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Garden Beds
Autumn Joy Sedum
Homestead Purple Verbena
California Gray Rush
California Poppy, Golden Poppy
Woolly Blue Curls
Royal Beard Tongue
Matilija Poppy
Golden Currant
California Buckwheat
Black Bird Euphorbia
Blue Flame Giant Purple Sage
Quail Bush
Purple  Jerusalem Sage
Big Basin Sagebrush
Autumn Joy Sedum

Common name:Autumn Joy Sedum
Botanical name:Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Noted as the finest of all upright Sedums, this telephium produces from its sturdy stems a variety of flower heads with an umbrella-like shape, whose color changes from pink to a rosy-red shade. This plant looses its leaves in the winter.

Homestead Purple Verbena

Common name:Homestead Purple Verbena
Botanical name:Verbena peruviana 'Homestead Purple'

This perennial will reach about 3' tall and has small green leaves with purple flowers that bloom all year.

California Gray Rush

Common name:California Gray Rush
Botanical name:Juncus patens

Although a wetland plant, Juncus patens can tolerate fairly dry conditions. Eventually will clump to 2'-3' in many years. Grows to a height of 2'-2.5'. There are many selections of this species available with different foliage variations and heights. Carefree with little to no maintenance. Provides great upright structure to many styles of landscapes.

California Poppy, Golden Poppy

Common name:California Poppy, Golden Poppy
Botanical name:Eschscholzia californica

This small annual (sometimes acts as a perennial) plant will grow to less than 1' tall and has light, small blue/green leaves with gold and orange flowers that bloom in spring and summer.

Woolly Blue Curls

Common name:Woolly Blue Curls
Botanical name:Trichostema lanatum

The wooly bluecurls is an evergreen shrub that reaches 3-5 ft. high. It has an open branching habit and has long stalks of brilliant purple wooly flowers in the spring and summer. This shrub is native to California, is drought tolerant, and attracks hummingbirds. -Cornflower Farms

Royal Beard Tongue

Common name:Royal Beard Tongue
Botanical name:Penstemon spectabilis

This shrubby perennial produces spectacular blue-purple tubular flowers on spikes, which is quite attractive to hummingbirds. Royal beard tongue can reach a mature size of about 3-4' tall and wide. Native to southern California from 2-6000' Best planted in the fall. Spring to summer bloomer.

Matilija Poppy

Common name:Matilija Poppy
Botanical name:Romneya coulteri

Crowned by white poppies, this high-impact, spreading gray-green perennial stands statuesque at 5-8" tall. It is best used where its scale and habit will not overpower, and it requires no summer water and thrives on dry alluvial slopes..

Golden Currant

Common name:Golden Currant
Botanical name:Ribes aureum

This small shrub grows to 3-5'H x 3-5'W and has large, bright green leaves with clusters of small, yellow flowers followed by berries that turn from orange to black/purple. Birds love the berries.

California Buckwheat

Common name:California Buckwheat
Botanical name:Eriogonum fasciculatum

Eriogonum fasciculatum is fast growing woody perennial with tiny narrow leaves and pink-white flower heads that dry to a rust color.

Black Bird Euphorbia

Common name:Black Bird Euphorbia
Botanical name:Euphorbia 'Black Bird'

Blackbird Spurge is a compact bushy dark purple evergreen foliage even darker if in full sun. Upper bracts of Euphorbia Blackbird are bright yellow-green in spring in glorious contrast to the dark foliage. Makes a good container specimen. Valuable for hot dry sites, these Mediterranean natives know how to take the heat. The more sun the deeper the foliage color. Remarkably adaptable.

Blue Flame Giant Purple Sage

Common name:Blue Flame Giant Purple Sage
Botanical name:Salvia pachyphlla

Salvia pachyphylla 'Blue Flame' is a selection of the xeric sub-shrub Giant Purple Sage, chosen for its huge, brightly colored 10"+ long flowering spikes. Like a gas flame, the long tubular blue flowers poke through the rose-pink bracts attracting hummingbirds from the entire neighborhood. To help support the huge flower spikes, it's helpful to pinch back the tips of the new shoots in mid-spring to thicken up the plant. This beauty likes full sun, good air circulation, and fast draining soil conditions

Quail Bush

Common name:Quail Bush
Botanical name:Atriplex lentiformis

The quail bush is a densely branched deciduous shrub that grows to 9' tall and 12' wide. It has gray-green leaves and yellow flowers in mid summer. The stems have spines. Native to California and is very drought tolerant. It also attracts beneficial insects and butterflies. Provides excellent food source and cover for wildlife.

Purple  Jerusalem Sage

Common name:Purple Jerusalem Sage
Botanical name:Phlomis purpurea

Purple Jerusalem is a medium sized shrub grows to 4-5 feet tall by at least as wide with large (2-3 inch long) lance-shaped, soft woolly green leaves.soft purple flower whorls that appear on erect stems spring through summer.

Big Basin Sagebrush

Common name:Big Basin Sagebrush
Botanical name:Artemisia tridentata

Native 1500-10000' elevation across the Great Basin. Not happy in the low desert. Rough shaggy bark, irregular form. Dense, semi-evergreen, 2-8' tall. Hairy, silvery gray leaves, narrow and wedge shaped. Full sun, Well drained sites. Very rugged. Strongly aromatic foliage. Flowers are inconspicuous.

Designer: Homeowner

Garden Beds
Image: 10 of 15

Photographer: Vicki Anderson

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:

Drip and other smart irrigation delivers water directly to roots, allowing no excess water for weeds.