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Health & Fitness

Gardening: San Diego Style

The beautiful gardenscapes of San Diego can be transplanted here. But make sure the plants you choose are compatible with our weather.

I was in San Diego a few weeks ago for a family vacation and was enamored with the landscape. The ocean, bluffs, ridges and canyons make San Diego a great place to visit.

The gardens were also lovely in the public and residential spaces. There were three basic themes: drought-tolerant/native, lush jungle style and what I will call a mission style. The gardens that were the best stuck to one theme and all the elements of plants, hardscape, wood structures and pots worked together to create a unified whole.

The landscapes near the beach in San Diego tend to have a drought-tolerant look. This suits the larger landscape and is less jarring to the eye in an area where the beach and ocean dominate: Lots of plants like grasses, succulents and low-mounding perennials and shrubs paired with clean lines of the homes and natural stone hardscapes.

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The lush jungle style was more dominate in the public spaces like hotels, restaurants and shopping areas. Here I saw Canna, Phormium tenax (New Zealand Flax), Strelitzia nicolai (Giant Bird of Paradise), palms of all sizes, Agapanthus and Brugmansia (Angel’s Trumpet) among others.

The plants were planted close together. Bright pots filled with flowering plants were placed near doorways. I liked this look when it was combined with a private front courtyard with tall flowering trees and Bougainvillea.

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The mission style is partially a combination of the above two styles and its best example is, of course, the Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. Here, plants that are easy to care for and require little water are nestled among statuary, millstones and other historic relics. 

Pots filled with flowers are around; typically near the doorways. I saw a lot of cacti and succulents with California Pepper trees (Schinus molle) and Cordyline. The stucco walls, hand-made roof tiles and weather-worn brick make for a look that is timeless.

The above types of gardenscapes can be transplanted here. Most of the plants I saw in San Diego can thrive here. Our climate is cooler up here in the San Francisco Bay Area and we do have occasional frosts in the winter.

Make sure that the plants you choose fit within in our climate: read the plant tags and check resources like Sunset’s Western Garden Book (and website) and EBMUD’s Plants and Landscapes for Summer-Dry Climates of the San Francisco Bay Region.

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