Sierra Foothill Garden

A nearly native drought tolerant garden

Tim and Barbara Fruehe came into the True Value Garden Center with a list of needed plants that we could really work with!  Their ambitious whole house-whole yard renovation was winding down and they were at the point where the outdoor hardscape was done and the soil was amended.  This is a garden lover’s dream and the real fun part,..choosing plants and finishing the garden. The House before:

Before and After

Tim and Barbara bought a pink house with good bones.  The location was excellent, on a golf course with a view to the south of Deadwood Mountain. The home’s layout was good and the aggregate driveway was in good shape. Other than that, there is no surface in the house and yard that was untouched by their improvements. They started out by painting the home a soft sage green. When the house was done and the deck cover built they could then begin on the garden.

After

All Tim’s choices for plants were already stocked at the garden center so we ordered a few things on the list and when the day came to pick up the plants, we gave the Fruehes free rein to use our big cart to gather up as many plants as were on their wish list. They assembled all the trees, shrubs, grasses and perennials into the back area for easy loading into Tim’s pick-up. Genell and I, with JR’s help, worked most all afternoon to mark, count and load up the plants and trees.

Once they got the plants back to their home on a golf course, they and one helper installed all the plants within a week.  Then it was Barbara’s turn to give some attention to the details.  She filled pots and more pots with roses, lavender and annuals and arranged her garden treasures around the seating area which includes seven Adirondack chairs surrounding a fire pit. Both Tim and Barbara like garden antiques, ironwork and bird houses. They made room for nine birdbaths and planted many butterfly attractors to encourage the nearby wildlife.

Experience counts! Tim and Barbara were smart about planning their garden.  First of all, they made a plan, a drawing, which included spaces for the seating area on a gravel patio and paths leading through an iron arbor.  Second, they acquired much of the hardscape material through craigslist and other ‘secondhand’ sources. Fourteen loads of slate flagstone were found for $300. River rock and gravel were saved from the previous landscape. Drainage was designed into the sloping site and disguised with river rock planted with blue fescue.  River rock edges the paths and makes a transition from the aggregate driveway and the mulched beds.

This was not the couple’s first large landscaping project in our foothills and they chose the plants they knew to do the best in hot summers and cold winters. Tim says, “Between the last project and our former homes, you get to know what does well, what the deer stay away from and all. We wanted plants that we didn’t need to prune and fertilize.” They both like a meadowy wildflower look of the penstemon, lavender and coreopsis. The oaks, a deodar cedar and a Sequoia, the rockrose and lavender will be evergreen in the winter. Tim owns Simply Smashing, a promotional T-shirt company in Oakhurst and Barbara is a graphic designer there. In their free time, they like to BBQ hotdogs around the fire pit with their kids or share a glass of wine with their neighbor, Nancy and her family.

A second arbor beckons the visitor around the side yard to the back past three large raised beds for future vegetable and flower gardens. On each side of the yard are ‘neighbor gates’ so they can pass through easily to visit. The garden extends past established rockrose bushes to the golf course beyond, shaded by mature oaks.

The backyard previously had no sprinklers, so Tim designed an extensive drip system to conserve water. I found that he pre-assembles his drip sprayers just like I do!  The propane tank was an eyesore at the side, so they constructed a short fence from wide planks that matched the existing fence. Barbara saw this as a blank canvas for her artistic wall hangings and plant baskets.

Tim and Barbara now have plans for a party to share their artistic strolling garden with friends and family.

See all of the photos of the Fruehe’s garden project:

See More:

Tim and Barbara’s carefree artist garden   Barbara and Tim’s garden redo

Tim and Barbara’s ‘ideal’ Foothill garden: One year later   One year later

An ideal plant list for new Sierra foothill garden    Drought tolerant plant list for the West

Barbara’s hand-crafted garden Barbara’s Flea market garden touches