Common name:Strawberry Madrone
Botanical name:Arbutus 'Marina'

The 'Marina' has gorgeous bark, with leaves that are smaller and not as glossy as Pacific Madrone. Its flowers are pink, borne in pendant clusters in the summer. The fruit is large, red and quite ornamental. The plant should be grown in sun to part shade, with little or no summer watering when established. The 'Marina' prefers good drainage.

Common name:Spanish Lavender
Botanical name:Lavandula stoechas

This dense shrub grows 2'-3' tall with blue gray foliage and deep purple flowers that have large showy bracts near the top of the spikes. It is drought tolerant .

Common name:Catmint
Botanical name:Nepeta X faassenii

Nepeta faassenii makes soft, gray green, undulating mounds that are 1.5' high when blooming. The small leaves are attractive to cats. This perennial has lavender blue flowers in late spring and early summer.

Common name:Early Sunrise Coreopsis
Botanical name:Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise'

The 'Early Sunrise' is a wonderful cultivar and showy, southern U.S. native. Golden yellow, double flowers on 18" tall bushy plants bloom from June to September in full sun and average to dry soils. It's a bit shorter than other cultivars. It makes for good cut flowers, and pruning keeps the plants abundant with blooms.

Common name:Mother-of-Thyme, Creeping Thyme
Botanical name:Thymus praecox articus

This evergreen ground cover needs full sun to light shade. It grows to 3" tall, forming a dense, thick mat. It needs well-drained, light soil. Creeping Thyme is considered drought tolerant. The foliage is dark green and slightly hairy. It has a pleasant, minty fragrance when crushed, though not considered for culinary uses. Flowers are lilac purple and bloom in the summer. It attracts bees and butterflies.

Common name:Western Sword Fern, Alaska Fern
Botanical name:Polystichum munitum

This Fern produces upright fronds, reaching 4'-5' tall in moist, cool forests in Northern California. This size is usually lower, especially without summer watering. It is great in containers or dry shade landscapes. This species is especially useful to give the illusion of lush, moist gardens where little water is actually being used. It should receive part shade to dense shade.

Common name:Red Flowering Currant
Botanical name:Ribes sanguineum

This upright, multibranched deciduous shrub has medium green, maple shaped leaves. The rose-red flowers appear in clusters in mid winter offering winter color for the garden, and food for hummingbirds. This shrub can tolerate some shade on the coast, and needs shade in warm inland areas. It makes a wonderful backdrop in a woodland garden, foundation shrub, or an informal hedge.

Common name:Feather Reed Grass
Botanical name:Calamagrostis X acutiflora 'Karl Foerste

This ornamental perennial grass grows 4'-6' tall and 1'-1.5' wide; it has semi-evergreen foliage that is green in spring and summer but turns green/brown in fall. The flowers bloom in mid June and emerge a light green but quickly turn to pink/purple. Tall grasses are highly combustible.

Common name:Creeping Red Fescue
Botanical name:Festuca rubra

Creeping Red Fescue is not red but dark green. It is a great ground cover kept at longer lengths for banks. It is very shade tolerant and lush looking.

Common name:Douglas Iris
Botanical name:Iris douglasiana

Douglas iris is an evergreen perennial for shade or partial sun with blue violet spring flowers. It is a California native that is drought tolerant.

Common name:Curly Top Sedge
Botanical name:Carex buchananii

This orange bronze ornamental grass/reed is 2'-3' tall and 1'-2' wide and does best in full sun to part shade.

Permeable Surfaces

If you have impermeable paving that you would like to make permeable, there are two main methods for doing so:
1. Break up hard paved surfaces to create spaces for water to seep through.
2. Remove and replace the surfaces with permeable paving.

Click in the green box for more information