2020 Contest Winner

Homeowner	Tim and Brianna M
Location	La Mesa
Yard	Front

Project

This blooming and colorful English inspired landscape uses much less water than a lawn of a similar size. This thriving landscape creates privacy from the road as well as compliments the couple’s cottage style home. The Tim and Brianna purchased the home in 2014 and were not happy with the water use of the existing lawn. In addition, the low-lying grass offered little privacy from the road since their home’s front window faces two streets. After they tried to reduce the lawn’s water use, they did not like the lawn’s dried hay appearance during the warm months. Eventually, they hired a landscape designer in fall 2018. The landscape designer worked with the couple to select plants that would not require too much maintenance while still matching the charm and character of their 1950s cottage style home. In addition to the plant pallet, the landscape designer created a hardscape layout, irrigation design and planting plan.

The landscape boasts a filled-in appearance and a wide variety of vibrant and colorful plants. To offer privacy, create shade and add the element of height, the landscape has a fruitless olive tree and a bright desert willow. The low water use daisies display lovely whites and yellows that add to the lushness of this landscape. There is a charming variety of greens from the yard’s shrubs and groundcover that provide contrast with the home’s red brick, including soft blue-greens from the lavender; clumping fescue grasses and Mexican bush sage; emeralds from the rosemary; green-yellows of the rockrose; and splashes of purple, yellow, white, reds and pinks among the landscape’s many flowers.

Plants receive water from an efficient irrigation system, which includes micro sprays, drip irrigation and a smart, weather-based irrigation controller. The new landscape is now more welcoming to the couple and neighbors who pass by. Additionally, the landscape also attracts birds, bees, pollinators, ladybugs, lizards and other wildlife that now call this landscape home. “We couldn’t have asked for a better landscape,” said Tim and Brianna. “Our landscape fits the energy of our home and ourselves, and we loved being a part of the transformation every step of the way.”

Plants Used

Chilopsis Linearis / Desert Willow, Olea Europaea ‘Wilsonii’ / Fruitless Olive Tree, Sunset Manzanita, Orchid Rockrose, Shasta (Becky) Daisies, Santa Barbara Daisies, Foothill Penstemon, Lavandula ‘Munstead’, Elijah Blue Fescue, Rosemary ‘Prostratus’, Rosemary ‘Boule’, Dwarf ‘Santa Barbara’ Mexican Bush Sage, Dymondia