Sideyard drought resistant landscaping ideas

last year

I am in Southern California (Zone 10b) and am looking for ideas to replace the grass and ground cover in my west facing sideyard with drought resistant plants. Currently both the ground cover and some part of the lawn are on the same sprinkler zone. I want to convert the area that is serviced by the same sprinkler zone into a drought resistant landscape. That way I will be wasting less water, and get that entire area under the same sprinkler schedule.

The length of the area is around 65 feet, the width starts of at around 7 feet and tapers off to around 3 feet. The slope also gets steeper from the wider to the narrower part of the sideyard.

I would prefer to have shrubs that are green, leafy with colorful flowers, no cactii. I did some research and found that Butterfly Iris, Mexican Bush Sage, Red Cross Kangaroo Paws would fit the bill. I wanted to get ideas about the placement of these (or other plants), and whether I need some kind of ground cover (Rosemary?) in front of the plants to add depth to the landscape.

Any and all ideas are welcome.

I have posted street view and satellite image for reference.

Thanks.

Featured Answer

CA Kate z9

last year

last modified: last year

First of all, I would recommend your either buying - or borrowing from the library - Sunset's Western Gardening Book. It has pages of suggestions based on your planting zone.

Let me think what was all in my old yard:

there are low-growing varieties of Ceanothus;

Texas Ranger aka Leucophyllum frutescens;

Lantana camara;

low-growing variety of Pomegranate;

Brittlebush - Encelia farinosa;

Agaves - lots of different kinds;

Hummingbird Sage - Salvia spathacea.

There are lots more, but I just can't remember them all. There are lots of plants that need little tending, but all need some. It depends on how much you're willing to do.

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Comments (16)

chispa
last year
I had this plant when I used to live in so CA. It did really well in full sun, west facing.

Lady Slipper - Euphorbia macrocarpus

https://horticultureunlimited.com/plant-guide/lady-slipper-plant/

Some grasses would do well too, but be careful you don't get the types that are crazy invasive.

Another one we had in full sun was Portulacaria Afra - Elephant Bush. There are several varieties and you want the upright variety, which you don't see as often.
bitmaster20 thanked chispa
bitmaster20
Original Author
last year
One idea I have is to plant a row of Mexican Bush Sage. However, assuming they need about 4 feet of area, the narrow strip will not be able to fit those as show in the picture below. Any ideas on how to handle this? Or suggestions of another layout? Thanks.
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BC Jones
last year
Here is a great resource: www.waterwisegardenplanner.org . I live in SF Bay Area, have done a lot of native planting, can answer other questions, but that site is great.
bitmaster20 thanked BC Jones
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
last year
Watch a few Laura Eubanks vids on youtube. She does all over socal succulent gardens.
bitmaster20 thanked stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
mojavemaria
last year
most varieties of lavender would fit into your narrower space. You could even do a variety rather than all the same. if you wanted something less gray germander is green, spring flowering and looks good all year. If you did a drip system vs sprinkler with mulch it would save water and look nicely finished.
bitmaster20 thanked mojavemaria
bitmaster20
Original Author
last year
I want to layer the plants with smaller sized plants (ground cover?) in the front and larger shrubs in the back. Any suggestions on what smaller size plants would go well with lavenders?
mojavemaria
last year
Teucreums, cossonii and chamaedrys are great ones that look good all year, are drought tolerant and flower in spring, but the lavender would fill up your narrower section all by themselves.
bitmaster20 thanked mojavemaria
CA Kate z9
last year
Ummmm.... lavenders and rosemarys get old and the middle bare in just a few years and will need to be replaced. You might want to find something that will last a lot longer.
BC Jones
last year
I have seen very old rosemarys that looked fine, it depends on a lot of factors. I recommend CA natives ceanothus and buckwheats whenever possible. Manzanitas too if you really want beauty. All these need full sun and are very low water once established.
bitmaster20 thanked BC Jones
bitmaster20
Original Author
last year
@CA Kate z9

Thanks for the input. What low-maintenance shrubs would you recommend?
nancyjane_gardener
last year
Rosemary is going to be a bush in So Ca! You might want to look at stepables.com for drought resistant ground covers.
CA Kate z9
last year
There are all sorts of Rosemary. I like the "carpet" ones for a smaller area; but they eventually all get bare and woody in the middle with green on the ends. I don't care for this look, the OP may not care.
Akhilesh Joshi
last year
Exploring some options like these, along the 65 ft long wall. Ignore the pathways/walkways, instead using landscaping rocks as ground cover where necessary. What do you think?
bitmaster20 thanked Akhilesh Joshi
bitmaster20
Original Author
last year
I am leaning towards ground cover since I am thinking they will be low maintenace while still provide the green look. On my walks in the neighborhood I have noticed that the city owned landscape uses Myoporum and Coyote Bush. Are those good options?
mojavemaria
last year
Love both those and they are low care and look good all year!

Sideyard drought resistant landscaping ideas

CA Kate z9

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