(Press Democrat, July 19, 2008)
More and more, landscape designers are either addressing requests for drought-tolerant front yards or trying to encourage doubtful clients to envision life without a lawn. Sebastopol landscape designer Susie Dowd Markarian offers this list of low-water-using plants, which work well in this climate. Most are deer resistant, prefer full sun or dappled shade and do best with drip irrigation and good drainage.
Medow Grasses: These provide some of the softness and cooling color of lawn without the upkeep.
Fescue nubura (creeping fescue)
Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)
Carex
Carex pansa 'California Meadow sedge'
Carex Texensis 'Texas Sedge'
Carex Tumulicola 'Berkeley Sedge'
Ground Covers: 6 inches to 2 feet tall
Myoporum 'Putah Creek'
Arctostaphylos 'Emerald Carpet' (dwarf manzanit)
Cistus salvifolius (sageleaf rockrose)
Stachys Bysantina (lambs ears)
Ballota pseudodictamnus (ballota)
Teucrium chamaedrys (germander)
Groups to Mass Together
Acacia redolens
Berberis 'Crimson Pygmy' (barberry)
Nepeta faassenii (catmint)
Kniphofia triangularis (coral poker)
Lavandula stoechas (Spanish Lavnder)
Helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass)
ORNAMENTAL GRASSES/BLADED
Sesleria autumnalis 'Moor Grass'
Miscanthus transmorrisonensis (evergreen eulilia)
Calamagrostis 'Over dam'
Pennisetum orientale (fountain grass)
Stipa gigantea
Phormium spp. Flax
PERENNIALS FOR SPLASHES OF COLOR
Erigeron karvinskianus 'Fleabane'
Euphorbia characias 'Wulfenii'
Achillea spp. Yarrow
Epilobium spp. Australian fuchsia
Lantana montevidensis (trailing lantana)
Penstemon hybrids
Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem Sage)
Salvia
Tulbaghia violacea (society garlic)
SEDUMS and SUCCULENTS
Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire'
Senecio mandraliscae
Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
Hesperaloe
Sedum spathulifolium 'Cape Blanco'
Aloe striatula
Yucca and Agave
