Are you tired of dealing with brown, dead grass that requires all kinds [music] of maintenance? What if Chip and I told you that a garden like this could be an ultimate beautiful lowmaintenance escape for you? [music] Today, I'll show you around and give you an idea how we transformed this garden from this to this.
The owners had the concept of something close to what is being called these days a zeros escape, meaning a dry landscape. We interpret zeroscape to mean a dry landscape that doesn't necessarily look dry. We want it to look attractive, not just like a bunch of cactus and a bunch of rock.
And there are a lot of plants that you can pick that bloom, hardly require any water, but create something that doesn't look too zeroscapy. The yard before was always a challenge. The sun really beats down on this part of the lawn.
Honest, I was out here every week fixing a sprinkler. It was just a timeconsuming uh challenge to keep this this part of the lawn looking good. >> It was not pretty to look at.
And we weren't able to use the lawn anyway. We didn't throw frisbes on that side lawn. We we didn't have dogs running around on it.
And frankly during the summer it seemed horribly wasteful to be watering it all the time. >> So when was enough enough? >> I think it was the middle of this past winter when we were only able to water once a week.
Why bother? We were just going to have another dead lawn with broken sprinklers this summer. So we turned the water off alto together.
And then it became distressingly dead and that pushed us obviously over the edge towards getting it done. >> As Yogi Baris said, if you come to a fork in the road, take it. We removed the grass and immediately found a big issue which is we think a reason the grass struggled.
Incredible root mass from existing trees. You can see a big camper tree here that looks like it's been here 100 years or so. and then these big southern magnolia.
So, we did remove surface roots, which can be done on existing trees if you're relatively careful about it and don't go overboard. And then we had to put in a a drip system because that's part of the low water using protocol. With the lawn, they had sprinklers that were throwing water everywhere.
We put in a new system that just delivers water to each plant. big maintenance saving because you're not throwing water everywhere and you're not going to have weeds everywhere. It does save money if water is expensive and it also saves money if you're paying for maintenance.
>> We were so excited to be able to work with John Valentino to design and execute such gorgeous landscaping. We wanted something that really tied both the the drought tolerant part of our our our property with with the with the grass part that we maintain. And Nora had some great ideas about that, including this nice little pathway that you you see.
>> We really wanted to traverse the yard within the yard and lead people from one place to another, starting from the driveway towards the back of the property all the way to the front door. We never had a link and now we're able to move from place to place and it invites you to take a look and go through it almost like a magical journey and everyone who visits says, "Wow. " And they do take the path and then all the stray cats in the neighborhood do the same thing and we see them walking the path.
It's hilarious. >> The pathway is magical. It is magical.
>> Yeah, we like to walk down the path. Sometimes we'll just come outside and walk down the path. Seriously, we do because it's fun.
Last night, I saw a young man actually look up from his phone [laughter] >> while he's walking. I was stunned. Suddenly realized something pretty was nearby.
>> So, he actually looked up from his cell phone. >> Yeah, that was a rarity these days. >> No, it was it it truly happened last night and I thought that was a sign.
>> This path we put in our edging, which we used permalock in this case, and it's very easy to install. We only did about an inch or two of base rock. Then we did about inch and a half, 2 in of decomposed granite.
We compacted it. This rock is a 3/4 inch called Yuma. We put it on top of the DG and we used a vibratory compactor.
We kind of set the rock in the DG so that it doesn't move around a lot and then use the edging to contain it so it doesn't go into the other rock. relatively inexpensive to install, easy to maintain. >> I have so many favorite parts here.
It's hard to pick. We were waiting on these Santa Barbara Salvia to to finally bloom, and my god, the last two weeks, they've just exploded in in in this beautiful color of theirs. But I'm a big buganilia fan, as is Nora.
And uh we've got buganvilia spotted throughout the landscape, and we really like that a lot. and the little bambino. >> And the bambino, [laughter] >> the the three that are there, the surprise uh bambino bugilia that we planted under the main window of the living room and the precious apricot color is so beautiful with the variegated leaves that that's very special and and unexpected.
Frankly, >> another thing that passers by always say that you have you may have different colors and we really like that. >> And people talk about the blush pink. They stop and look and ask.
They really are extraordinary because most of the crepe myrtles in this neighborhood are of the magenta. They're bright bright pink. And this is totally different and subtle and with the very dark leaves, it's just gorgeous.
and the various colors of the Lantana. We chose the lavender and the white. And then the ice cap roses here right behind.
They are stunning. Throughout the summer when our normal roses, our hybrid tea roses are failing because of the excessive heat of July and August. The ice caps are blooming like crazy.
We have the maple to frame the front window to match the maple that was already there. Mexican bird of paradise was such an unusual thing for us. We had never seen it.
We never realized that was the name of the plant. But look at this gorgeous plant that blooms with various shades of orange. And it creates this fiery splash in the yard.
And right in front of the giant camper tree, it has this magnificent effect. And then the box hedge. We are so pleased with our little boxwoods because they now create this elegant line along the driveway and demarcate the spaces.
And we finally, thanks [snorts] to this Soma gravel, have a uniform look to everything. But the elegance of all this landscaping, it truly says something about uh just care for one where one lives and enjoying where one's one lives and wanting to share it with other people. >> And don't forget the kumquat.
>> And the kumquat, >> our little kumquat. [laughter] We insisted on a kumquat cuz I we love them so much. And this guy was very tiny when he first went in, but he's slowly but surely he's maturing and growing.
And we can't wait till he starts producing those tart little kumquats that we love so much. >> And we didn't even leave this little patch alone. We wanted it to be like the rest of the parkway.
But it is different because it's it has this incredible butterfly bush that was a riot of color back in August and still maintains some even in September. >> If someone wanted to redo their lawn, you know, make it drought tolerant and beautiful at the same time, we would wholeheartedly advise them to do so. We have the the work that John and his crew did here is just magnificent and it's it's it's responsible.
It's beautiful and it uh you really made a nice space for us and we love it so much. >> We really do. It it truly changes the way you interact with your own home and enjoy it so much more.
We can't speak highly enough about making this change. >> So, if you're inspired by this neat zeroscape garden, here's three things you should do and three things to avoid. With a zercape garden, one important thing is [music] how you water it.
Doesn't make sense to water it like you would water a lawn. So, you really need a system that delivers water judiciously and directly. Don't keep your same sprinkler system that threw water everywhere on your lawn.
Instead, use something water efficient that delivers water directly to the plant. It's real important with [music] a zeroscape garden to maximize the health of your soil because that will minimize the amount of water that you need and that's the whole point of a zercape garden and it will maximize bloom and vitality. You'll be doing all kinds of things at once.
So here we used our John and Bob's blend and our penetrate liquid biotiller. That's a great way to maximize the health of your soil. In this case, we're in somewhat sandy soil.
So, it's been extremely effective. I think [music] a really useful and important part of a Zercape garden is let's make it more than just landscaping to look at from the street. Let's make it a garden we can walk through, a garden we can sit in and talk [snorts] with neighbors, a garden that uh allows us to use it.
You might have heard me say before, gardens are for people. And that's what you should keep in mind when you're designing your zeroscape garden. Don't use cheap [music] plastic edging.
It doesn't hold its shape well. Even though it's cheaper, it's not worth it in the long run. It produces an inferior look and an inferior product.
So, [music] the whole point of a zercape garden is not to plant things that require a lot of water. Don't plant redwood trees. They they need a lot of water in the summer.
Don't plant weeping willows. That's the most water thirsty tree you could plant. So don't use inappropriate plants.
Focus on a plant pallet made up of California natives or if you're not in California, where wherever you're native to, and Mediterranean uh plants that uh do well without water in their native habitat. Don't overplant the garden. And don't use plants that dominate the garden because of their massive size.
You know, if you're planting a zeroscape garden, I don't think for the most part it should be things you have to prune and and make into shapes. We want them to be their natural form. So, in order to allow plants to just grow without controlling pruning, you need to be very conscious of not picking things that get too big for the garden.
Look at what it looked like right after we planted it. You might be tempted to plant more plants because all you saw was rock, but we didn't want a rock garden here. We wanted one featuring really nice plants.
So, the temptation was let's plant more. Well, we didn't plant more and look at as it's growing. And this is just after a few months.
Let them grow. Let them uh attain their natural form. That is not the only list of things [music] to avoid in a landscape design.
You can make some mistakes when designing your garden that can become costly, maintenanceheavy, and allaround bad. I talk much [music] more about that in this video here.
