Low-water Landscape

New Front Yard Plant List

Looking for attractive, low-water, regionally appropriate plants for your front yard landscape? Consider incorporating some of the of 40 plants selected by our Director of Public Horticulture Ellen Zagory. The list is what she calls the "New Front Yard" plant list.

DOWNLOAD THE LIST

7 tips for landscape survival during drought

With water reserves at all-time lows, water rates reaching all-time highs, and severe water rationing on the horizon, representatives from the staff at the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden compiled some quick tips for homeowners whose goal is to save water as well as their landscapes.

Oak grove meadow conversion update 10.25.12

The mix of meadow grasses planted last year to replace a high-maintenance, high-water lawn west of the Peter J. Shields Oak Grove continues to thrive. See photo below. (Capturing the majestic oaks before they lose their leaves also helps highlight the dramatic makeover!)

Shields Oak Grove meadow: prepped and seeded

Last week the UC Davis Public Garden team put the finishing touches on the campus’s first landscape conversion project — the Shields Oak Grove Meadow. Congratulations to everyone involved in this team effort and to project manager Andrew Fulks, Director of the UC Davis Putah Creek Riparian Reserve!

La Rue Road median conversion: grass removal

This pilot project is already well on its way to completion thanks to a collaborative group of Public Garden team members including Andrew Fulks, Director of the Riparian Reserve. who is serving as project manager for this conversion effort. Dave Klippert and his Civil and Industrial Services team are now preparing the space for its sustainable, low-maintenance landscape by removing the grass and hauling the extra dirt away so that Matt Forrest’s team from Grounds and Landscape Services can retrofit the irrigation from sprinklers to drip.