This garden serves the interests of all members of the family: active children who want to run and play and grownups who want room to lounge and relax. The plants were selected to fit with the family's enjoyment of unusual, "Dr. Seuss-looking" plants and their desire to shrink lawn areas and replace these with water-thrifty plantings.
Where once a soggy, neglected lawn sat between the home and the pool, the backyard now includes planting beds, a permeable flagstone patio, a trex "basking platform," and an outdoor living room defined by a built-in seating area. The narrow bed surrounding the pool is planted with papyrus, a favorite of the garden's owner. These plants won't mind the occasional drenching they get.
The boundaries of a small lawn (perfect for kids to hula-hoop and run on) are defined by an L-shaped bench of polished concrete with trex seating. The bench backrest (planted with dwarf papyrus) also provides a delineation of space for the outdoor dining area on the deck. Agaves, native dudleyas, kangaroo paws, and salvias including Salvia 'Dara's Choice' and Salvia apiana replaced most of the former lawn.
A trex platform and papyrus "walls" define the space around the outdoor shower.
Most of the front yard lawn was replaced with succulents (including native dudleyas and sedums), non-invasive bunch grasses, native sedge, Salvia 'Dara's Choice' and other drought-tolerant plants.
