Angel with Dirty Fingernails - Low Water Landscaping Blog

Quieting the Lizard Brain

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:58:00 +0000

Here's a CLCA San Diego Chapter President's message I wrote a couple of years back about the 'lizard brain'. While I think things are looking slightly better on the economy front right now, I do think this is still a thought provoking approach to our life and work. Enjoy!

I’m always on the look out for insights into how I can become a better landscaper/steward of the environment/wife and mother, so I was excited to find Seth Godin (of Tribes fame) had written a new book called ‘Lynchpin’.

In his book, Godin talks about this primeval part of us that he calls the ‘lizard brain’ that hates change, achievement and risk. In our industry at the moment we face lots of change and a great deal of risk. The economy is in a very different place than many of us would like it to be. The reality of our water future is looming large. The impact of these things on our businesses makes everyday a challenge, and yet many will just respond by doing the same things that they always did in the hope that things get better.

Godin urges us to do things differently:

be impatient with the status quo,
don’t copy someone else’s tactics, and
do something new

By becoming a ‘linchpin’ we bring the emotional labor to our work. We pour ourselves into what we do because we know it is the right thing to do, and we become better people for living and working this way. This also makes us very scarce, and that scarcity makes us valuable - indispensable.

My wish for you this month is that you take time for yourself to focus on where your emotions or passions are, that you look at what needs to change, you find a creative way of achieving that change and you try something new.

Since 2003 Diane E Downey has owned The Yard Fairy, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape consultancy, design, installation and maintenance company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. She continues to share her passion for landscaping with others via garden consultations, garden coaching and the community based site that The Yard Fairy has become.

Interesting Conversations You Have As A Business Owner

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 00:27:00 +0000

Another rainy day in England

I answered a call the other day, just after dinner, so outside of 'business hours' and had an interesting exchange that left me scratching my head. It went something like this:

Customer: "Do you do fix sprinklers?"
Me: "Well, yes but we usually have another company, Blue Watchdog Systems, do our irrigation work for us"
Customer: "Well I cant be bothered with that."
Me: "Can you tell me a bit more about what is wrong with your sprinklers?"
Customer: "Do you do the work yourself or is it your husband?"
Me: "No, we can help with some problems, and I do the work, its just that right now I'm taking care of two new children, so I'm referring my clients onto Blue Watchdog."
Customer: "I just picked up a couple of Mexicans and got them to switch my sprinklers to drip, but after four hours of work they decided they'd had enough and left"
Me: "ok, well.... can you tell me what is wrong?"
Customer: "That's a nice accent"
Me: "Thank you. Can you tell me some more about your sprinklers?"
Customer: "Where's that accent from?"
Me: "Well, its English. I'm from England. Have you traveled to England?"
Customer: "I spent 9 months studying at the London School of Economics when I was a student"
Me: "Very nice"
Customer: "My Dad took me to the airport and gave me a postcard of the sun and told me that was the last I was going to see of that for a while"
Me: "Yes, it does rain a lot there. Did you enjoy it?"
Customer: "Worst nine months of my life"
Me: "Sorry to hear that"
Customer: "So you cant help me?"
Me: "Well...can you tell me..."
Customer: puts the phone down

I can put all sorts of interpretations on this conversation, but I'll leave you to decide. I figure I'll quit trying to figure out how I could have handled that differently and just smile. You meet the most amazing people as a business owner.

Spring is here in San Diego

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:23:00 +0000

I got this great email from one of our design/build clients this week and thought I would share it with you all:

I was out in my gorgeous front yard this morning, doing a little weeding and checking on the plants and I was happy to see that the plums are starting to bloom. Although the sages still look dead, there a little tiny green leaves on each of them, so they are waking up too. It appears everything that was planted is surviving. I don't think I've lost any plants. Thought I'd share a few pics with you. I still need to buy something to put in the low bowl-shaped pots. I'm thinking some yellow lantana would look nice.

I'll let you know when the trees are starting to leaf. You might like to take some pictures at that point. I am so pleased with the design and the work that you and your team did. I continue to get many compliments on how nice the new yard looks.

Thank you to our great client, and I cant wait to stop by next week and take more pictures.

Have a wonderful weekend all.

Diane

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Wordless Wednesday - The Huntington Library and Gardens

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:58:00 +0000

My family took me to The Huntington Library last weekend for my birthday tea. It was wonderful as usual. I thought I'd share some pictures as part of the 'Wordless Wednesday' meme borrowed from my fellow gardening bloggers at flowergardengirl and BGgarden:

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

The Ten (Gardening) Truths About Me - My Honest Scrap Post

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:42:00 +0000

My good friend Jenn from Facebook and Twitter has passed this joyous piece of scrap to me! She has two blogs, one called Jenn's Gardening Spot and the other ~Recycling Gardener~. Both show her passion for her family, her garden and the environment.

Recipients of the Honest Scrap award are supposed to reveal ten truths about themselves, and then extend the award to seven other bloggers. I feel honored to have had this bestowed upon me, and though I'd use the opportunity to tell you a bit more about my path to becoming The Yard Fairy. Thank you Jenn, for giving me this wonderful opportunity.

Truth #1: I was taught to garden by my Grandmother when I was 7 years old and visiting her in the Summer in Bedfordshire. My first planting plan included snapdragons and marigolds. She taught me how to build a compost heap and how to layer greens and browns with some horse manure to accelerate it all, and how to over it in straw and plastic sheeting to cook it. She showed me how beneficial it was when she used it in her own garden to improve the soil and grow wonderful, fragrant roses. She and my Grandfather took me for long walks around the woods where he would come across a 'chocolate tree' just as the going was getting a bit tough. I remember seeing carpets of bluebells, and picking them to bring home, with their slippery, stringy stems and their haunting fragrance. My grandparents were my inspiration for learning about nature.

Truth #2: In 1974, my step father built his own vegetable garden from a bare piece of earth that was our back garden in our new house in Wigan, Lancashire. We kept a small flock of Bantam hens and Rhode Island Reds in a converted garden shed with an enclosed run. They gave us lots of fresh eggs, and much amusement as we watched their antics. I remember him pouring over seed catalogs trying to work out which exotic species he was going to try his hand at next spring. He taught me how to see possibilities in a piece of land.

Truth #3: My high school had a stags horn fern hanging up somewhere between the Biology department and the sixth form common room. It was the first time I had ever seen such a plant and it became one of those plants that I just had to have. I finally got two of them when I moved to California, some 20 years later. This was the beginning of me learning that the plant world was full of delights beyond my very limited experience to that point.

Truth #4: My A level (last two years of high school, for US readers) Biology teacher taught me botany, among other things. That's when I first learned about macro and micro nutrients, nodes, internodes, growing tips, stomata, xylem and phloem. I remember being so excited to see onion cells under the microscope for the first time, and doing the experiment that measured how much starch was in a leaf that had been masked from sunlight for 24 hours. This taught me the value of science and gave me a glimpse into the chemical reactions that surround us.

Truth #5: I spent my undergraduate days collecting sad looking, discounted house plants from places like Woolworths in Worcester town center. I would bring them home to my dorm room, prune, re-pot and nurture them into large, beautiful specimens. I would water them all by placing them in one of the communal bath tubs and letting them sit in water for an hour or so. Another hour or so to drain, and they would be just right for another week. When I moved into my first shared flat (apartment) with my best friend from college, I somehow forgot that trick and would water them with a small watering can. I always managed to over water them and had to run round with a cloth drying up after myself. Still do to this day! Watering plants is not as easy as you think and water needs to be managed.

Truth #6: My first real garden was in Faversham, Kent when my husband, our good friend Debbie, and I bought our first house. The back garden was long and thin, with a high red brick wall all the way around. When we moved in, the garden was in a really sorry state, so we came up with a design and set to work with a rototiller. We created new pathways using gravel, and we curved the planter beds to disguise the shape. We planted goldenrod, honeysuckle and a small flowering cherry tree. Good landscape design is key to getting the best out of any garden.

Truth #7: My favorite English garden was in Eythorne, Kent where we lived from 1994 until 2001. When we bought the house it came with a small greenhouse, a pond, and a detached garage. I would spend my weekends pottering in the greenhouse, starting vegetable and bedding plant seedlings. I recycled one of our old kitchen cabinets and some old worktop to make a potting bench, and my husband built me some greenhouse staging. I converted two old coal bunkers into compost bins, and used a shredder to chop up all the tree trimmings to add to the heap. I created an herb garden in the front by taking out a small area of lawn, and I 'hedged' it with thyme. One of my favorite plants was a ceanothus or California Lilac, and the other was a clematis (Nelly Moser) that just grew and grew and grew. Now it was my time to pour over seed catalogs and work out how to limit my seed order to a manageable budget!

Truth #8: My current Californian garden is now my favorite. Its not as big as I'd like it to be - we got that warning quite early on from our Realtor - but its where I try out ideas and plants. And boy, what a learning curve I had when I got here. The soil was just the wrong color - kind of yellow-brown, not dark brown I'm used to. The plant choices available were mind blowing and I felt like a kid in a candy store. It didn't take much time for me to realize that just because we can grow all sorts of exotics here, it doesn't mean we should. Once I had started improving my own yard, taking out the lawn, piece by piece, I realized that I needed some education to make this all work. I enrolled in the horticulture program at my local junior college, Mira Costa, and took a range of classes from Soil Science, Irrigation, Plant Science, Pest Control, and others. That experience shaped my thinking about our use of water, our guardianship of the environment, our impact on the ecosystem and our plant choices.

Truth #9: When I started The Yard Fairy in 2003, I knew I wanted to become part of the professional group for landscapers, the California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA). After being a member for a year or two, but not really being very active I realized that the association could offer me much more if I became involved. I set myself a goal of attending the monthly board meetings, and while walking into that first meeting was not easy to do, I have found the CLCA to be a major influence on my business. The friendships and camaraderie in both the local San Diego chapter, and in the last two years, up and down the state, have provided me with support, professional development and leadership training. I have been exposed to landscape business of all sizes and flavors; I have met and talked to politicians and policy advisers; we have won multiple awards for our work and for our website; and I have learned business skills from a wide range of green industry experts. As I start out 2010 as Chapter President, I am so grateful that the group were so welcoming when I took those first faltering steps to that first board meeting.

Truth #10: My family have been a very important part of this whole journey - my grandparents, my parents, my husband and my two boys. They have been very tolerant of my need to visit garden centers, botanical gardens and nurseries. My husband, in particular, has been very good about handing me a towel on the way to the shower after a long and dirty day in garden. I'm so proud of my sons as they become more involved in the garden and the business, and they start to see why I'm so passionate about my profession. I hope this continues to grow for them, and they too have a life time of gardening joy ahead of them.

Now it is time for me to pass on the Honest Scrap award to 7 lucky folks. I have picked these seven people because they accompany me on my daily travels in the form of their podcasts, and they provide inspiration in their writing and pictures on their blogs.

Emma Cooper creator of The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast and blog
Dori and Val creators of the More Hip Than Hippie podcast and blog
Charlotte mastermind behind The Garden Book of Days
The famous Crafty Gardener
The mysterious 'Weeping Sore' and her blog 'Grow This'
Laura Z's blog, The Garden Pages
Yyvette Roman and Fred Davis' blog Beyond the Lawn

Thank you again to Jenn for awarding me this honor, and well done to Emma, Dori and Val, Charlotte, Crafty Gardener, 'Weeping Sore', Laura Z, Yyvette and Fred. Thank you for all you do to brighten my day!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

January Garden Blooms in Carlsbad, California

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 03:34:00 +0000

On the 15th of each month gardeners around the country post pictures of what is blooming in their gardens, so here's what is blooming in my garden today (January 16th, 2010) - Pink Bower Vine (Pandorea pandorana), Gerbera daisy (this one is a perennial, low water variety from Proven Winners), Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata), Alysum, Azalea, Epidendrum radicans, Carolina jasmine (Gelsemium sempervirens).

I spent a very relaxing day in my garden today. I planted some vegetable seeds - Broccoli Raab, radish and carrots, and some more sweet peas (my favorite). I also took some cuttings of a Manzanita Arctostaphylos manzanita) that had been damaged while the new pathway and steps were being installed.
This vegetable garden doesn't get much sun, so I'm a little concerned about how well things will grow. It also doesn't have any irrigation so this will all need to be water by hand until I can fix that up. Good job we have lots of rain predicted for this week.

I moved the lighthouse today and found this spot for it. My eldest son built me this in his high school metal shop. I love its rustic finish, and the contrast with the rough bark of the pepper tree suits it really well. Just need to figure out how to get some lights up there.

The new block walls at the top of the bank are something I have been thinking of doing for quite a few years. They give me a new planter bed that no longer slopes down, so hopefully it will be easier to water and keep good soil in there. They also give me a small walkway and two lots of steps up there that are much safer than the little stepping stones I installed 7 or 8 years ago. We also created a small 'pad' for the area where we hang the hammock for the kids. Last summer, our nephew and niece loved being up there but without steps the plants just got walked over and they created a dirt path that just eroded the soil.

I cleaned out the pond so now most of the string algae is gone, and I switched on the pump for the first time since the summer - water restrictions. A wonderful soothing sound. Tonight the California Tree Frogs are loving it.

My glimpse of what is to come came when I looked at my collection of cymbidium orchids that I keep under a magnolia tree in the shade of the fence. The flower spikes are forming and within a month they will be in full and glorious bloom.

The perfect end to a day in the garden!

This garden blog event is sponsored by : May Dream Gardens at http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/2010/01/garden-bloggers-bloom-day-january-2010.html

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Edible Landscaping - Winter Veggies for SoCal

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:50:00 +0000

Out and about this week getting back into the swing of work and we got to pay a visit to one of our gardens that was finished in November last year. We built raised vegetable beds for them out of dry stack stone from KRC Rock , and filled them with yummy soil from Great Soil. The clients got busy over the holidays and started planting up their herbs and vegetables. What a lovely sight for us to find.

Seeing their vegetable garden coming together inspired me to pull together a list of good crops to be planting at this time of year in San Diego County. Although its winter here, we still get great temperatures in the 60s and 70s, with the lows in the 40s to 50s. We may get a very occasional frost in inland areas, but it is usually very localized to low points in gardens, or low points in canyon areas.

Here is my list:

1. Artichoke
2. Arugula
3. Beetroot
4. Blueberries
5. Broad beans or fava beans
6. Broccoli
7. Brussels sprouts
8. Cabbage
9. Carrots
10. Cauliflower
11. Chard
12. Chicory
13. Chives
14. Cilantro
15. Collards
16. Cress
17. Dill
18. Endive
19. Garlic
20. Kale
21. Leeks
22. Lettuce
23. Mustard
24. Onion
25. Parsley
26. Parsnips
27. Peas including sugar snap, English peas and snow peas
28. Radishes
29. Rutabagas
30. Salsify
31. Sorrel
32. Spinach
33. Turnips

Good sources for vegetable seeds and starter plants would be:

My own personal vegetable gardening success story was being able to pick fresh salad leaves over the holidays. They tasted yummy and it felt so good to be eating fresh salad to balance all the rich food of the season.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Christmas Day Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:14:00 +0000

I got a new camera today so I had to take it out for a spin. What a better subject than the flowers in my garden. Paper whites, iceburg roses, fuschia, and lorapetalum... how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful world!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

The Alternative Garden Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:37:00 +0000

We recieved a lovely email today from one of our Garden Tour clients:

Just a few minutes after you and your team left the yard, we had another large group of visitors. We thought you'd enjoy seeing the picture of them. It's only recently that the locals have discovered the birdbaths. They also love climbing around in the rosemary plants.

Such a great picture, I just had to share it with you all.

Happy Holidays!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

The Yard Fairy's Garden Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:18:00 +0000

Here are some more pictures of our garden tour today. Bananas in December anyone? Thanks to all our Yard Fairies - Ciaran, Natalia, Amy, Aleksandra, Presciliano, Melissa and Juan.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Here's what's blooming in our gardens in December

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:02:00 +0000

We just finished our annual Yard Fairy Garden Tour of 2009 - we take the whole Yard Fairy team on a tour of six gardens that we have completed over the last few years to see what has become of them.

As you can see, the cooler weather has really brought out the color in the succulents. Just a beautiful sight and so much better than ho-hum lawn would be. More pictures to follow!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Frost Warning for San Diego County - December 8th, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 23:08:00 +0000

I just received this email from The County Farm Bureau regarding possible frost tonight. Seems to be mostly for Northern inland areas:

Special Frost and Freeze Warning for San Diego County
Issued 1130am PST 12/8/09
Valid Midnight - 9 am 12/9/09

Conditions favorable for freeze are expected tonight in San Diego
County. The greatest risk will be north county from Ramona north thru the
Riverside Valley. Valley cold spots: lows 26 to 29, sloped areas and low
hills 30 to 34, and foothills 33 to 34. Palomar Mtn at 5500 feet L20s. Fans
will help little due to the cold dry unstable air mass aloft. South county
won't be as cold (mostly mid 30s due to clouds). Prelim lows:
Fallbrook Nurseries area 30, Fallbrook Valley 27, Escondido 31, Valley
Center 28, Rainbow 26, Riverside March 26, Pendleton 27, Oceanside AP 30.
Freeze risk is likely between midnight and 9am PST Wed in colder areas.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Yard Fairy Wins Cybersoil Award from California Landscaping Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:28:00 +0000

California Landscaping Magazine Awards Yard Fairy Website for "Best Content" in their 2009 Cybersoil Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 18, 2009
San Diego, CA--

San Diego landscaping contractor Diane Downey was granted a Cybersoil Award for "Best [Website] Content" as celebrated in the 2009 November/December issue of California Landscaping Magazine. Her low water landscaping website, http://YardFairy.com, beat out 21 other competing websites for its exceptional content that includes organic gardening advice, Smart Irrigation tips and an extensive photo library showcasing her award-winning low water landscaping designs.

California Landscaping Magazine is published by the CLCA (California Landscaping Contractors Association). According to the publication, the CLCA's chosen winner for best content was based on the ability to "tell the company's story through text, images, and client testimonials," as well as "'up the ante' with podcasts, video and more."

Diane, a.k.a. "The Yard Fairy" excels in this category with her up-to-date blog and online newsletter; fresh, informative and engaging articles and endorsements from satisfied clients. She also is a willing social networker, giving readers a way to get to know her via multiple means - her Angel With Dirty Fingernails blog, Facebook and Twitter accounts, and even YouTube where she regularly creates beautiful "slideshow" videos of her garden designs and explorations set to music.

Click here to read the rest of "Yard Fairy Wins Cybersoil Award..."

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Best of Our Low Water Landscaping Articles

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Thanks for visiting The Yard Fairy's blog! In case you were not aware, this blog is part of The Yard Fairy Website at http://yardfairy.com.

Over on the website, we have amassed a sizeable collection of Low Water Landscaping articles. We've helped many residents of north San Diego county as well as gardeners and landscapers all over the world use eco-friendly landscaping methods to create backyard works of art.

In case you are not on our newsletter mailing list, here are some of the more popular landscaping articles we've featured:

Water Features for Your Garden: Ponds, Fountains and Waterfalls

5 Steps to a Low Maintenance Yard

Beautify Your Yard, Simplify Your Life, Save Water

Winter is for Landscape Planning

Top Tree Choices for San Diego

A Water Wise Garden in Escondido, CA

If you'd like these types of articles mailed directly to your inbox each month, sign up for The Yard Fairy Low Water Landscaping Newsletter!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Recycling Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:04:00 +0000

Predictions of an increased chance of an El Nino this winter have me thinking about how best to advise my clients on capturing rain water for recycling in the garden.

There seem to be two schools of thought on rain water. One is that it is our enemy and needs to be removed from our property as quickly as possible. The second is that water is our friend, and we need to capture it and let it sink back into the soil. Clearly, moving it away from the house is important, but shipping it out to the storm sewer system causes problems in the ocean and wastes a natural resource.

Seeing rain water in this positive way, and adapting our approach to our landscaping projects is also known as Rain Water Harvesting, and in his book of the same title, Brad Lancaster, outlines several techniques that we recommend here at The Yard Fairy.

1. Create planting beds that are lower than walkways and patios (hardscape) so that water drains from them into the soil, giving the plants extra moisture....

Continue reading "Recycling Rain" featured on the Yard Fairy Landscaping Website!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Contemporary Sustainable Private Landscapes

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:56:00 +0000

Day Three of the Pacific Horticulture Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VII: Lessons in Sustainable Gardening, in Santa Barbara.

We visited four private gardens today, designed by local landscape architects and designers, including Isabelle Greene (great grand daughter of Henry Maher Green, and great grandniece of Charles Sumner Greene), Puck Erikson, Sydney Baumgartner, and Lynn Marie Woodbury.

In the first garden we met Isabelle Greene and saw the very beautiful garden there that used a series of swales to collect rainwater from both the garden and the roof of the house. The swales collect the water from around the property and help slow its passage down so that the soil can be recharged. The lawn was planted using Carex praegracilis, which is much more drought tolerant and slow growing than regular turf grass...

Continue reading the rest on The Yard Fairy Website.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Lotusland, Santa Barbara Botanical Garden and Casa Nueva

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:06:00 +0000

Day Two of the Pacific Horticulture Symposium, Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VII: Lessons in Sustainable Gardening.

The day started with two really interesting, challenging and though provoking lectures on sustainability. Pamela Berstler was a lively speaker who asked us to push the envelope in our thinking about landscaping. She challenged the magazine ideal of a perfect back yard, and showed pictures of her own work that she felt "disappointed in" because of its lack of sustainability. Bernard Trainor's lecture was entitled 'Ecological Design - Connecting with the Place' and he showed pictures of his work that were truly stunning. He talked about the time taken to really get a sense of the natural place of a site, using a range of tools including satellite images to see the natural geography. His projects were larger and at 'drop dead' locations, but he showed how native vegetation and the use of native stone can really make a landscape blend into the natural landscape... click to read the rest of this article on our website.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Wine Country Tour - Santa Ynez Valley

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:27:00 +0000

My first day at the Pacific Horticulture Symposium, Gardening Under Mediterranean Skies VII: Lessons in Sustainable Gardening, in Santa Barbara. We visited Santa Ynez Valley Historical Museum followed by visits to two private gardens, and three vineyards - Buttonwood Farm, Alma Rosa Winery & Vineyards, and Lafond Winery. Saw some beautiful plants and gardens. Drank some great wines. Met some awesome people - Puck Erikson, Patrick Anderson, Barbara Paul, Pat Brodie and many others. Having lots of fun.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Unusual Objects In The Garden

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:23:00 +0000

I like to use unusual objects in the garden to break up the appearance of fences or walls. They don't have to be expensive items - I usually find mine at discount stores. We are very fortunate in San Diego to have the kind of weather that is fairly kind to things left outside. As long as you realize that its not going to last forever, and that over time the color will fade, there is a lot of enjoyment to be had from inexpensive and uncommon items. In harsher climates you could always protect the item with a coat of spray-on acrylic sealer.

Mixing these items with plant material gives interest and depth to the items. For vertical surfaces I like to use vines such as Bougainvillea, Jasminum, or trumpet vine (Campsis radicans).

These wings caught my eye last spring - a Yard Fairy has to have a pair of wings - and I paired them with an old gold picture frame. Simply attaching them to the fence it now creates an eye catching focal point from one of the windows in our dining room.

Lose that lawn

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:45:00 +0000

These before and after photographs of a California friendly woodland style front yard setting went from same-old lawn and tree to raised planter areas and low water color. The latest set of pictures were taken in 2009, two years after installation. What a wonderful transformation.

Worms - nature's recyclers

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:37:00 +0000

In her recent post about recycling, my good Twitter, Facebook and Farm Ville buddy, Jenn Hammer, over at Recycling Gardener, got me thinking about the recycling we do when we're working on client's yards. We recycle the pots we use at The Yard Fairy by returning them to the nursery, we recycle our green waste by separating it out from the general trash, and we re-use materials of all kinds as much as we can (here's a picture of our recycled concrete retaining wall). It's really important for any landscaping business to take care to minimize the waste it produces; it's part of respect for the land, and it shows that we care.

But what about in my own yard? Well, we have a worm composter and we recycle all our kitchen waste and our junk mail. Yes, junk mail. We seem to get a lot of that - do you? Here's how we do it.

First we take the ingredients. The kitchen waste is our fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, kitchen roll (so long as it doesn't have cleaning materials or fat on it), in fact most everything but meat and fish We try to avoid citrus (too acid) too. We have a compost pail by our kitchen sink that is great for collecting it all in....

Continue reading "Worms: Nature's Recyclers," posted on The Yard Fairy's Website!

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

SoCal Water$mart Update: Regionwide Program Re-launch September 21, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:41:00 +0000

News Just In:
"We are pleased to announce that Metropolitan Water District’s SoCal
Water$mart residential water efficiency rebate program WILL RE-LAUNCH ON A
REGION-WIDE BASIS ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2009, beginning at 9:00 a.m. At that
time, rebates will be available for a limited time to all residential
customers of participating water agencies within the Metropolitan Water
District service area. (Residential water customers are those living in
houses or apartments, townhomes, condominiums or mobile home complexes with
less than five dwellings that are not represented by a homeowners
association or property management company.)

Upon re-launch, THE PROGRAM WILL NO LONGER REQUIRE REBATE RESERVATIONS for
qualifying product purchases. Rebate applications for purchases made on or
after September 21 may be submitted by mail or via the program website.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING KEY PROGRAM CHANGES:

- Program period is from September 21, 2009 through May 31, 2010, or until
funds are depleted (whichever comes first).
- As stated above, rebate reservations will no longer be required; mail-in
or online applications will be accepted starting September 21, 2009.
- PURCHASES MADE PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 21, 2009 ARE INELIGIBLE FOR REGION-WIDE
REBATES.
- Rebate checks will be issued only to the residential water customer
directly.
- Customers of participating water agencies that are offering funds during
the current interim period may continue to reserve rebates through the
SoCal Water$mart program through September 18 at 5:00 p.m.

As noted above and with the previous program period, funding for the new
fiscal year is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. We are
committed to providing effective program support for your high-efficiency
products and will keep you apprised of the program status throughout the
year. In addition, we will work with you to create opportunities for
collaborative promotional efforts.

PRODUCT COVERAGE AND REBATE AMOUNT CHANGES:

We are updating program materials and will be supplying the retail network
with rebate applications and point of purchase marketing materials. Any
retailers, distributors, or contractor groups interested in setting up
program training may submit an email request to
contractor@socalwatersmart.com.

REBATE AMOUNT CHANGES:
- High-efficiency clothes washers (4.0 Water Factor or less): $50 (Please
note the change in the clothes washer requirement from WF 5.0 to WF 4.0 as
of July 1, 2009.)
- High-efficiency toilets (WaterSense qualified, 1.28 gpf or less): $50
- Weather-Based Irrigation Controllers (Smart Water Application
Technologies™ or “SWAT” tested; add-on devices are not rebated)
-- (<1 acre): $80
-- (1+ acre): $25/station
- Rotary nozzles, new requirement to include pressure regulating heads:
$4/nozzle
- Synthetic turf: $0.60/sq ft (not available in all areas as local water
agencies must now match funds and retrofitted area must be less than ½
acre; check the website for details)

As always, local water agencies have the option to add funding and increase
rebate amounts for their customers. Agency funding updates will be provided
on a monthly basis.

If you have any questions, please visit the program website at:
www.bewaterwise.com or call the SoCal Water$mart hotline at: 888-376-3314.
We look forward to working with you!

Sincerely,

The SoCal Water$mart team"

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Small Tree Choices for San Diego County

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:09:00 +0000

During my visits to clients throughout San Diego county, I am often asked about tree choices. My personal view is that planting a tree that will ultimately be too large for a space is wrong. Many justify it to themselves by saying 'We will be long gone by the time its a problem'. Others plant trees that grow to be giants because they just dont know how big its ultimately going to get. At The Yard Fairy we size our trees (and plants) according to the space you have in your yard. By drawing up your yard on paper, we can see exactly if something is going to fit.

Chinese Redbud or Cercis chinensis
Covered in green glossy leaves with pink or violet flowers
Can grow up to 20 feet tall and 15 wide if allowed
Does shed leaves for fall
Rather low maintenance
Prefers partial shade or full sun

Crape Myrtle or Lagerstroemia hybrids
Many different types
Deciduous tree, loses leaves in fall
Have hybrids that are resistant to many diseases.
Narrow trees that can grow to 25 feet tall and 12 feet wide

Lemon Bottlebrush or Callistemon citrinus
Can grow up to 20-25 feet
Has bright green leaves, flowers are bright red ‘brushes’ with gold tips
Available in Multi
Tolerant to heat and needs little water
Evergreen tree, does not shed leaves for fall

Mexican Redbud or Cercis canadensis mexicana
Can grow to 15 feet tall
Has glossy green leaves that slightly curl
Flowers can range from red to pink
Needs full sun, and fairly drought tolerant
Deciduous tree, will shed leaves for fall
Photo by Natalia Banaszczyk ->

Peppermint Willow or Agonis flexuosa
Can grow up to 25-35 feet tall and 15-30 feet wide
Has lance-shaped leaves and white flowers
Fragrant evergreen that won’t shed leaves for winter
Drought and heat resistant

Pineapple Guava or Feijoa sellowiana (Acca sellowiana)
Can grow up to 18-25 feet tall and wide
Has flowers that are red with yellow tips, and gives green fruit
Has moderate tolerance to temperatures within 80-80 degrees
Evergreen tree with glossy leaves, does not shed for winter

Purple Orchid Tree or Bauhinia veriegata
Can grow up to 25-30 feet tall and wide
Deciduous tree that sheds leaves for the winter
Has leaves that look like a cow’s hoof and orchids for flowers
Needs full sun and is picky about soil pH
Has a blooming period of late winter to early summer

Smoke Tree or Cotinus coggygria
Is also called ‘Purpreus’ or ‘Atropurpurea’
Can grow to 12-15 feet wide and tall, in some cases even 25 feet
Has flowers that cluster together to look like smoke
Has oval shaped, dark purple leaves that turn red in fall
Prefers full sun to partial shade

Strawberry Tree or Arbutus unedo
Is also called ‘Compacta’
Can grow up to 10 feet tall and wide, but seldom over
Is a evergreen shrub with white flowers and red drupe fruit
Prefers partial shade and does well in dry climates
Does not produce strawberries

Western Redbud or Cercis occidentalis
Can grow up to 10-18 feet wide and tall
Is a deciduous shrub or small tree
Has violet flowers and edible fruits
Tolerant of lime or acidic soils

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Lawn Looking Stressed? Try the short run times tip

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:05:00 +0000

Here's a tip from a good friend of mine, and fellow CLCA board member, Steve Jacobs, who runs Nature Designs. I just wanted to share this with you as it is great advice for our current drought conditions:

"I have noticed many homeowners with stressed lawns after implementing the required 10 minutes, 3 times per week watering schedule. I thought this was odd and found that the homeowners were using only one start time (watering 10 minutes in one cycle). I advised them to use 3 start times for 3 minutes each to minimize runoff and make better use of the water for the lawn and not the gutter. "

Here at The Yard Fairy, we love to install the new generation of 'Smart' irrigation controllers such as the Weathermatic Smartline. These controllers will automatically break up the run times, based on the type of soil you have - shorter run times for clay soil, longer ones for sandy soil.

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.

Support New California Greywater Code with Us!

noreply@blogger.com (Diane Downey) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:11:00 +0000

California Greywater Laws Are in Review - Support the New, Less Restrictive Code in your Local Jurisdiction

August 24, 2009

The Building Standards Commission recently voted to pass the new California greywater code (Chapter 16 in the CA Plumbing Code) which will allow residents to dispel washing machine and shower greywater into their landscapes without needing a permit.

The new greywater irrigation code took effect on August 4, 2009, as a response to growing concerns over severe drought conditions and water shortages in our area. The Yard Fairy is in support of this new, less stringent code and encourages you to speak out in your community in favor of the changes.

Here is a summary of the new greywater code (as it's written now):

A permit will no longer be needed for a washing machine greywater system as long as the system follows health and safety guidelines outlined in the code
A permit will no longer be needed for a single fixture (one shower) if guidelines are followed
A simple, mulch drainage basin is now a permissible form of greywater filtration
There are less requirements for "simple" greywater drainage systems than there were before
Acceptable depth of greywater discharge is now 2" under mulch (it was formerly 9" under dirt)

Continue reading "California Greywater Laws in Review"

Diane E Downey is the owner of The Yard Fairy Inc, a North San Diego County based award winning landscape design and installation company creating low water, low maintenance landscapes that are as functional as they are pleasing to the eye. To arrange your consultation with The Yard Fairy, please call 760-814-1266 or email info at yardfairy.com today.