A closer look: Tim and Brianna Montgomery

Plants used: willow tree

Nursery plants.

Advice: in.

• your plants.

•

• needs. ‘Sunset’ manzanita, ‘Becky’ shasta daisies, orchid rockrose, Santa Barbara daisies, Penstemon ‘Margarita BOP,’ English lavender ‘Munstead,’ blue fescue, Rosemary ‘Prostratus,’ Rosemary ‘Boule,’ ‘Santa Barbara’ dwarf Mexican bush sage, Dymondia, fruitless olive tree, desert

Estimated costs and any rebates: $10,000 to

$15,000 and the couple received a $250 gift certificate to the nursery of their choice, which was City Farmers

Who did the work:

David Clarke (David

Clarke Design) helped with the yard design and final plant palette.

The grading was done by Rick Pinnick, who owns a commercial grading company,

Pinnick Inc. He also brought in boulders and cobblestone rock.

Neighborhood handymen did the hardscape, irrigation and lighting.

The homeowners did the rest. They picked out and sourced all the plants, did the finishing grading by hand, prepared the soil and planted the small

How long it took:

Water savings:

using 10 to 13.

compost mulch.

The

Montgomerys spent a year taking water-wise garden tours and looking at different landscapes and plants they liked before contacting

Clarke to start the design. They first met with him in September 2018 and finished the planting in May 2019.

When they were consistently watering the front lawn, they used 25 to 30 units of water per billing cycle. Now they are

Be involved as much as you can with the process and have fun with it. At the end of the day, it’s your yard to enjoy, so make it a space you connect with and want to spend time

Get your soil tested to learn what extra nutrients you should add to

Keep up on the mulch to keep weeds from growing. The Montgomerys actively remulch every six months, using City Farmers’

Group plants that have similar watering