Kimberly's Yard

Front Entry, Along the Walkway

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Right up against the house on both sides of the walkway, and wrapping around the west corner once the door there comes out, I'm suggesting Mexican Petunia (Ruellia) all the way through. It's easy, it spreads nicely, and it gives you a steady flush of purple color right at the entry and down that west wall. That purple is really going to pop against the white of the house, it's a simple move but it'll change the whole feel of walking up to your front door.

25 Ruellia (5 gallon)

West Side Yard (Sissoo Trees & Rosemary Bed)

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This bed already has your sissoo trees and a nice established rosemary that's happy and giving you some height and dimension. No reason to touch that, we keep it and build around it. What's missing is ground cover color, so I'm proposing three different plants layered in together: white from bush morning glory, yellow from sunrise emu, and purple from trailing lantana. Together they'll give this bed some real texture and color variety without competing with the rosemary or the trees.

Bush Morning Glory

Sunrise Emu

Trailing Lantana

8 Bush Morning Glory, 8 Sunrise Emu, 4 Trailing Lantana (all 5 gallon)

Street-Side, Between the Sissoo Trees

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Right up against the street between your two big sissoo trees, there's an empty stretch that's just asking for something. I'd like to plant Cape Plumbago here and let it grow into a low, informal hedge spanning between the two trees. It's a simple move, but it fills that empty space nicely and adds color right where you'll see it every time you pull in.

Cape Plumbago

14 Cape Plumbago (5 gallon)

Fountain Area

There are really three separate spaces to solve for here: the ground around the fountain itself, the retaining wall ring around it, and the four pots sitting on that wall. I wanted to keep everything here evergreen so it looks good year round, and nothing too tall or messy that would take away from the fountain.

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In the ground, all around the fountain: Foxtail Fern. It stays low, keeps a clean shape, and won't block the view of the fountain or drop a mess around it.

Foxtail Fern

The four pots on the retaining wall: Asparagus Fern, one per pot.

Asparagus Fern

The retaining wall ring around the fountain: Salvia. It brings in color and it's a hummingbird magnet, so you'll have some life and movement right around the water feature.

Salvia

20 Foxtail Fern, 4 Asparagus Fern, 10 Salvia (all 5 gallon)

Either Side of the Front Walkway

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There's already Japanese privet on both sides here, and it's worth keeping, it just needs balancing since one side is fuller than the other. I want to add an ornamental tree in the middle of each bed too. Desert Willow is the call here, it's small, native, easy to maintain, and gives you some nice color of its own. The privet will ring the border of each bed with the desert willow standing in the middle of each one.

Desert Willow

Japanese Privet

2 Desert Willow (15 gallon), one per side
7 Japanese Privet (5 gallon) — 5 added to the bare side, 2 added to the fuller side, to bring both beds to the same count and finally get this symmetrical

East of the Driveway, Near the House

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There's a big open gap here where a tree really should be. I'd like to put a Thornless Mesquite in this spot, it'll give you shade and it balances out the overall look of the front yard once it fills in.

Thornless Mesquite

1 Thornless Mesquite (15 gallon)

East Side Yard

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Same idea over here, there's a spot where a tree used to be and it's just sitting empty. I'd like to plant an Ironwood, it's a beautiful, long living, native tree that's going to be a great anchor for this side of the yard for years to come.

Ironwood

1 Ironwood (15 gallon)

East Fence Line

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This is a long stretch of fence and property line that needs coverage, and privacy and color are both priorities here. Orange Jubilee is the right call, it hedges up easily, grows fast, and gives you color while it's doing its job as a screen. I'd plant these every 4 feet down the line.

Orange Jubilee

50 Orange Jubilee (5 gallon)

Grass Border Infill

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Along the grass border you've got ruellia that's still alive and doing fine, but the dead gaps in between are making the whole planting look patchy. We'll just fill those gaps back in so the border reads as one continuous planting again instead of hit and miss.

8 Ruellia (5 gallon)

Northwest of the Grass Area

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There's a gap here with no tree at all, and this spot needs a large shade tree to give you some relief in the afternoon. I'd recommend a Tipu Tree, it actually looks a lot like the sissoo you already have out front so it'll feel consistent with the rest of the property, and it grows fast, so you won't be waiting long for real shade.

Tipu Tree

1 Tipu Tree (15 gallon)

Bench Area

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The honeysuckle by the bench already forms a nice U-shape, so I just want to build on what's working. Filling that U out a bit more will turn this into a little hidden garden feel, a nice private nook to sit in rather than just a bench in the open.

Honeysuckle

3 Honeysuckle (5 gallon)

Scattered Color, Backyard Open Space

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There's open ground scattered around the backyard that could use some color. This one's meant to feel a little random and organic rather than lined up, just some color popping up here and there as you move through the yard. I'd go with trailing lantana in purple and white for this.

Trailing Lantana

6 Trailing Lantana (5 gallon)

Backyard Pots

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For the empty pots, I want to get you into something native that gives you flowers year round instead of the usual swap-them-out-every-season routine. Greggs Mistflower is a native that's a total butterfly magnet, and it does great in pots. Of the seven pots, five would get mistflower and the two larger, different pots would get Agave instead, something with a little more structure and presence for those bigger containers. We can place these strategically around the fenced backyard.

Greggs Mistflower

Agave

5 Greggs Mistflower, 2 Agave (5 gallon)

Pomegranate Replacement

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Your two pomegranate trees aren't producing well and you've mentioned you're ready to be done with them. Once those come out, and again, that removal isn't part of this quote, I've got two good directions for what goes in their place, and it's really your call which way to go.

Peach Tree

Red Push Pistache

2 trees (15 gallon), variety to be selected by you, priced the same either way

Citrus & Fruit Tree Grove

With this many trees getting new plantings and the citrus grove already established, I want to make sure that grove is getting proper nutrition on a regular basis. This would be a standalone monthly fertilizing program just for the fruit and citrus trees.

$185 / month, ongoing