Plants
The plant palette.
Thirty plants that have survived our test beds and a decade of client gardens in this valley. We rarely plant outside this list, and when we do, we tell you why.
Why a short list
A nursery has four thousand plants. About thirty of them want to live here without being nursed.
Every plant below has gone through at least two summers in the test beds behind our shop and at least three years in a client garden. Water ratings are for an established plant, after the second summer. Sizes are what the plant reaches in ten years in Los Gatos soil, not what the tag says.
Water: none means no summer irrigation once established. Very low is once a month. Low is every two weeks. Moderate is weekly.
The thirty
Sun, water, and how big it gets.
| Plant | Sun | Water | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trees | |||
| Coast live oakQuercus agrifolia | Full | None | 40 x 50 ft |
| Olive, fruitlessOlea europaea 'Swan Hill' | Full | Very low | 25 x 25 ft |
| Western redbudCercis occidentalis | Full to part | Very low | 15 x 15 ft |
| Strawberry treeArbutus 'Marina' | Full | Low | 25 x 20 ft |
| Japanese mapleAcer palmatum | Part shade | Moderate | 15 x 15 ft |
| California bayUmbellularia californica | Full to part | Very low | 30 x 30 ft |
| Shrubs | |||
| ManzanitaArctostaphylos 'Howard McMinn' | Full | Very low | 6 x 7 ft |
| CeanothusCeanothus 'Ray Hartman' | Full | Very low | 15 x 15 ft |
| ToyonHeteromeles arbutifolia | Full to part | Very low | 10 x 8 ft |
| CoffeeberryFrangula californica 'Eve Case' | Full to shade | Very low | 6 x 6 ft |
| Rosemary, uprightSalvia rosmarinus 'Tuscan Blue' | Full | Very low | 6 x 4 ft |
| LavenderLavandula x intermedia 'Provence' | Full | Low | 3 x 3 ft |
| WestringiaWestringia fruticosa 'Wynyabbie Gem' | Full | Low | 5 x 5 ft |
| Pittosporum, dwarfPittosporum tobira 'Wheeler's Dwarf' | Full to part | Low | 3 x 4 ft |
| Perennials and grasses | |||
| Deer grassMuhlenbergia rigens | Full | Low | 4 x 4 ft |
| Cleveland sageSalvia clevelandii | Full | Very low | 4 x 5 ft |
| Hummingbird sageSalvia spathacea | Part shade | Low | 2 x 3 ft |
| Autumn sageSalvia greggii | Full | Low | 3 x 3 ft |
| Pacific Coast irisIris douglasiana hybrids | Part shade | Low | 1 x 2 ft |
| YarrowAchillea millefolium | Full | Low | 2 x 2 ft |
| California fuchsiaEpilobium canum | Full | Very low | 2 x 3 ft |
| Blue fescueFestuca idahoensis | Full | Low | 1 x 1 ft |
| HelleboreHelleborus x hybridus | Shade | Moderate | 1.5 x 2 ft |
| Giant feather grassStipa gigantea | Full | Low | 6 x 3 ft |
| Succulents and groundcovers | |||
| Blue agaveAgave americana | Full | None | 6 x 8 ft |
| Foxtail agaveAgave attenuata | Part shade | Very low | 4 x 5 ft |
| Creeping thymeThymus serpyllum | Full | Low | 3 in x 2 ft |
| DymondiaDymondia margaretae | Full | Very low | 2 in x 3 ft |
| Carmel creeperCeanothus griseus horizontalis | Full | Very low | 2 x 8 ft |
| Bearberry manzanitaArctostaphylos uva-ursi | Full to part | Very low | 1 x 6 ft |
How we use it
Few kinds, many of each.
A typical 5,000 square foot garden uses twelve to fifteen plants from this list, planted in drifts of five to twenty. One kind of grass repeated forty times reads as calm. Fifteen kinds planted once each reads as a nursery.
- Trees first, for shade and the night view. Usually two or three.
- Shrubs for structure, placed so they never need shearing to fit.
- Perennials and grasses in drifts, for movement and the hummingbirds.
- Groundcovers in the joints and on the slopes, instead of mulch alone.
Thirty plants from this list grow in real dirt in the beds behind our shop on Los Gatos Boulevard. Come stand in front of them before you pick.