An aging piece of conventional wisdom tells us that maintaining a stunning garden requires generous amounts of water applied on a regular basis. But beautiful California native and water-wise landscapes are quickly turning this adage into myth.

“In the two years that the garden’s been in existence, we’ve turned the irrigation system on four times,” says Altadena homeowner, artist and landscape designer Andreas Hessing. “The garden doesn’t need more than that. We let Mother Nature do the rest.”

Featuring more than 200 different species of California native plants ideally adapted to the region’s arid climate, the Hessing garden began four years ago as an abandoned lot. “A weed lot, basically,“ Hessing laughs. “It had abandoned cars, piles of trash. It was nasty.”

Together with his artist wife Karen Bonfigli, the couple decided to recreate the beauty of the California hills that they both enjoy hiking. The couple is among a growing trend in Southern California to move away from a traditional landscape of huge, water-consuming lawns and shrubs to plant selections and designs that reflect more of Southern California’s heritage. Three years ago, a Sunset magazine cover story called native plants “suddenly chic” after growers and suppliers noticed huge spikes in sales.

“If you go up in the mountains in the fall you’ll see incredible oranges and yellows and reds,” Hessing says. “Down here on the plains you’ll see lots of foliage color and textures and plants changing color.”

Combining their talents as installation artists, Hessing and Bonfigli sketched and planned the layout of their narrow 150-by-50-foot landscape. “Installation art is simply the transformation of space,” Bonfigli explains. “Our training gave us this sense of composition, of having the viewer interact with the space. You have to think and plan beforehand or you may end up having to go back, tear out and redo.” The couple learned how to design with the native plant palette by taking classes at UCLA, the Theodore Payne Society in Sun Valley and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in Claremont.

As they began their work, they found the soil surprisingly rich and ideal for a native environment. When it came to selecting the plant palette, the couple used a basic rule of thumb: “Where does this plant come from in the wild? Is it in a sunny place? A place with sharp drainages? Does it grow on a cliff? Then we tried to mimic that,” Bonfigli says.
Final touches included a gently winding path of decomposed granite that leads a person to the various sculptural elements in the landscape.

In mid-spring, the Hessing and Bonfigli garden is a live wildflower canvas of shocking pink, purple, orange, yellow, scarlet and blue. “And there’s a lot of smells which are hallmarks of the Southern California and Mediterranean plants,” said Hessing. “Just incredibly spicy smells, you know?”

“And you see the life,” says Bonfigli. “We get to see the cycle of the ladybug, or what the hummingbird looks like, where the jays live, how they eat and what their life cycle is. When you create an environment that supports local wildlife, it’s just a wonderful thing to be a part of. You don’t feel so separate.”

One would expect irrigation and maintenance on such a property to be high, but the artist couple claims it’s just the opposite. “It’s pretty easy to maintain,” says Hessing. “A couple of times a year I have to do some serious pruning, but it’s really not a lot of work. It’s not even a weekly chore. And we never spend more than $30 a month for water.”

Come fall, as the wildflowers dry up, the garden will transform to reveal many other existing shrubs. “You actually get to see the seasons,” Hessing explains. “Suddenly there are lots of other shapes and foliage colors and textures.”
The native garden will then reseed itself and in the new year again burst into life with a new look.

“And then,” Bonfigli smiles, “you get to discover the garden all over again.”

“You can’t beat it,” says Hessing.

Photo courtesy of David Fafard. Right, Shea Homes California Development. Photo by Sally Aristei

Mention his 1-year old daughter or 5-year old son and David Fafard’s ruddy face lights up with a smile. He’s quick to tell anyone that spending time with his family is at the top of the list for him.

Not surprisingly, Fafard has high praise for the “smart” irrigation controller that came with his new Shea home in Winchester. Shea is the first of several prominent builders to embrace the California FriendlyTM approach and the weather controller is included in each residential package. Once programmed, the computerized device reads satellite weather signals and waters landscapes with precision and efficiency.

“With this California Friendly approach I’ll spend about 40 minutes to an hour in my yard each month versus 4 to 6 hours a week at my last place,” Fafard says. “That really takes a lot of time away from your family on the weekends. Now, I can spend time with my son and daughter at the park—you know, at soccer practice, soccer games.”

A residential realtor in his mid-30s, Fafard moved into his new home earlier this year. Located in a quiet cul-de-sac, the two-story, stone clad dwelling forms part of a new Shea community of more than 100 units called “Watermill.” Featuring a small lawn bordered by flowering bushes in the front, and a large back yard, the Fafard residence is one of the models that comes with water-wise landscaping, weather-smart controllers and precision sprinklers.

“At my last house, I was probably out there about five times a week at first, trying to figure out my sprinkler system,” says Fafard. “I was over-watering, under-watering, killing my grass, my plants. What I love about this weather-track system is that I called the 800 number. It took me about five minutes. A really nice operator walked me right through it and I haven’t touched it since.”

Fafard also says his new landscape and irrigation system is saving him the $150 a month he was paying for a gardener. “My yard is so easy to maintain, I don’t need a gardener anymore,” he says. He also notices using about 40 percent less water.

“Not to mention the money you save by not having to replace dead plants,” he explains. “So, with this California Friendly way, not only are you saving on your water, your energy, your gardener, but also the plants you don’t need to replant. And,” he adds with a smile, “My wife is happy to see me because I’m not spending all this time outside.”