This picture is not the 'before' picture. The before picture was 1 1/2 acres of weeds and Veldt Grass. This is the right -after -planting -the little -specks(1 gallon pots) picture. The "specks" are planted on the slope in front of the house. Weeds have been killed(this is a practical environmentalist) and the area mulched with chips from dead pine trees, eucalyptus, and oak prunings. The owner did all the work himself and the total cost was around $2000.00

The second picture was taken seven years later. The tree in the foreground is a sycamore and most of the groundcover is Lompoc Manzanita '. This garden requires almost no watering(the dust does occasionally get washed off) and very little care. I asked the owner how many hours per year he spends on the care of this one acre+ planting, and his response was, "I putter; there is no care." The soil in this garden is mostly beach sand.

fuchsia flowering gooseberry, flowering.

They have their own private forest! Here's Big Cone Spruce.

Owl'swood blue ceanothus. (In this case it might be Als' wood Blue.)

You can harvest your own Uvas-ursi if you wish. (Great tea!)

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