Front garden
Putting together a garden that is both drought- and shade-tolerant is a challenge I enjoy because there are so many lovely options that thrive in partial to low sun exposure. This shade garden, which I installed for an existing maintenance client, includes a mix of natives and non-natives, such as evergreen huckleberry, Sonoma Coast yarrow, oakleaf hydrangea, loropetalum, and a white-flowering tea camellia (Camellia sinensis). The client opted for hand watering, which is totally manageable for a garden of this size with relatively low water needs.
Back garden
The homeowner already had a patio in place, and I planted the beds surrounding it. There was an existing apricot tree, and I added an orange tree, white-flowered potato vines to climb the fence, gray-leaved natives such as Cleveland sage and Matilija poppy, and purple fountain grass for pops of contrasting color.
I of course included my all-time favorite, Diplacus aurantiacus: sticky monkey-flower, a.k.a. orange bush monkey-flower. Like any good performer, sticky monkey has several aliases.
