Common name:Fountain Grass
Botanical name:Pennisetum alopecuroides
Pennisetum alopecuroides is a perennial grass. Bright green, 3'-4' tall foliage clumps are topped by pinkish plumes in early summer. Leaves turn yellow in fall and brown in winter. Tall grasses are highly combustible.
Common name:Lavender Blue Iris
Botanical name:Iris Pacific Coast Hybrid 'Lavender Blue
This native Iris will grow 1'-3' tall and has large, dark green leaves with lavender blue flowers that bloom in fall and sometimes in winter. It is drought tolerant.
Photographer: Vicki Anderson
Maintain a two to four inch layer of mulch on the soil surface to reduce weeds, infiltrate rain water, and reduce compaction.
Check your irrigation controller once a month, and adjust as necessary.
Most plants require only one-third as much water in winter as they do in summer.
Attract, or buy beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings to control pest outbreaks in your garden.
