Water-hungry lawns are symbols of Los Angeles’ past. In this series, we spotlight yards with alternative, low-water landscaping built for the future.
When Christopher Smee welcomes visitors to his Glendale garden, he enjoys giving what his friends jokingly call “the botanical tour.”
“Would you like to walk through the native chaparral?” he asks, pointing out the California native plants in his front yard: a multi-trunk toyon, bright orange California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), lantern-shaped Bladderpod (Cleomella arborea) with yellow flowers that bloom most of the year, purple Arroyo lupines (Lupinus succulentus), fragrant Allen Chickering Sage (Salvia ‘Allen Chickering’), and tall, silvery white sage (Salvia apiana) at the center.
“I love the majesty and structure of the white sage,” he says, pointing out the dried branches he leaves for the birds. “I love the color, and when I learned about its importance to the Indigenous community, I felt it should be at the center of the garden.”
Like many newcomers to Los Angeles, Smee, a 45-year-old former flight attendant, was fascinated by the city’s landscape and its famous palm trees when he first moved from England.
As he spent more time hiking outdoors in Los Angeles, on the Mount Thom trail in the Verdugo Mountains and the Pacific Crest Trail in the San Bernardino Mountains, Smee started to appreciate the native plants that thrive in Southern California’s dry climate.
So when Smee and his husband, Ryan Tish, bought a 1925 French-style home in the Rossmoyne Historic District, he knew he wanted to redesign the traditional front yard.
“There was a privet hedge, a lonely juniper, a hibiscus, a large bird of paradise and a camellia bush,” he says. “The lawn was mostly dirt. In fact, it had been colored green with CGI in the online real estate listing.”
A native of Newcastle Upon Tyne, where English gardens are as beloved as football teams, Smee found the Glendale front yard’s layout off-putting. “You couldn’t get into the garden because the plants were a barrier,” he says. “You had to climb over things to get to the garden. In the U.K., my family had a long front garden that we actually used, so having a front garden and not using it seemed silly to me.”
Even though Smee had never gardened before, he decided to remove the tropical plants and Bermuda grass lawn in 2021 and plant a native garden to honor the California plants that grew there before the homes were built.
“I asked myself the question, ‘What was meant to be here?’ ” he says, standing in his yard as birds, bees and butterflies floated through the landscape. “That was the key question. All these plants I see in gardens — are they original? My husband grew up in L.A., and he couldn’t answer the question himself. I learned that generally they are not. I wanted to make things right, so I went on a journey to find what was here originally.”
He began by visiting the Theodore Payne Foundation’s demonstration garden in Sun Valley, where people can see native plants growing in their natural habitat. “They sell flash cards that are like the Farrow & Ball paint chips you get for home improvement projects,” he says. He also visited local nurseries such as Plant Material, Artemisisa Nursery and Hahamongna Native Plant Nursery, which offer native species.
Wanting a garden that was easy to use and colorful year-round, Smee contacted landscape designer Guillaume Lemoine of Picture This Land to help design a formal French garden using California native plants.
“I always had a vision of walking down the porch steps, turning straight into the garden, and being able to walk to the wine terrace,” Smee says. “You want to get some usage and joy out of your garden. Not just something to look at when you drive by.”
Like many design projects, the plan changed over time. “The French garden didn’t happen,” Smee says. “But one day I will do it.” Still, the cottage-style garden has a French-inspired look composed of four quadrants with a water fountain in the center.
Before planting, Smee and his husband applied for a turf removal rebate from Glendale Water and Power, which gives homeowners $3 per square foot for replacing turf with drought-tolerant and native plants and for installing irrigation and a rainwater capture system. After the work was completed, they received a $1,596 rebate for removing 798 square feet of turf in the 2,000-square-foot yard. Smee estimates they spent about $20,000 in total on design fees, plants, removal and installation before the rebate.
Next, they hired Roger Ridlehoover and Maria Maturano of the Land Design Project to remove the lawn and plant climate-appropriate plants. The team started by cutting the Bermuda grass, turning it over and letting it sit to kill the roots. Then they added cardboard and a thick layer of mulch, using a no-dig gardening method called sheet mulching. “It worked,” Smee says. “We had a few strands of Bermuda grass come back, but that was it.”
After setting up movable micro-emitters for irrigation, they planted native species that fit the site, soil and climate, focusing on their role in supporting a diverse ecosystem.
Because of a delay with their retaining wall, they ended up planting the garden in July 2021, which is usually the hardest time of year to start a new garden.
But the delay proved that you can plant in the summer, Smee says, at least if you use native plants.
“We only lost a few plants,” he says. “Of course, fall is the best time to plant before it gets too hot, but if you are working with a good landscape designer, it is not out of the realm of possibility. “
From the street, you can see the garden’s silver and green leaves shimmering, with bright bursts of California lilac (Ceanothus Yankee Point) spilling over the front wall. Toyon brings red berries in winter and white flowers in spring, while California sagebrush and Cleveland sage fill the air with an intoxicating perfume. There is now a new patio that looks out over the garden, just as Smee wanted. All the plants are native, except for an olive tree he planted to remember the neighborhood’s past when olive groves filled the area before homes were built in the 1920s.
“We wanted to honor the history of the area and the theme of the streets,” Smee says about the low-fruit olive tree, which is less messy than other varieties that often leave oily stains on streets and sidewalks. Smee thought about planting an oak tree instead but worried that a large tree might be too heavy for the retaining wall along the sidewalk, so he decided against it. “It’s still a lingering regret,” he says.
“I love seeing the deep, rich green of the toyon next to the pale green of the sage, dudleyas, sagebrush and the olive tree,” Smee says. “I wanted to make sure that even in the hottest part of summer, my garden wouldn’t turn brown.”
After years of working in his garden, the former novice has figured out what grows well in his yard’s different spots. California Wax Myrtle (Morella californica) couldn’t handle the summer heat. Salvia clevelandii ‘Winifred Gilman’ didn’t do as well as the other sages and was too aromatic for his taste. He also tried showy penstemons, but they didn’t like the shade near the house.
“Native plants are often described at nurseries with their sun preferences: ‘full sun’, ‘partial sun’, ‘shade,’ etc.,” he says. “But full sun in Glendale is very different from full sun in coastal Brentwood. Trying out different plants has helped me learn what ‘full sun’ means in my own garden, so now I can choose plants more confidently.”
Smee learned a few things about himself along the way too. “I’ve always thought water fountains were a bit twee,” he says with a smile, but now he loves his. He found the clean-lined water fountain at Reseda Discount Pottery & Fountains, which he calls an “Aladdin’s cave” with hundreds of fountains running at once.
“It’s like in ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’ where he has to choose the goblet,” he says, laughing. The birds and bees love it too, he adds. “The ravens have left Cheez-Its for us.”
Five years later, Smee’s dream is now a reality. He strolls along a stepping-stone path through dry chaparral and coastal sage scrub, with Mexican gold onyx boulders on either side, leading to the patio where he and his husband like to host friends during the summer.
Last year, he welcomed more than 300 visitors during the Theodore Payne Native Plant Garden Tour and had to set up a one-way path through the garden to help manage the crowd.
For maintenance, Smee says he prunes once each season, four times a year. He doesn’t have a gardener and rarely waters the plants. “There is a lot of ebb and flow in the garden,” he says. “I cut it back a lot every year to make space for wildflowers in the spring. I get sad when the wildflowers die, but then I chop them back and save the seeds, and before I know it, the California Fuchsia (Epilobium canum) blooms, adding red to the garden.”
After the first year, while he was getting the garden established, he saw a big drop in the couple’s water use. “When it gets hot in the summer, I turn on the water once a month,” he says. He tried not watering at all, but when he saw the California fuchsia, also called ‘hummingbird fuchsia’ because the birds love it, struggling, he turned the water back on.
“I’m not in the wild,” he says. “It’s still a garden, and I want to enjoy it.”
Now that he has finished creating a native habitat at home, Smee looks forward to using what he has learned by volunteering at the Sunshine Preserve, a 3½-acre site owned by the nonprofit Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy on the eastern edge of the Verdugo Mountains in Glendale.
Working with other volunteers, Smee has helped remove invasive plants and plant native species, including 30 oak trees that attract local wildlife like the endangered monarch butterfly, mountain lions and bobcats. Smee and his group have planted 40 or 50 white sages to help rebuild the local population.
“At the preserve, I’m learning how things grow in the wild,” he says. “The ground is natural dirt, untouched by gardeners. Woolly bluecurls can be tricky for home gardeners, but at the preserve, it thrives because it’s in the right place. We’ve probably planted hundreds of native plants over the last three years. Come back in 30 years, and you’ll see what we’re working toward.”
Smee admits he knew little about California plants and soil at first, but he says he has since become more connected to the land. In the process, he learned there is real joy in bringing native plants back to the soil where they belong.
“I hope people can see that a California native garden can be joyful, colorful and full of life — that’s it not just about conserving water, but about enriching life through the biodiversity that the native plants attract to the garden,” he says. “Thoughtful plant selection can ensure a native garden has something of interest at all times of the year and doesn’t have to go brown in the summer.”
Many people can make a difference on the planet even with a small garden, says Smee. “Having a native garden brings a unique level of joy because you discover you’re doing something for the native wildlife that no other type of garden can do,” he says. “It’s a really special thing.”
PLANT LIST
Bladderpod, Cleomella arborea
Blue grama grass, Bouteloua gracilis
Blue grama grass ‘Blonde Ambition’, Bouteloua gracilis ‘Blonde Ambition’
Bright green dudleya, Dudleya virens ssp. hassei
Britton’s Dudleya, Dudleya brittonii
California Laurel, Umbellularia californica
California Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum
California Fuchsia, Epilobium canum
California Goldenrod, Solidago velutina ssp. californica
Canyon Gray Sagebrush, Artemisia californica ‘Canyon Gray’
Canyon Dudleya, Dudleya cymosa
Yankee Point Carmel Ceanothus, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus var. griseus ‘Yankee Point’
Cedros Island liveforever, Dudleya pachyphytum
Chaparral nolina, Nolina cismontana
Chaparral Yucca, Hesperoyucca whipplei
Allen Chickering Sage, Salvia ‘Allen Chickering’
Mound San Bruno California Coffeeberry, Frangula californica ‘Mound San Bruno’
Conejo Buckwheat, Eriogonum crocatum
Desert Agave, Agave deserti
Desert marigold, Baileya multiradiata
Eastwood Manzanita, Arctostaphylos glandulosa ssp. glandulosa
Fingertips, Dudleya edulis
Giant Chain Fern, Woodwardia fimbriata
Lanceleaf Liveforever, Dudleya lanceolata
Lemonade berry, Rhus integrifolia
Emerald Carpet Manzanita, Arctostaphylos ‘Emerald Carpet’
Howard McMinn Manzanita, Arctostaphylos ‘Howard McMinn’
Vibrant Red Monkeyflower, Diplacus ‘Vibrant Red’
Narrow Leaf Milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis
Wilson’s olive, Olea europaea ‘Wilson Fruitless’
Tall Oregon Grape, Berberis aquifolium
Palmer’s Dudleya, Dudleya palmeri
Margarita BOP Penstemon, Penstemon heterophyllus ‘Margarita BOP’
Red-flowered Buckwheat,Eriogonum grande var. rubescens
David’s Choice Sagebrush, Artemisia pycnocephala ‘David’s Choice’
San Quintín liveforever, Dudleya anthonyi
Tecate Cypress, Hesperocyparis forbesii
Toyon, Heteromeles arbutifolia
De La Mina Verbena, Verbena lilacina ‘De La Mina’
White Sage, Salvia apiana
Woolly Bluecurls, Trichostema lanatum
WILDFLOWERS
Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium bellum
Arroyo lupine, Lupinus succulentus
California Poppy, Eschscholzia californica
Common Tidy Tips, Layia platyglossa
California Goldfields, Lasthenia californica
The post He swapped his lawn for native plants after asking, ‘What was meant to be here?’ appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
