We enjoyed working on this property with two different owners at different times.

The first owner wanted a new front walk and a way to solve the problem of tremendous runoff that ran through the yard during heavy rains. We created a deep dry streambed that worked very well - just a few days after we completed it, a heavy rain turned it into a raging whitewater river that would nearly have floated a kayak. It survived without damage and has now served well for many years. We also did some new planting that fit with the existing olive trees, tall junipers and bougainvillea. The plants we used included Teucrium fruticans 'Azureum', Lomandra longifolia, French lavender, and Hardenbergia 'Happy Wanderer.'

A few years later, the house had sold and the new owner wanted to do something about the back yard. We extended the dry streambed all the way to the source of the water in the upper corner of the back yard. We created soil mounds to divert the water around the house, and planted the entire yard with a mixture of perennials and shrubs to create a water-thrifty "English garden" look.

Plants included Vitis californica 'Roger's Red', red-flowering passion vine, purple wings vine, Boston ivy, Dracaena indivisa, tobira, Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister', leather fern, wild columbine, Japanese anemone, native wild rush, native coral bells, native spicebush, 'Tuscan Blue' rosemary, Mexican bush marigold, 'Platt's Black' New Zealand flax, 'Moonshine' yarrow, Jerusalem sage, black-eyed Susan, 'Sunlite' Mexican tulip poppy, Peruvian lily, 'Maraschino' sage, 'Janet's Jewel' Australian fuchsia, 'Ruby' penstemon, California fuchsia, Penstemon 'Blackbird', 'Blue Wonder' Catmint, Salvia guarantica, 'Midnight' Mexican bush sage, blue spike sage, Salvia cacaliaefolia, Guatemalan blue vine sage, 'Chelsea Bonnett' rockrose, dusty miller, 'Von Stein' lamb's ear, Neomerica caerulea, Iris 'Canyon Snow', red fountain grass, 'Lady Elizabeth' daylily, Santa Barbara daisy, Geranium 'Biokovo', 'Wisely Primrose' sunrose, Dymondia margaretae, plumbago and 'Carmel Sur' manzanita.