Welcome! This is a website all about California Native plants!
Feel free to explore the pages about why to choose native plants, helpful links, and a garden planning tool I created!
Native plants can be a great addition to your garden and I was able to turn my sad lawn into
a native plant garden! Learn more about me
here. Here are some pictures of my garden:
To learn more about changing your garden check out my tool to
plan your garden.
Also learn about why native plants are important
here! Also check out some other
resources that I found helpful
in my garden planning journey.
You may be wondering why to look at this website instead of others, so I'd like to share a critique of another similar site with you.
I'm going to look at this site,
Lawn Replacement by Grassroots Ecology. This article discusses a simple way to convert your lawn into a native plant garden. I think this article has many strong attributes to it. I like the simple style and the easy step-by-step layout.
However, I believe that there can be improvements.
The article's first point is about looking for rebates which is a great way to start; however, they only listed rebated for Northern California counties.
Additionally, some links go to pages that do not exist anymore, such as for the Contra Costa county rebates. Having links that go to pages that no longer exist is a bad practice and should be maintained. I also think the article is also a little oversimplified; there's not a lot of detail regarding the site requirement and functional needs. I think adding a link to more information about how you can find these factors would be beneficial. I also think the article promotes spray heads for irrigation, but typically they are not allowed in rebates in my experience. They also state that rebates for irrigation or garden can be done but usually not both, which is different in my experience.
I was able to get both rebates at once.
I also think their suggestion of sheet mulch is a good one; however, when dealing with a rebate, there is typically a time frame you need to adhere to, and sheet mulch takes months to break down.
I think talking about alternatives like weed cloth or other faster methods would be better in terms of diversity of what people can do based on their time frame.
The article discusses installing the plants. However, it does not talk about some of the preparation work needed for the plants.
You may need to add compost or aeration to your soil or bring in new soil for the plants, which can be a lot of preparation.
Another aspect not discussed is hardscape and how that needs to be thought about and done before planting.
I think this is a good article mostly, however it could be improved.
I hope you enjoy this website and that it can help you in your gardening adventures!
I think it is great to learn about and look into native plants. They can be a great way to
reduce water usage and improve your garden. California has a wide breadth of beautiful Native
plants that can be used and admired and I hope to share that with you through this site.
