Re: Lawn replacement ideas

Hi David,

I save some of your emails for a long, long time for their valuable
information.  I am always in awe of your vast knowledge of plants.

Plectranthus neochilus is wonderfully adaptable and totally
drought-resistant for me.  I have it in various places included one that
gets no summer water at all.  It does have one drawback that bothers only
some people, but I am one of them.  I put it outside my front gate, where
the guy who delivers the newspaper likes to ruin whatever I plant by
throwing the paper on it. P. neochilus loved the site, looked beautiful and
was tough enough to withstand the blows.  But I couldn't withstand the
offensive odor every time I went out there, and removed it.  Most of my
friends weren't bothered by that and are still mad at me for taking it out.

A small scale groundcover you didn't mention is the evergreen candytuft,
Iberis sempervirens.  It has all the virtues, at least in my cool, foggy
area.  The only drawback is the extreme brightness of the white which
doesn't blend very well, but if you put it by itself it is troublefree and
attractive at all times.

I can also grow Aubrieta and Arabis, but they are really demanding of
coolness, I think.

Cathy, Sunset Zone 24, USA Zone 10

> From: david feix <davidfeix@yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: davidfeix@yahoo.com
> Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 11:10:09 -0700 (PDT)
> To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: Re: Lawn replacement ideas
> 
> I would second the notion that most any Bermuda grass,
> even hybrids are incredibly invasive, always growing
> its rhizomes into adjacent planting areas where it is
> nearly impossible to eliminate if it intwines amongst
> plants.  If you don't already have it in the garden,
> don't plant it!
> 
> The Phyla nodiflora is very drought tolerant, but also
> heavily attracts bees, which may not be desireable
> next to the pool.  The Aptenia is certainly fast, easy
> and fairly drought tolerant, but as mentioned, only
> takes light foot traffic, and also attracts bees in
> abundance.
> 
> The Bulbine frutescens; either yellow form or
> orange/yellow 'Hallmark' form, is a very easy to grow
> mass groundcover for sun or light shade.  I often use
> this succulent for mass plantings as filler until
> other slower growing plants can fill in.  It looks
> best with some regular grooming to remove old flower
> stalks, and in my opinion, needs to be replanted at
> least every 3~4 years from cuttings to keep it from
> looking straggly and overgrown.  Very easy to do, just
> break off fresh stems and stick in the ground at the
> start of the rainy season.  You might also seek out a
> related species, B. latifolia, a larger leafed and
> showier flowered species that is quite dramatic in the
> garden.
> 
> If you are considering succulents as groundcovers, the
> Lampranthus spectabilis is also very showy in bloom.
> Drosanthemum works equally well, and a personal
> favorite is the Blue Chalk Sticks/Senecio
> mandraliscae, which I also often use as a mass
> groundcover, often along with the equally easy to grow
> South African Plectranthus neochilus, a succulent
> everblooming low growing groundcover.  Similar to the
> Plectranthus, another mint family groundcover worth
> looking for, is the succulent Coleus lanuginosa from
> the highlands of Eithiopa.  This is just coming into
> bloom now in northern California, and will continue in
> bloom into February in a sunny spot with good
> drainage.  It is simply covered with deep blue flowers
> typical of Coleus, and is very tough and drought
> tolerant once established, as well as vigorous enough
> to smother weeds.  I first saw this one January at the
> UC Berkeley Botanic Garden, on the African Hill
> section in combination with winter blooming Aloes, and
> it is also now available through Annie's Annuals
> Nursery in Richmond,(which also does mail order for
> those outside the area).
> 
> Of course, there are many true Mediterraneans that
> work well as trouble free low groundcovers, such as
> Santolina, dwarf Lavenders, Yellow Horned
> Poppy/Glaucium flavum(with fabulous foliage even when
> not in bloom, and also at Annie's).  Some of the
> Australian plants such as the various Scaevola
> species, or Hibbertia pedunculata are also quite nice
> for small areas of Groundcover.  Correas are also
> quite useful as low groundcovers for cooler sun areas
> or light shade.  As well, you might consider some of
> the dwarf, clump growing Aloes, or fast clumping
> Echevrias such as E. x imbricata.  If you are planting
> into some bordering shade, Aeoniums such as A.
> canariensis subplanum is superb as a mass groundcover.
> Other Aeoniums such as A. simsii or A. haworthii are
> also excellent, as are the various Cotyledons such as
> C. orbiculata or C. macrantha.
> 
> At the most recent Mediterranean plants symposium at
> Strybing Arboretum, the idea of lawns replaced by
> meadows was also a topic of great interest.  Some of
> the more commonly used species for this in California
> include various Carex species such as C. pansa, C.
> tumicola, C. glauca, and Deschampsia caespitosa.  All
> of these can also be mowed several times a year to
> keep a more lawn like appearance, and will certainly
> survive here in coastal California on twice a month
> watering in the hottest driest months, as opposed to 3
> times a week for even the most drought tolerant
> subtropical grasses used here for turf.
> 
> If you were interested in using more sculptural
> plantings as accents amongst lower growing
> groundcovers, you might consider accents such as the
> gorgeous Agave bracteata or A. attenuata, or the
> beautiful yet spiny A. parryii or Golden Barrel Cactus
> or Dasylirion wheeleri or D. longissima.  Salvia
> clevelandii or Salvia leucophylla 'Pt Sal' is a
> whitish foliaged spreading low shrubby groundcover
> that is both fragrant and beautiful, and native to the
> coastal bluffs of Santa Barbara.
> 
> I would guess that many of these are already easily
> available and common in your part of Spain, others
> less so. This is a topic that is always popular here,
> and I am always more interested in working for clients
> who wish minimal lawn areas and more plantings.  The
> key has been to find those plantings that will
> tolerate our summers without additional summer
> irrigation yet still look good.  I've found that even
> in cool foggy San Francisco gardens, plantings need at
> least monthly deep soaks to keep a good year round
> apprearance and avoid total dormancy, and the
> succulents in particular will readily bounce back with
> the first fall rains if they fail to get any
> supplemental irrigation.  They tend not to work as
> well more inland, where cold below freezing tends to
> limit their usefulness.
> 
> 
> 
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