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Gallery: Front Yards

Minimalist Garden
California Pepper, Mission Pepper
Amazing Red Flax
Gazania, Treasure Flower
Blue Oat Grass
Jacaranda
Orchid or Purple Rockrose
California Pepper, Mission Pepper

Common name:California Pepper, Mission Pepper
Botanical name:Schinus molle

The California Pepper is a fast growing evergreen tree that will mature to a height of 25'-40' and as wide. Its bright green leaves are divided into many narrow, 1.5"-2" long leaflets. This plant can be invasive in some areas, but is a great water conservation tree that has naturalized in California for over 200 years.

Amazing Red Flax

Common name:Amazing Red Flax
Botanical name:Phormium 'Amazing Red'

Phormium 'Amazing Red' is an evergreen perennial. It is a 2' tall, dramatic plant composed of many swordlike, stiffly vertical leaves in a fan pattern. Leaves are dark reddish brown in color.

Gazania, Treasure Flower

Common name:Gazania, Treasure Flower
Botanical name:Gazania X rigens leucolaena 'Sun Gold'

This Gazania variety is a moderately fast growing, low ground cover with gray fuzzy leaves and bright yellow daisies held above the foliage. It prefers light soil, good drainage and full sun to light shade. Allow plants to be irrigated in mornings so that foliage is dry at dusk. It is tolerant and dependable for tough situations, needing only some additional irrigation during the hottest seasons.

Blue Oat Grass

Common name:Blue Oat Grass
Botanical name:Helictotrichon sempervirens

The Blue Oat Grass is an evergreen, blue clumping grass that grows 12"-18" tall and wide. Its showy flowers are 1'-2' above the foliage. This plant looks good alone as well as in mass plantings. The blue oat grass likes dry hill sides and is drought tolerant.

Jacaranda

Common name:Jacaranda
Botanical name:Jacaranda mimosifolia

This irregular to rounded deciduous tree will reach about 40' tall and has fine, compound green leaves with blue flowers. Jacaranda's main blooming season is in spring and summer, but it will often produce sporadic blooms in fall as well.

Orchid or Purple Rockrose

Common name:Orchid or Purple Rockrose
Botanical name:Cistus X purpureus

Orchid rockrose is an evergreen shrub growing to 4' tall and wide, often shorter in stressful situations. The rosy-crimson flowers to 3" wide exhibit a dark purple blotch at the base of each petal, and bloom early to mid-summer. The flowers also feature a contrasting yellow cluster of stamens in the center. It does well in salt spray and cool winds. It is relatively long-lived, tolerant of heat and aridity as well as accepting many soil conditions.

Designer:

Minimalist Garden
Image: 24 of 42

Photographer: GardenSoft

Soils and Compost:

Practice grass-cycling by leaving short grass clippings on lawns after mowing, so that nutrients and organic matter are returned to the soil.

Integrated Pest Management:

Develop healthy soil for plants that are vigorous and naturally pest-resistant.