Common name:Blue Fescue
Botanical name:Festuca glauca

This ground cover/grass will grow less than 1' tall and has small, blue green leaves.

Maintenance Tips

Festuca glauca is a perennial clump-forming grass. It has soft straw-like leaves that form a blue-green dome that can get up to about 10 inches wide and tall. They prefer full sun and well-drained soil, but can tolerate slight shade, drought conditions, and poor soil nutrition. These will send out flower stalks in the summer, which should be cut back to the base after a few months to give them a cleaner appearance. They will also benefit from having any dead leaves pulled from the plant at any time of year, but the fall is typically the best time to clean up the foliage. It is short-lived in the landscape, with a lifespan of about 2-4 years after which it dies out in the center. Some might dig up and divide the living edges into several new plants, but most of the time it is easier to replace with a new one.

Common name:Little Bunny Fountain Grass
Botanical name:Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Little Bunny'

This perennial grass will grow 1.5' tall and 1.5' wide. It has bright green foliage with pinkish flowers that bloom in summer and fall. Note: Not to be confused with Pennisetum setaceum, also known as green fountain grass, which is an invasive species in California. Please do not plant Pennisetum setaceum.

Common name:Black Sage
Botanical name:Salvia mellifera

This woody shrub has fragrant, dark green leaves with blue, white, or lilac flowers that bloom in the spring and summer.

Common name:Louis Edmunds Manzanita
Botanical name:Arctostaphylos bakeri 'Louis Edmunds'

This is an upright shrub that grows 6'-8' tall. It is tall with green foliage and pink flowers during the winter and spring.

Common name:Pheasant's Tail Grass
Botanical name:Anemanthele arundinacea

Pheasant's Tail Grass is a beautiful, fine, airy grass that is emerald green in color. It has many soft yellow, beige flower stalks in the spring. This grass grows 10"-12" tall , 1'-2' wide and is drought tolerant.

Common name:Lavender Cotton
Botanical name:Santolina chamaecyparissus

This ground cover/small shrub will grow to 2' tall and has small, grayish silver leaves with yellow flowers that bloom in the summer.

Maintenance Tips

Santolina chamaecyparissus is a Mediterranean native that can be found in many California gardens. It is very drought tolerant and is very low maintenance if it is planted in a location where it can reach its full mature size of 2’ tall to 3’ wide. This plant is susceptible to root rot or fungal diseases if the soil is too wet or doesn’t drain easily. If the plant develops fungal issues, allow the soil to dry out and treat with a systemic fungicide. This plant usually blooms in the summer, and the plant will continue to bloom if you deadhead the spent flowers. In the late winter or early spring, you can cut back the foliage by one-third of the current size to maintain the size and encourage new growth.

Common name:Chinese Pistache
Botanical name:Pistacia chinensis

The Pistacia chinensis is a deciduous tree with broad, spreading growth to 50' in height. Its leaves have 10-16 leaflets, and the fall coloring arrives in beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow. The young trees are often gawky, but some become shapely with age.