A CLOSER LOOK: NICK VOINOV
Plants used: Acorn Peperomia (Peperomia tetraphylla), Kiwi Haworth Aeonium (Aeonium haworthii ‘Kiwi’), Aeonium Sunburst (Aeonium haworthii ‘Sunburst’), Aeonium Zwartkop (Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’), Aloe Vera “Medicinal” (Aloe barbadensis miller), calico kitten
(Crassula pellucida ‘Variegata’), coast buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium), foxtail agave (Agave attenuata), yellow gazania (Gazania rigens), ghost plant (Graptopetalum paraguayense), string of hearts (Ceropegia woodii variegata), silver dollar jade (Crassula arboresens), jade necklace (Crassula marnieriana), lucky plant (Crassula ovata ‘Gollum’), string of buttons (Crassula perforata), lipstick echeveria
(Echeveria agavoides ‘Lipstick’), Echeveria ‘Perle von Nürnberg’ (Echeveria gibbiflora‘Metallica’ × E. elegans), black hens and chicks
(Echeveria ‘Black Prince’), Mexican snowball (Echeveria elegans), blue rose (Echeveria ‘Imbricata’), California Sunset succulent (Graptosedum ‘California Sunset’), Fred Ives succulent (Graptoveria ‘Fred Ives’), pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata), tree aeonium (Aeonium arboreum), golden sedum (Sedum adolphii), burro’s tail
(Sedum morganianum), Caribbean copper tree
(Euphorbia cotinifolia), Melaleuca tree
(Melaleuca quinquenervia)
Estimated costs: $75 to $100 a year
Who did the work: Nick Voinov
How long it took: Over 20 years
Water savings: Due to the number of years since the project first started, the change in water costs over that time, and the change in Voinov’s family, it’s difficult to estimate. However, according to Helix Water District, their water use is far less than other local properties of that size.
ADVICE
• Have fun finding ways to beautify your garden. Sit in the garden and see where you can save or collect water.
• Go with succulents, especially in San Diego. If you have a neighbor growing them, see how large they get; you may think they not going to overtake other plants, but they do.
• Get ideas from your neighbor’s gardens. • Don’t just stand in front of your garden to get a sense of how it will look. Get a view from different parts of your garden. Wherever I look, I want it to look nice.
• Also look at your garden at different times of the day to learn how the sun will highlight plants and create unexpected focal points throughout the year.
• Establish tall plants in the back and then taper down with shorter plants to create a sense of slope.
• Gardening is trial and error. There’s nothing wrong with trying something and fixing it if it doesn’t work out.
• Plants definitely have natural companions — both in terms of needing the same growing conditions and how they look near one another. Pay attention to that. • Keep biodiversity in mind if you want to attract birds, bees and butterflies.
• Take advantage of how easy it is to propagate succulents. You can take a leaf or stem from a plant and put it in soil for a while before transplanting it in the ground.