Inspiration -- and tips -- for drought gardening

Ripping up the lawn is the single best way to save water, but doing that can take weeks, if not months, of consideration and planning.

Paula Weaver and her husband, Jay, have always gardened, even when they lived in an apartment and everything grew in pots.

Drought-tolerant doesn’t have to mean dull.

As the botanical information consultant at the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanical Garden, Frank McDonough says it’s his job to introduce people to a variety of plants and solve their gardening dilemmas.

Many Californians appear to be taking up Gov.

When Yvonne Savio switched one basic criterion in the selection process for applicants to the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program in 2001, the results were impressive.

After years of addressing drought conditions, Californian gardeners and landscape designers have become adept at pulling out lawns and installing low-water alternatives.

For Jeffrey and Linda Glaser, getting rid of their Beverlywood front lawn was a no-brainer.

Spring serves as a reminder of what is possible in the garden.

Years of drought have made a mark on Southern California in many ways: We’ve got shorter showers, rising prices for produce and cocktail party rants over the madness of obscure water districts.

Eight years ago, Kathy and Andrew Russell’s frontyard was like many of the gardens in their Brentwood neighborhood — monopolized by grass.

Turfgrass experts agree that warm-season types, which need 20% less water than cool-season grasses, are the best bet for California’s drought conditions.

With the start of summer and more hot weather on the horizon, home gardeners in drought-stricken Southern California face a challenge: How to keep landscapes looking good while cutting back on water use.

While dutiful homeowners have been severely limiting — or ceasing — the watering of their lawns and gardens to comply with drought restrictions, one potential fallout is sometimes overlooked: the health of the residential tree canopy.

Peg Rahn loves her Sierra Madre garden but is taking the drought — and the city’s mandate to reduce water consumption by 30% — seriously.

Landscaping with California native plants has probably never been more compelling than it is today, when gardeners throughout Southern California are taking drastic measures to keep their yards looking green or, at the very least, alive.

You don’t have to plant succulents in the ground to provide drama at home.

Drought-tolerant trees: Grevillea, an Australian protea relative Jose Manzo, manager of Seaside Gardens Nursery in Carpinteria, is a big proponent of Mediterranean-zoned trees, shrubs and perennials, which are less thirsty than other non-natives or exotic plants.

It is perhaps both a blessing and a curse that Southern California has so many natural gifts — a blissfully temperate climate and accommodating soils — to offer the gardener.

Mandatory water restrictions may be prompting gardeners to have second thoughts about their thirsty gardens and lawns, but for the homeowners in the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase on April 25, water conservation is a way of life.

Descanso Gardens’ new Center Circle Garden, which opened Friday in La Cañada Flintridge, proves that water-wise gardens can be high on beauty while low on water and maintenance.

For Southern California gardeners, March is a month of wistful promise.

It’s fall. Have you hugged your hugel today?

How to tackle fall planting in Southern California during the third straight year of drought and the diminishing likelihood of El Niño storms this winter?

The perennial rose, symbolic of romance and luxury, is beloved of Southern California gardening buffs who like a front yard stacked with rose bushes.

With summer heat and deepening drought upon us, the stringent outdoor watering restrictions adopted July 15 by the State Water Resources Control Board present many homeowners with a conundrum: how to keep their landscaping alive while staying compliant.

Home gardeners in drought-stricken Southern California face a challenge: How to keep landscapes looking good while cutting back on water use.