountains....

2. Is the new groundcover going to get any additional watering besides mother nature? Are you disciplined enough to water it faithfully until it's established, if you admit you can't keep an already established cover going? Can you install some sort of irrigation system to water for you, if you know you can't keep to a watering schedule?

3. Do you want/need to walk on it, or is a low, woody groundcover ok as well?

Sorry, but it's impossible with all the possible variables involved to recommend a particular plant without more clarification. Sue

How about some sort of simple design water feature with a simple ground cover! I say simple to keep from having to worry about maintenance of someting exotic.

thanks for the help Sue! don't say sorry; i am grateful for any help i get!

1. i'd say hot and dry (i am in los altos which isn't as dry as san jose, but gets a lot of sun compared to SF)

2. the current lawn has sprinklers. i should have been clear; i am actually not lazy with watering, i just don't like to waste water on lawns. so the lawn died because i only set the timer to run for 10 minutes every 3 days, which clearly is not enough for thirsty grass. i can and am willing to nurture whatever i am putting in in the future, but the requirement is that once it's established, it doesn't consume as much water as the lawn.

3. i don't need to walk on it, so a low and woody groundcover is ok. i can't guarantee my neighbor's cats' behavior thou :)

I tore out my lawn and put beds of low water flowers and plants in it's place. Boy I should have done that sooner!

Penny

Penny, can you point me to what type of flowers/plants? Thanks!

Don't throw up, but since water is so scarce, have you considered a synthetic lawn? Stop laughing. I hate wasting water on grass. And lawns are so much work. If you search for "fake lawn" on the internet, you'll see some beautiful gardens. I have no idea how much it costs, or how it feels on the tootsies, but I'm considering it myself for a small geometric garden. No one will even know. I would surround it with real plants, of course.

Good luck!

Marlene from Michigan

There are a myriad of succulents you can use. Maybe use some medium sized rocks and even create a rock garden.

wanda

Along with the other suggestions, off the top of my head (things I'm familiar with, anyway...:D) -

Lantana
Macfadyena (cat's claw)
Myoporum parvifolium
Rosemary
Thyme
Yarrow
Agapanthus
Amaryllis belladonna
Arctotis
Gaura
Mimulus aurantiacus
Pennisetum setaceum
Perovskia
Phormium
Assorted Salvias
Stachys byzantina

You're in Sunset zone 15, and all of those listed are appropriate for that area.

Brenda

the above list is good. You might consider Mondo grass, germander, bulbs, crepe myrtle. I got a book years ago on Drought tolerant garden and it was my bible.

Penny

Some here may be able to predict what I will suggest, but have you considered going native? Take a look at the CA Native Plant Society website. That may give you some links or there may be a chapter near you...

Here is a link that might be useful: CNPS

hostarasta, i actually looked at turf too, but they are quite expensive! they do feel and look real. in fact, the more expensive ones feel better! but that's more than what i'd like to spend now...

everyone else, thanks for the input! i'll take the list, see if there's anything native to CA (that's a great idea!), and google a picture and see if it looks decent. i probably want something that doesn't grow taller than 1 ft. that should shrink the list down substantially!

Ok, with sufficient info (and I grew up in Palo Alto, so I know your gardening conditions,) I would recommend prostrate rosemary and myoporum parvifolium as good lawn replacements under a foot tall in your climate. if you want to go native, there is one of the best native nurseries a short drive away from you, that has demonstration gardens- yerba buena nursery.

Here is a link that might be useful: yerba buena nursery

davissue_zone9 thanks! Prostate rosemary looks pretty, and a friend of mine suggested white clover too, so I'll check these out. I should check out the demo gardens in yerba buena nursery too; I never even heard of it but the pictures are SO NICE! thanks!

Clover takes as much water as a regular lawn.

oh didn't know that clovers are thirsty... man i kind of like the way they look :) i just found out that santa clara county does rebates on water efficient landscapes, and no wonder why clovers aren't that. thanks!

Maybe I'm not understanding the situation, put it sounds like a prime place for any of the great native or xeric perennials we can grow in CA that are under 3 feet tall. Its seen from the house and the entry, it has irrigation, it doesn't need to be walked on,... The prostate plants are nice, but the native perennials are nicer IMO.

Youreit's list and the CNPS website are great. You're problem will be too many choices, not a lack of them. Lavender, lemon marigold, artemesias, primroses, verbena, lantana, gazanias, and S. African bulbs are all plants I like in this situation. There's a good 20 sage types that will work.

Have fun.

I have Myoporum parvifolium and it's a low growing, evergreen, shrubby groundcover. It's very low water once established and can take light foot traffic. Small flowers in the spring, pale pink or white. I have it, been growing almost four years, and I think it's great, I just shear it once a year when it grows out onto the sidewalk too much. My yard is on a slope but is clay soil, the drainage is adequate. That's my recommendation (I saw it was already suggested but I wanted to share my experience).

Myoporum parvifolium 'Pink Form' is even lower growing than regular Myoporum, and makes a very lush, green looking carpet that is only inches tall, yet spreads thickly and vigorously to form a thick carpet. It sounds like you should also amend the soil in your lawn area with alot more compost to retain water better. 10 minutes of water every third day is actually quite sufficient to keep lawn green if the soil retains water. In sandy soils, it wouldn't be enough, but you might find just watering every day for 5 minutes would use less water but keep your lawn greener. Try aerating the lawn and top dressing with fine compost and light fertilizer to green up an existing tired lawn, and going to an every day for a few minutes irrigation schedule timed in early morning to lose less water to sun, heat and winds. Or try the Myoporum, it is more drought tolerant than lawn. One of the dwarf creeping thymes would also work well.

I love the discussions here :) So I talked to DH, and he prefers something that won't obstruct the view, so he prefers something growing short short like 6-8 inches. myoporum parvifolium could work! i suppose if i keep trimming prostate rosemaries, it might work too.

bahia, u know, i don't understand why 10 minutes every 3 days at night isn't good enough either! but yes, the soil is cracked and looks poor. i didn't mention, but this bean-shaped lawn is originally a swimming pool, but the seller filled it in to help sell the house. i'll get some free compost from the city and pour on top, see if that helps. in the long run, i'd like to replace them with something more drought resistant anyways. thanks!