Xeriscape

It's fashionable in S. California to install a water free garden. It's called xeroscaping. At our house in Baldwin Lake our garden is just so.  It receives no water that doesn't come directly from above.

The Xeroscape Garden

When the house was put in six years ago, the soil was very barren and bare so I laid down thick plastic sheeting and a two-inch layer of D and G, which is ground granite. It was fine for some time, but three years in some weeds began to poke through.  This year it has been quite a fight to pull all these little buggers out.  Four bags worth!  But now we can look forward, I hope, to a trouble free summer.
Outside the xeroscaped area, things are left to go free.  That is until our friendly Mexican, Rojelio, comes along and clears the lot for fire space in July.  The strength of nature is quite amazing.