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Meadow Garden in Palo Alto: Native Fescue Replaces Traditional Lawn

Jenny and Toby Gottheiner's suburban backyard breaks the mold. Landscape architect Bob Cleaver replaced the lawn with a meadow of native creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra) behind a Napa stone seat wall.

Low-maintenance grass adds contours to the flat lot.
Spring: naturalized yellow trumpet daffodils pop up at meadow edges.
Dining area paved with decomposed granite.
Surrounding plants: native Californian and Mediterranean-climate trees, shrubs, groundcovers (ceanothus, miscanthus, coral bells, 'Apricot Queen' flax, Phlomis, roses, silver spear).
Teucrium cossonii majoricum and Euphorbia myrsinites sprawl at seat wall base.

"The garden is a study in color, texture, and form," says Cleaver. Richard Sullivan (Enchanting Planting, Orinda) collaborated on the plant palette.

Landscaping: Pre-Emergent Herbicides for Vegetable Gardens: Treflan vs. Dimension and Why Roundup Won't Stop Seeds; Step-by-Step Fall Garden Soil Preparation for Unimproved Ground; Converting a Bermuda Grass Lawn to a Garden Bed: The Right Way; Starting a Garden with Flowers, Rock Bed, and Waterfall: Read Books First, Then Plan; Starting an Organic Garden Over Existing Grass; Grass Invasion in Garden Beds: Organic Suppression Methods; Organic Mulching: Free Resources from Your Own Yard; Mulching Mastery: Free Resources, Techniques, and Benefits; Ornamental Grass Seed: Color, Texture & Climate Matches for Every Garden; Grass Clippings as Mulch: Safe After Pre-Emergent If Watered In

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