In this video, I show how I used simple tools to plan my California native garden in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I start with an overview of the garden, followed by a detailed review of how I used simple tools like PowerPoint and Excel to prepare a scale diagram of my planting area. I use CalScape to identify the planting widths of each plant, and then place them on the diagram. Each plant is shown and I explain how it has performed over the course of the first year since planting.
Plants include multiple sages - Salvia 'Gracias', Salvia 'Celestial Blue', Salvia 'Pozo Blue', Hummingbird Sage, California Buckwheat, Ceanothus Ray Hartman, Ceanothus Skylark, Eleanor Monkeyflower, Monica Manzanita, Common Snowberry, Hoary Coffeeberry, Radiant Manzanita, Wooly Sunflower, Winifred Gilman Sage, Allen Chickering Sage, Blue Elderberry, California Field Sedge, Deer Grass, Toyon, California Buckeye, and more.
While several of these drought-tolerant California plants did not survive their first season, I have high hopes that the ones that did survive are hardened to survive the next season. I review lessons learned from planting in December, purchasing additional plants in January, February, and June, and discuss how the water regime and heat may have impacted their survival.
Many thanks to NativePlantsLiveHere.com