Master gardener uses rebates to create her dream outdoor space
Elaine Fitzgerald replaced her lawn with a peaceful landscape of low-water plants that also attract beneficial insects and birds. Courtesy Elaine Fitzgerald
Elaine Fitzgerald wanted to see more life in her Rosemont backyard. To get that, the lawn had to go.
“I had a lot of lawn, but no life,” she recalls. “It was a dead environment; no insects, no birds, nothing.”
A Sacramento County master gardener, Fitzgerald decided to transform her lifeless lawn into an easy-care garden filled with low-water plants.
“It’s something I wanted to do for a really long time,” she says. “I’ve been an environmentalist since I was a kid. … I wanted to create an environment where wildlife can thrive.”
Fitzgerald has done just that. Her backyard is now filled with bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects. Birds are constant visitors.
“I love the way it’s laid out,” she says. “It’s all curvy; it moves. It’s very peaceful to be out in the middle of it; it’s so full of life. Nowhere can you look and not see insects and birds; it’s phenomenal. I sit out there and watch. It brings me a lot of joy.”
For her efforts, Fitzgerald was honored by the Regional Water Authority as a “Summer Strong Yard” winner. Her garden was featured on local billboards to provide inspiration to other gardeners interested in transitioning to a water-wise landscape.
Fitzgerald got a big boost for her project from her local water provider, California American Water. She took advantage of rebates for River Friendly Landscape conversion.
“The rebates were wonderful,” says Fitzgerald, who completed the project in 2023. “I was stunned. I got $2,300 for my backyard; that was a big part of my budget. It really pushed me over the edge to do it.”
With the help of two friends, Fitzgerald competed the project for about $6,000, she adds. “So, minus the rebate, it was under $4,000 for a whole redesign and brand new landscape.”
Her new backyard is much more inviting to people and wildlife.
“I now have a space with a combination of planting beds, vegetable beds, seating areas, swales and water features for birds and insects,” Fitzgerald says.
Her water use “has gone down tremendously,” she says. “I didn’t know anything about drip irrigation before this project. Now, I do.”
And maintenance? “When I was mowing and blowing my own yard, it would take me most of Saturday every week to do the lawn,” Fitzgerald recalls. “It was so pointless – and I’m not doing it any more.
“Because I am getting older, I wanted a space that would require minimal upkeep and I have achieved that goal,” she adds. “I spend more time enjoying my landscape rather than maintaining it.”
For more information on rebates and other Summer Strong winners, go to: https://bewatersmart.info/
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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