Green Landscape Design In Los Angeles - Using Native Plants In Your Landscape

In general, the landscape of a typical Los Angeles home consists of sod and softscape matter, the irrigation of which constitues approximately 50% of the average residential water bill. As one of the core tenants of low impact development is to reduce runoff, one of the most effective things we can do to reduce runoff is to lessen our overall use of water. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to make use of plants native to California in our landscape.

However, decreased water usage and runoff is not the only benefit of using native plants in your landscape. There are a number of reasons why native plants are the ideal choice for the eco-conscious home or business owner:

The native plants found in California are resistant to drought, and they are able to survive (and thrive) soley on local rainfall levels. As a result, using native plants in your landscape reduces the need for additional irrigation, and as a result, less water is sent to storm drains in the form of run off.

A reduction in watering means a reduction in water pumping costs, which requires electricity. 8% of California’s energy expenditure is geared towards pumping water.

Native plants support the delicate balance of our eco-system in ways that might not be readily apparent. For example: while there are 1000 different types of bees in California, many feed from only one speices of plant. If bees cannot survive, they cease to pollinate these plants, thereby endangering the existence of both plant and animal.

California native plants are aesthetically pleasing, and when utilized in an intelligent way as part of an overall pallete, they can create a remarkable impact in a Los Angeles landscape. In addition, these plants are certain to do well in our soil and under local conditions.

California natives work in conjunction with the ecology of our site and soil. Much of this ecology has been damaged in ways that are impercetible to us by the use of chemical fertilzer, pesticides, and cultivation. California natives augment the growth of fungi and bacterica, in addition to attracting and promoting the activity of eathworms.

These plants also tend to stablize and retain their size once full grown, which reduces pruning and maintenance. As a reuslt, our contribution to landfills is diminished. (Currently, California landfills are almost a quarter full with garden waste.

Since native plants are acclimated to local soil, the need for fertilzers and ammendments is signifcantly diminished. These chemicals alter the chemical composition of our local soil, and the by products of these chemical additives are swept away to our natural water ways.

Many of these local plants and shrubs are endangered or extinct, due in part to the expansion urbanization. Local animals depend on these plants for their livelihood.

How To Make Money At Home Growing Small Landscape Plants On 1/20 Acre Or Less

Small town, big town, it doesn’t matter, if you have a small area in your backyard that you can use for planting, then you can make money growing small plants at home. Actually you can make pretty good money on 1/40 of one acre. That’s an area about 30 feet by 40 feet.

You will be amazed at how many plants you can fit in an area that small, and at how much money you can make. Even apartment dwellers can do this! If you live in an apartment, just to get a feel for how fun and rewarding a tiny nursery can be, find somebody with a little piece of ground that they will either let you use, let you rent it, or do a joint venture with you.

Is there really a market for small plants? The market is huge, something like 4 billion dollars last year alone, and the demand is tremendous. As a small grower, you have a tremendous advantage over the larger nurseries, their overhead is very high. As a backyard grower, yours will be almost nothing.

You might be asking; "I live in a small town in a rural area, how many plants can I really sell?"

Tens of thousands if you want to. Most people don’t realize it, but large wholesale growers are the largest buyers of small plants in the country. They sell so many plants that they just can not produce them fast enough themselves, so they buy them from wherever they can find them. Just pack them up in a cardboard box and ship them anywhere you want.

I routinely buy large quantities of small plants and have them shipped thousands of miles to my house. Why do I buy plants if I know how to grow them myself? There are a lot of reasons, but one is because I am impatient and don’t like to grow Japanese Maples from seed. I can buy Japanese Maple seedlings for as little as 75 cents and all I have to do is pot them up and watch them grow.

I also buy large quantities of flowering shrubs that I would like to start propagating myself. I buy them for 50 cents, pot them up, and often sell them the next year for $4.97. But in the meantime I take cuttings from them to propagate for next year’s crop. Then I never have to buy that variety again.

Those are the same reasons that many wholesale nurseries are always looking for great deals on small plants. When they find someone like you, growing in their backyard, they are delighted because they know they can buy what they need for less money from a small backyard grower than they can if they buy from a large nursery.

It only stands to reason, your overhead is almost nothing, you don’t have to raise the price of your plants to pay for buildings, hundreds of acres of land, trucks, tractors, and dozens of employees.

How much money do you need to get started? Almost none. All you have to do is root some cuttings, and you’re on your way! There are dozens of easy plant propagation techniques that are so easy to learn that young children can do them, and with great success, I might add.

This propagation information is available to you free of charge at www.freeplants.com

The size of the area you need to get started is really up to you, but an area about the size of a picnic table is a start. I’m serious. I root my cuttings in flats that are about 12” by 15”, and can get between 100 and 150 cuttings per flat. In an area about the size of a picnic table you should be able to root several thousand cuttings at a time.

And guess what? As soon as they are well rooted, they have a value and can be sold immediately! Isn’t that cool? Typically a rooted cutting is worth about 50 cents. Let’s see now, 1500 cuttings at 50 cents each, that’s $750!!! Wow!!! The wheels should be turning now.

But you don't have to sell 50 cent plants, you can grow them until they’re bigger and get more money for them. That’s what I do, I pot them up in small pots and they sell like crazy right from my driveway at $4.97 each.

This spring we sold over $25,000 worth of $4.97 plants right from our driveway. One of the people that bought my Backyard Nursery E-book held a sale this spring and sold $2,800 worth of plants her first weekend. She was ecstatic! Of course we also sold plants for much more than that. I used to grow Japanese Red Maples and we sold those for $45 each, and they sold like hot cakes!

This is one of the most fun and rewarding home businesses you could ever get involved in. My kids have learned work ethics, the value of a dollar, and skills that will last them a lifetime. Any time they needed a little extra money all they had to do was step out the back door and earn the money they needed.

It costs very little to get started, and the rewards can be quite high. It’s certainly not a get rich quick plan (because there is no such thing!), but plenty of people have done very well in the nursery business. All it takes is determination and hard work. You can learn it as you go along. It’s much easier than you think.

Three Dependable Landscape Plants For Fast Privacy Screens In Dry Gardens

Many people are rediscovering the joys of staying home. Your garden can become the perfect place to provide a peaceful sanctuary to escape from the world and unwind. Screen plants can provide privacy in your garden, hide an unsightly area and provide shade. Hopseed Bush, Brush Cherry and Italian Cypress are three shrubs or small trees that are useful for screens, grow fast or are drought tolerant. Some plants have all three qualities!

When creating your backyard paradise these screening shrubs can also help create 'walls' to establish separate sections in a garden, so you can create different 'garden rooms' in your yard. Two of these are also good for planting in narrow spaces between houses to help block out the world. Try these versatile plants in your Patch of Heaven:

HOPSEED BUSH (Dodonaea viscosa)
USDA Zone: 9-11
Sunset Zone: 7-24
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Moderate to low, drought tolerant

Hop Seed bushes come with leaves in either bright, lime green or dark purple. Both versions have leaves about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide and are very shiny on multiple shrubby branches. These drought tolerant shrubs are fast growers to about 10 feet tall and almost as wide. They take full sun to part shade. Once established in the garden (1-2 years) they can survive on rainfall alone.

Hopseed bushes have a growth habit that is a bit airy, with lots of small branches and the long leaves add to the lacy feel. They can be trimmed as hedges or espaliers for a slightly denser effect. These are good for layering to create a full, lush feel in the border. They are perfect for the back of the bed (where the sprinkler won't reach), along fences or as border screens. In late spring they develop large, papery seed pods, usually light brown, which hang on for weeks and provide a dramatic effect. Although the seed pods break down quickly in the soil, I do not recommend planting these bushes near pools.

BRUSH CHERRY, CAROLINA LAUREL CHERRY (Prunus caroliniana)
USDA Zone: 7 - 9
Sunset Zone: 5 - 24
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Moderate to low

Brush Cherry is another dependable, versatile garden shrub for quick screens and hedges. These shrubs can grow up to 30 feet tall and 10 - 12 feet wide. Although I have seen mature stands of Carolina Laurel grow even taller. They can grow in full sun to part shade. Once established they can survive drought conditions. However, in desert areas they prefer less sun and will appreciate more water during the hottest summer weather.

Brush Cherries have a dense growth habit with lots of branches so they take well to heaving shearing as a hedge and can even be used for topiaries. Left untrimmed, they will still maintain their neat, shrubby shape, but the interior growth will not have leaves. They can also be trained as small multi-trunk trees. New growth is a pretty reddish rusty color in the spring. They get sprays of white flowers followed by clusters of small, bright red cherries. The cherries can stain concrete and make a mess. If you don't have enough birds in your area to take care of the cherries for you, just trim off the flowers before they set. This will also relieve the plant of the stress of producing seeds.

ITALIAN CYPRESS (Cupressus sempervirens)
USDA Zone: 7 - 9
Sunset Zone: 4 - 24
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Moderate to low, drought tolerant

Italian Cypress trees are a familiar staple in the city, growing along border lines as tall screens. They grow up to 60 feet high on single trunks and are generally 1-2 feet wide but mature plants can be much wider. All cypresses prefer full sun, but will tolerate part shade and can survive on little water once they are established in a year or two.

Italian cypress are perfect shrubs for problem areas. They grow tall but they're thin, so you can tuck them into narrow spaces. Their trunks will eventually reach about 12 inches around, so your narrow bed should at least be that wide. Their growth habit is sleek and cylindrical, with most of their leaves pointing up. They lose a small amount of needles during they year, but litter is not a big problem with these trees. They do not grow very fast the first year, but they will make up for their lack of growth in the second year. Continually trimming the tops will result in a slightly fatter shrub, but they are fairly care free, needing no trimming.

When you are planning on having your shrubs survive on rainfall, it is best to encourage deep root development early on by soaking your plants every few days instead of sprinkling the topsoil every night. Even established plants appreciate a deep soak during a heat wave, when the weather has been over 100 degrees, or when it has been especially dry and windy.

All three of these plants are growing happily in my heavy clay, alkaline soil in hot and sunny Southern California. Good luck and happy gardening!

Facing The Landscape Sun

The direction in which your house faces (north, south, east, west) is termed its exposure. This fact is of utmost importance in planning your garden. First of all, you will have to locate plants that will grow successfully in shaded areas according to the exposure; second, the position of shade trees will be most satisfactory if you determine before planting the spots where they will do the most good.

Generally speaking, a house whose front faces southeast is best adapted for the American type of home landscape. A more detailed discussion of this subject, will appear in a succeeding chapter.

Surroundings

Just as individuals are apt to reflect the habits and characteristics of their environment, landscape design should to some extent conform to the standards set by the surrounding area. This statement holds true only if the general surroundings happen to be pleasant. If, however, the land adjoining or close by to yours happens to be an eyesore, your landscape plan will emphasize seclusion and try to block off the undesirable view.

Soil

Your choice of design and of plants will also be controlled by the soil. For our purposes the two most important types of soil are (a) acid ( sour) and (b) alkaline ( sweet). The easiest thing to do is to work only with those plants that are best suited for your particular soil. However, some plants are so attractive and so well suited to home landscaping that you will feel it is worthwhile to change the type of soil in a part of the property to accommodate them. In fact, this practice is so common today that it is all but taken for granted.

You must also consider whether your soil is wet or dry. Poorly drained, wet soil is among the worst calamities that can befall any home gardener; stagnant water renders soil all but useless. Other wet soils produce good results because they have excellent aeration.

At the opposite end of the scale are the very dry soils ranging all the way to desert conditions. Here, of course, the list of plants that can be used is severely limited. Fortunately, the characteristic architecture of homes in arid regions is also limited and the plants that are in keeping with the climate and soil conditions also go well with the architecture. So, it is important for them to know all the great indoor plants.

Just as acid soil can be made alkaline, and vice versa, we have worked out ways to handle certain natural forces so that they are not too damaging to our efforts to beautify the landscape. The home gardener in Texas, for example, knows that their main problem is to sustain landscape plants successfully through the hot, dry season. To do this they apply a mulch which keeps the soil cooler and conserves its moisture for a longer period. As a result of such practices, there are in the nation's hot, dry sections beautiful home landscapes that "defy" nature.

Climbing Plants and Vines to Enhance a Landscape Design

If you want to know what's up in gardening trends, look no further than climbing plants and vines! Climbers are a great element to include in a landscape design. They can be trained to climb numerous structures of your choosing such as trellises, arbors and pergolas, decks, railings, and more. climbing plants and vines can be strategically placed throughout the garden to cast shade or provide privacy as needed. Best of all, climbing plants will draw the eye upward, adding a vertical element to a horizontal landscape.

If you want to get started with climbing plants and vines, it's a good idea to evaluate the options first. Your climate, soil type, and particular situational needs should all be taken into consideration when choosing a climbing plant. So what are some common types of climbing plants and vines? We'll explore some of the more popular options that you might want to consider.

Wisteria:
Wisteria is a beautiful flowering vine that grows rapidly in the sun. If you live in a climate that experiences winter, wisteria is a good choice, as it's hardy up to Zones 4 or 5. As it grows, wisteria can become very woody and dense. After a few years of growth, wisteria will need a strong supporting structure. Be careful where you plant wisteria. Because of its rapid growth, size, and weight, you'll want to be sure to plant it somewhere where it won't do any damage to your home or property. Large wisteria vines, when left unchecked, can easily collapse a deck or other structure.

Trumpet Vine:
Trumpet vine can be found in two varieties, Chinese trumpet creeper and standard trumpet vine. The former of these is a tropical, hardy only to Zone 8. The latter, common trumpet vine, is hardy to Zone 5. Like wisteria, trumpet vine is a rapid grower and prefers a sunny location. Trumpet vines will produce beautiful, showy flowers in midsummer, and colors vary from scarlet or orange to yellow. Trumpet vines grow and cling to their supporting structures with root-like attachments. It's important to provide good support for trumpet vines when they are first getting started, as they can grow quite large and heavy over time.

Ivy:
Almost all of us have seen buildings that are partially obscured by ivy growing up them. There are several different types of ivy, but all are fast growers and will cling easily to walls and stone work. Take care when planting ivy, however, as it is famous for damaging the structures that support it. Ivy roots can ruin the masonry work on a building, particularly when the vines are removed. Ivy is also very dense, which means it will cast shade on the building's walls. This can lead to mold growth on siding or shingles.

Clematis:
Clematis is a very popular climbing plant, and for good reason. There are dozens of varieties to choose from, many are hardy to Zone 5, and all produce beautiful flowers throughout the spring and summer months. Clematis is generally easy to grow. It prefers shade on its feet and sun on its vines. While this may sound complicated, it's easier to accomplish than you might think. Simply plant your clematis in a sunny location, and then plant a small shrub at its base to provide the needed shade on the lower part of the clematis.

Wisteria, trumpet vine, ivy, and clematis are just a few of the popular climbing plants that can be found across North America. Don't limit yourself to these four plants, but rather consider them as a starting point from which you can branch off into other species and varieties. Whatever climbers and vines you choose, be sure to plant them in an appropriate location and provide plenty of good support, if needed. Your climbing vines will reward you over time by becoming a beautiful focal point in your landscape or garden.

Landscape Plants Heights - General Rules For Use

When developing the public area, we need only keep in mind three fundamental landscape principles that concern this particular part of a property. They are: (1) soften the architectural lines of the building by placing plants where the strong vertical lines meet the ground; (2) frame the building with trees; and (3) maintain an open lawn area.

We could state the first principle even more simply by saying that the plants should be located at the corners of the building and at either side of the entrances.

Architectural Lines

Height of Plants

In nearly every case the plants to be used at the corners of the building should be of a type that will naturally grow larger than those to be used at either side of the doorway. Generally speaking, the ideal ultimate height of a plant at the corner of a one- or two-story building should be a little less than half the distance from the ground to the eaves.

In deciding what plants to use, we must find out what their ultimate height must be if they are to soften the lines of the house. First, sketch the front of the house to scale (or use a photograph and tracing paper).

Then, following the above method draw straight lines from points on each outside edge of the house slightly less than halfway to the eaves, to the center of the front door sill. Note also that the plants on either side of the door should eventually reach only about as high as the line is at that particular point.

Plants at the corners of the house are always taller than those next to the front door. The one exception to this rule occurs when the house has corner windows that wrap around both sides of the house. Many times you will see that although the plants immediately under the windows are lower than, or just about the same height as, those at the entrance, the original thought of having taller plants at the corners is carried out by the addition of small flowering trees or larger shrubs at a distance from the window. This gives the same effect, but does not sacrifice ventilation or light through the corner windows.

Pointed Plants

If possible, do not use plants which come to a sharp point at either doors or windows. But there is rare exception to this rule: Suppose that you have a house with very tall, narrow windows, or high-peaked gables or dormers; the natural surroundings include sharp-pointed evergreens and jagged mountain tops. In this case pointed plants like ficus alii at doors and windows would fit the environment.

Minimizing Salt Damage To Landscape Plants

When snow is falling and it's the middle of the night, contractors aren't thinking about landscape plants on the site they're clearing, their main concern is having the streets and sidewalks safe by morning. This doesn't mean they shouldn't be more aware of the effects of some of their actions during these times but it's more understandable when mistakes are made. As a homeowner however, you can take a little more responsibility for where you place your snow as you work to clear your walks after the storm

An awareness of what can happen to plants and turf from the use of chemicals during these events should not be understated and some work done up front may save some frustration in the future.

Chemicals Used.

**Sodium Chloride (rock salt)--applied mostly to roadways only, is very toxic to plants

**Calcium Chloride and Magnesium Chloride-- applied to sidewalks is less toxic but will cause damage at high rates.

You may have little say in how much of these deicing materials are used during a storm but there are a few things you can do to minimize damage.

o Talk with your contractor about concerns over your landscape and have them make an effort to limit chemical use when appropriate. Just having the conversation will put an awareness in their minds. This type of management is not only good for your landscape but it may also save you and your community money throughout the winter.

o Ask your contractor to install deflectors on their spreaders used for sidewalks. This will keep the bulk of the chemical directed onto the sidewalk and less spreading out to your grass edges. The main reason for dead grass along sidewalk edges and roadway edges in the spring is because of all the accumulated salt that built up in the soil over the winter.

o Talk with your contractors about turning off roadway salt spreaders when stopped at a traffic light or stop sign. In many communities and retail centers, there is a planting bed usually with flowers at these key locations. As the contractor spreads salt , they frequently stop at these areas, and in most instances, the spreaders continue to run saturating the soil. Over time, salt builds up to such high quantities , it kills most flowers and damages plantings later in the year.

Some things you can do to minimize damage :

o Irrigate- Salts are easily leached thru soils so watering these areas can help reduce the amount of damage.

o Gypsum- Gypsum applied along grass edges and planting beds where you've had issues in the past will help. Does not work as well after the

fact. Be proactive and put down before the first storm. Gypsum helps the salt leach or filter away

o Plow or shovel away from plantings- Talk with plow operators about piling snow in certain areas. Snow plowed from salted streets will have a

Landscape Gardening - Choosing Plants With Colored Foliage

There is a large range of plants with colored foliage available to the gardener today. Reddish-purple, golden-yellow, silver, and grey-leaved plants, not to speak of the many types of variegated leaf, abound in nurseries and garden centers. Amongst all the plant forms - from trees to ground covers, one can find varieties that have brightly colored leaves. The challenge is to use them wisely and not be carried away by false notions of novelty or originality.

In fact, peppering the garden with such plants is the first sign of design naïveté. Green is the foliage color that should dominate most planting schemes, while plants with colored foliage should be used very sparingly as an emphasis, a contrast, and even a focal point in the garden.

There are of course endless variations of unusually colored leaves, but they can be reduced to four main groups. As a gardener in a Mediterranean country, I will restrict my examples to those with which I am familiar.

*Red or deep-purple foliage generally creates the most striking effect, but over-use can make the garden look depressing and somber. Prunus pisardii is a small plum tree, while the large shrub, Cotinus coggygria, is well known beyond Mediterranean climates. For mild winter regions, I suggest Euphorbia cotinifolia, which if kept at about 1-2 meters by annual pruning, is particularly beautiful. Let's not forget also, the mainstay, Berberis thunbergii.

It may also be worth considering bedding plants with red-purple foliage, such as the varieties of Joyweed (Alternanthera) which can really "hold" an herbaceous border through the long, hot, Mediterranean summer. This plant should be used as an annual anywhere but in the mildest of winter climates.

* plants with golden-colored leaves make for a less dramatic, but perhaps more subtle contrast with the mass of green foliage. For subtlety, it is best to study the size and shape of the leaf, before rushing in with a colored plant. These should be as similar as possible to the green-leaved plants. Hence, the feathery texture of Melaleuca "Revolution Gold" or Melaleuca "Green Dome", combine well with junipers for instance and other species of Melaleuca.

An amazingly beautiful shrub is Duranta erecta "Golden". It has small, oval leaves, and so goes well with such shrubs as Cotoneaster, Sumac, Pistachio, and Myrtle. planting it next to a course-leaved bush like Hibiscus, would be a mistake in my view.

*plants with variegated leaves are probably the most ill used amongst inexperienced gardeners. Again, the mistake is to plant too many of them, thereby turning the unusual into the common. They are most effective in shady corners, where they create a dappled-light effect, but they tend to look sickly in full sun,

*Grey and silver-leaves are perhaps easier to use without descending into banality. They are most appropriate in Mediterranean style gardens, but seem out of place amongst lush, tropical plants. Grey-leaved shrubs should be planted in very small numbers, although some species, such as Grey Owl Juniper, or the fabulous Texas Ranger (Leucophyllum frutescens) can be superb, especially in contrast to red-leaved plants.

Silver-leaved plants really come into their own in herb gardens, where they appear most at home. From an aesthetic point of view, in addition to a culinary or herbal one, plants like Lavender, Artemisia, and Sage are great, while grey-leaved grasses, such as Festuca glauca, are useful additions to an herbaceous border.