Dry Creek Bed and Yucca

Common name:Swiss Mountain Pine
Botanical name:Pinus mugo

Pinus mugo is an evergreen tree or shrub that grows slowly. Needles are 2", dark green, stout, and crowded. Cones are 1"-2", oval, and tawny to dark brown. Generally a bushy, twisted, somewhat open pine.

Common name:Brown Sedge
Botanical name:Carex testacea

The testacea variety is an evergreen perennial that reaches 2' tall bearing very narrow, coppery brown leaves splitting to hair-like threads at their tips, and continuing to grow to 4-8' in length. This plant should be grown in sun with little or no summer watering. -Monterey Bay Nursery

Common name:Spineless Yucca
Botanical name:Yucca recurvifolia

This evergreen shrub is part of the Agave family and reaches 6'-10' tall. It has distinctive blue-grey leaves that bend sharply downward. It blooms with white flowers on 3'-5' tall spikes in late spring and early summer. Leaf tips have spines but they bend and do not cause injury.

Soils and Compost:

Physical weed control, including mulching, or hand removal protects the watershed from harmful chemicals.

Water Saving Tip:

Replace turf with groundcovers, trees, and shrubs. If you have areas where no one uses the grass, patches that do not grow well, or a turf area too small to water without runoff, consider replacing the turf with water-efficient landscaping.

Integrated Pest Management:

Attract, or buy beneficial insects such as ladybugs and lacewings to control pest outbreaks in your garden.