From 5,000 ft. of dead lawn to 115 low-water plants
In just 6 months Dave turned a massive patchy half-dead lawn into a vibrant living sanctuary. "We just love it. Everyday I sit here and look out this window and revel in the color that’s unfolding." His next project? The herbal garden backyard.
Before & After: 5 California Yard Makeovers on a Budget
See how these 5 yard owners revamped their landscapes into an inspiring oasis on a budget. Installing a curated designed-for-drought plant set doesn't necessarily come without extra prep work. It can take real elbow grease to reinvigorate a dead lawn or depleted landscape. But man, once their in, do these yards grow fast! And deliver some seriously happy customers.
Whether you want to up the curb appeal on an accent bed or redo the whole darn yard, here's a few stories to inspire. On how average home owners got their bare dirt covered without breaking the bank.
From Weeds to Wildflowers
This was Roshin & Wyatt's first front yard. After years of awesome apartments, they were excited to renovate their new home's gravel-and-weed front yard. They dreamed up a beautiful escape zone that featured a bocce ball court, lots of succulents and a native wildflower garden. But there didn't seem to be a lot of options out there that fit within their budget. Or their desire for zero maintenance.
Then a mutual friend told them about California Wild Gardens, and within a month they had picked out 2 large designs, gotten their plans customized (mostly for the large bocce ball court shown in images of the Xeric Modern plant package) and were ready for install. They were most excited about the blossoming flower garden of drought-tolerant California natives. This "was a super fast and cost-effective way to landscape with native plants," says Roshin.
Once covered in weeds and thick gravel their front yard is now a native wildflower garden. After removing some of the excess stones, they hired a crew and had their new yard installed in a weekend thanks to CWG's pre-done design plans and online plant ordering service.
Superbloom Selfie
2 yrs. old - Pasadena, California - Winter Install - Standard Design Plan
When drought restrictions hit their yard's first summer, their plants were already 4 months old, established and ready for a restricted irrigation schedule. At about 1-year of age the garden's reached %80 fill-in. The poppies, yarrow & blue-eyed grasses continue to self-sow more each spring. And every once in awhile they add an extra sage or grass to finish the look.
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Birder's Front Yard Fix - "it's unbelievable"
Dave had a big yard. 7,000 sq.ft. of grass to replace in the front alone. “It was drab. Dead grass. It was patchy, and would grow inconsistently. All I had was a push mower. So I’d be out here for 3 hours in the sun going back and forth, it was just ugly... And if I didn't mow, it looked abandoned.” He tackled about 4,000 of it with 2 double-spaced California Wild plant packages.How'd Dave do it? He got a turf replacement rebate from the county of San Diego and - due to the scale - was required to take 3 one-hour landscaping classes to get his $10,000 rebate (one class on design, one on irrigation and one on maintenance). “I don’t know how we found this program through the county but we did and we enrolled and we’re just like 'well let’s try just taking [the grass] out' and put something in that doesn’t require a lot of maintenance, something that’s attractive to look at, something that maybe looks a little more natural, a part of the local landscape.” The rebate paid for the plants, professional planting and all the new irrigation. But he and his helping hand still had to put a fair amount of money - and a lot of hard work - into materials. Enough for 4,000 sf of bark mulch and 7,000 sf of landscape fabric which they used to snuff out the lawn.
Before & After: Blossom 365 & Royal Californian
6 months old - Escondido, California - Fall Install
From Patchy Grass to Curb Appeal Classic
The lawn had a big dead spot in it that just wouldn't go away. Between the full winter shade & the baking summer heat, the garden closest to the house was struggling. After some cosmetic improvements on the entry, the home owner was ready to improve the planting too. And cut out the lawn that just wasn't surviving. She was looking for something "soft and soothing without a lot of busy colors." And she was looking for something that felt calm, cool and relaxed.Before & After: Soft Tuscan
1.5 Yr Old - Pasadena, California - Winter Install
The plants were delivered and professionally installed by a local landscaper in less than a week. With a total budget of $5,500 (not including a new brick walkway). This cost provided for a lot of soil amendments, disposal fees for the bulky old concrete edging and install of new drip irrigation. Making a dought-tolerant garden and haven for pollinators.
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Backyard Bounty - California Orchard Made Easy
Kaitlyn was one of California Wild's first customers. She had a few thousand sq.ft. of dead lawn and a somes old structures she wanted to plant her own little produce-aisle orchard around. California Wild Garden's "designs make it easy," she says. They love their yard. "We've gotten quit a few apples and persimmons and the nectarines are insanely good!...apriums and plums [are] so yummy right off the tree!" She added raised vegetable gardens to the center of the space and a chicken coop off to one side to complete the micro-farm. Lots of little pathways make it a fun backyard for her 2 young kids to play.Before & After: Old School Orchard
2 mos old / 4 yrs old - Santa Ana, California - Spring Install
Affordable Lawn Replacement with California Native Plants
Richard was done with the lawn and ordered a customized California Wild Gardens plan to apply for a rebate. "The front yard was just kind of a burden. An eyesore that we knew we didn’t want to invest any time in." They were ready for something different, colorful and low water. Richard and his family did their entire install themselves. By sheet mulching the frontyard they managed to complete the whole project with about $1,500.The Los Angeles turf replacement rebate covered the cost of the plants, the design fee and a good amount of the materials. "I enjoyed taking part in the planting," says Richard, "If we could've hired someone for the sheet mulching part that would've been ideal, we got like 10 yards of mulch," it was A LOT of work. But now they get to enjoy seeing something new blooming everyday. And get a lot of comments from the neighbors. They do very little maintenance and water deeply once a week (with an inground soaker hose line).
Before & After: Royal Californian
1.5 yrs old - Burbank, California - Fall Install
So, what's in store for your frontyard? Checkout our gallery below to see more examples of how our curated drought-tolerant, California native and edible plant sets fill in.
LEARN MORE ABOUT...
Schedule your delivery at checkout. We do our best to provide a 3-4 business day turn around but some exceptions apply (due to daily fluctuations in grower availability). Weekday delivery only.
You must be home to receive delivery. Or have a professional onsite to receive the order. You or your installer is expected to assist with moving plant material to a safe location (off the truck's loading dock and/or curb side). Trucks are large, if your site has access issues caused by a narrow driveway, lack of turn around or unusual steepness, a drop point may be utilized.
DELIVERY ETA'S: 2-hour delivery windows are provided the afternoon before wherever possible. Plant drops typically occur within the hours of 6:30 AM -2:30 PM
Once you've decided on your plant pack or lawn it's time to plan your install. We do not offer install services at this time.
Decide whether to DIY or hire a crew. Plants ideally go in the ground within 48 hours of arrival (for DIY'ers plants can safely be stored up to 2 weeks in spring and fall if placed in part-shade, watered regularly and temps are reasonable).
AVERAGE PLANTING TIMES
Small (30-50 1g) Solo: 5-10 hours / With Help: 2-3 hours
Medium (45-75 1g-5g) Solo: 2-3 days / With Help: 5-6 hours
Large (65-115 1g-15g) Solo: 2-3 weekends / With Help: 2-3 days
Xlarge (100+) Solo: 3-4 weekends / With Help: 3-5 days
A professional gardener team or install crew will make quick work of even a large order. If you're working solo, try enlisting family or friends to get it done in a weekend with the lure of a juicy barbecue or catered get-together after.
Our packages are designed for full rapid coverage. For larger applications and turf rebate projects plant spacings can easily be doubled. As long as ground is adequately mulched. Large packages include a central patio or access walkway in the design.
SMALL: Covers 150 sq.ft. / 30- 50 Total Plants (25-35 x 4" - 1 gallon plants / 3-5 x 5 gallon plants). Grows to 3-5' high.
MEDIUM: Covers 300 sq.ft. / 40-75 Total Plants (30-60 x 4" to 1 gallons / 6-15 x 5 gallons). Grows to 5-7' high.
LARGE : Covers 500-700 sq.ft. / 60-120 Total Plants (50-100 x 4" to 1 gallons / 7-15 x 5 gallons / 3-8 x 15 gallons). Grows to 5-25' high.
Why so much variation? Every package is a little different. Some mostly feature plants that grow 1-3 feet in size and others have lots of shrubs that grow 5-10 feet. i.e. Superbloom Selfie has the most total plants (primarily grasses and small flowers). Natural Lilac has the least (many large shrubs that grow best when started small). Substitutions: 1-3 species in many designs (especially native ones) may be automatically substituted due to the HUGE daily fluctuations of local grower availability. You get to approve any swaps. Or let us know if you'd rather have more of something else. You can also substitute up to 2 species by request free of charge.
Grass & shrub centric gardens fill-in around %85 in as little as 1 year (even 6 months if planted in earliest spring). Shade gardens or those with more trees and spreading natives take 2-3 years to reach maturity. Some natives are slower to set root but take off FAST after apparently doing nothing the 1st year. New trees can often take 3-5 years to take on their desired architecture (contact us to special order large specimens)
