Saturday, May 19, 2012

Today's Neighborhood Walk

This morning's walk-about focused on an investigation of how others are using native plants and gardens. The whole shift from green grass lawns to water tolerant plantings is a HUGE movement now in SoCal and lots of people are doing it. Many different designs exist, including 1) the grid approach, in which individual plants appear in organized rows and columns over the entire lawn otherwise covered in gravel; 2) the multiple-paths approach, in which areas of the yard are separated by gravel covered walkways flowing around everywhere; and, my favorite, 3) groupings of natives at various points in the yard with hearty ground cover elsewhere.

Here is a bit of what I saw: 

 Love the colors and shape of this! Will have to find out what this is during a trip to H and H Nursery.

 A relaxed, purple flowered plant fills a corner nicely.


 So exotic. I'm hoping to find a spot in our yard for this beauty.

Same plant from the other side, befriended by smaller natives with vibrant color. 

I happened by one of the stops on today's self-guided city-wide garden tour sponsored by the Water Department. In Long Beach, there are grants available for home owners who want to go native. The grant program has encouraged many people to take the plunge.

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