A seven year old native landscape in the Central Coast Area.
This picture is not the 'before' picture. The before picture was 1 1/2 acres of weeds and Veldt Grass. This is the right after planting the little -specks(1 gallon pots) picture. The "specks" are planted on the slope in front of the house. Weeds have been killed(this is a practical environmentalist) and the area mulched with chips from dead pine trees, eucalyptus, and oak prunings. The owner did all the work himself and the total cost was around $2000.00
The second picture was taken seven years later. The tree in
the foreground is a sycamore and most of the groundcover is
Lompoc Manzanita '. This garden requires almost no watering(the
dust does occasionally get washed off with a hose) and very little
care. I
asked the owner how many hours per year he spends on the care of
this one acre+ planting, and his response was, "I putter;
there is no care." The soil in this garden is mostly beach
sand.
