Hi Junebug, and welcome!

You are most likely in Sunset Garden Zone 18. That is a much more useful number than the USDA zone. Zone 18 covers hot inland Southern California valleys with no real coastal influence.

It is highly unlikely any kind of a snake will take up residence in a Van Nuys suburban garden, and almost impossible for a rattler to move in. You can relax about that. Rats, oppossums, raccoons, and gophers- yes.

Is it possible to add a drip line out to your right bed? Otherwise you will have to hand-water parts of this bed to get something to live there. There are drip attachments that you can add to an existing sprinkler head or run off of a hose spigot. They are inexpensive and easy to assemble. Alternatively, you can run a hose out there and hook up a decorative sprinkler, but then you have to hide the hose somehow.

I think you will be most happy with the results if you take a few long walks around your own neighborhood to find plants that you like that are growing in similar situations. Be sure to check here about full-grown size- don't trust the nursery container! because many plants get much bigger here in SoCal than they do in most other areas. My "3x5 foot" roses are 5x8 feet here in Simi.

Hydrangeas like a lot of water and do not like a lot of our hot summer sun. If your bed faces east or north and is shaded by the house that would be a good place for hydrangeas.

Others will chime in with more suggestions. Good luck, and have a great time choosing your plants!

Renee

Iceberg roses. They are so easy and so lovely mass planted. If In-And-Out Burger can grow them, so can you!

Here is a link that might be useful: blog post on iceberg roses.

Junebug, can you give us a few hints about plants you like and plants you don't like? Colors? That will help people narrow the suggestions.

The plants that do best in your area can usually be found in the parking lots of supermarkets, etc. Agapanthus, rhaphiolepis, daylilies, gazanias, Brilliant Pink or white Iceberg roses, and so forth.

Renee - Thank you for your excellent advice. I knew nothing about a sunset garden zone, though I have heard of the term. At least I have something to go by now.

My husband and I just had baby #2 and we already used some of our tax return money to get the patio painted so we are probably going to wait to do anything with the sprinkler system until next year. However, I did go out and set up a soaker hose to run along the bed without a sprinkler. It is just a matter of me being able to remember to go out there, but as the baby sleeps longer, I should find a way.

Actually the 17-year-old who takes care of our lawn was removing an old plant from a border planter and told me that he found a rather large SNAKE SKIN in there! I am glad I did not find it (alive OR dead) as I would have ended up passed out on the front lawn. So that is my fear of snakes.

Anyway, I do not know which way the bed faces, but will figure it out. Thanks for the advice about the hydrangeas. I only mentioned them because we have some out back that are doing well and they are under the mulberry. The bed out front is partially shaded by a huge lemon tree.

I erred when I said that we had begonias. I meant geraniums. I liked begonias but then did not last long in either of the beds.

I will definitely look up the "parking lot" plants you mention. I have a gold-colored day lily in the back yard under the brunfelsia that does not require any care - so day lilies are a definite possibility. I do not have agapanthus, but I do have a few allium bulbs in the full sun bed. The gazanias look very pretty. And I do like the pictures online of the rhaphiolepis. I guess you would plant that in the back and grow it into a shrub? What companion plants would you suggest?

I have several books on Southern California gardening, but I am just such a black thumb that I seem to kill everything. I don't know what it is, but I do best with things that I do not transplant, let them bloom, and then just cast them to the side. I did this with some Freesia. I basically forgot about them and they bloomed and then sat in the back yard over the last fall and winter. They were exposed to a lot of rain and cold temperatures, but they came back just beautiful (and multiplied) all on their own. I was so impressed with them that I researched them and got a few more which I planted in the FULL SUN bed, believing that is what they need. We will see how they do.

As far as colors, I understand that YELLOW is good for curb appeal, and we had that with the previous owners daisy-like flowers that grew into a shrub. But they went all over the place and I would like something more manicured. I do not really care for many of the indigenous plants (other than the poppies and things like that) and I am not a big fan of succulents. I like the look of either red, white, and blue or, more importantly, autumnal colors like reds, oranges, gold, etc. (I am a New York transplant).

Our house is white with (currently forest green trim, but I plan to paint it black here shortly) and we have exposed brick that reaches the trim around the windows.

I like the color of the orange clivia or a red hibiscus. I like somewhat exotic flowers, but I am also fine with something that has foliage that really pops.

In the beginning I did not want to be like everyone else on the block (and I did do my share of checking out the neighborhood), but now I just want something nice that is easy enough to maintain. Most landscaping has pastels and I like more vibrant colors like the above-mentioned autumnal colors. But I am open to ANY suggestions.
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Hoovb, thank you for the advice on iceberg roses. I actually think some of my neighbors across the street have them. They do seem easy enough to grow. I just did not like the roses we had. I am not sure what variety, but they did not make a nice cut flower and they did not seem to bloom as often as I would like so they seemed pretty much useless. One of my neighbors has the most beautiful rose that looks like Joseph's Coat, but I would not know how to care for that or use it in the landscape.
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Thank you both so much for taking your precious time to help ME!

Oh and I wanted to add, when I started this project I really wanted something that would work in BOTH beds. Like I said, I like a more manicured and symmetrical look. Would that be possible with the iceberg roses or anything else for that matter? Thank you!

Junebug, if you like color, plant color! Your house will go with anything.

Clivias are a dream plant. You stick them in the shade, water them once or twice a week, and divide them, if necessary, in five to ten years. They will not take the sun in your area. Must be in shade.

Hibiscus get large, so it depends on how big your beds are. If they are 12 feet deep and at least as long, a hibiscus might work. One problem: they get the Giant Whitefly, which leaves very unattractive white webbing all over your hibiscuses. Perhaps there are dwarf varieties others can recommend.

Daylilies are good plants that come in red, orange and gold.
There are some really heat-tolerant varieties in gold and orange. Take a look at the Greenwood Daylilies website to be sure you get heat-tolerant daylilies.

You seem to be attracted to tropical plants, and if so,you can use the phoenix roebelleni palms with your daylilies. Plant them in the back- they do grow. I'm not crazy about tropical plants with brick homes myself, but that's just a taste issue.

Rhaphiolepis get large and have pink or white flowers. They should be planted at the back of a bed depending on the full height of the other plants. Another very neat and tidy plant is Wheeler's Dwarf Pittosporum. If you like the high-maintenance clipped and orderly hedge look, you can use dwarf myrtles for your hedges. If you lined your beds with hedges and grew icebergs or perhaps red Lavaglut or Showbiz floribunda roses it would look very tidy.

For red, white and blue, I would use agapanthus, limonium perezii, Icebergs, and red daylilies. All of these plants will grow in either full sun or partial shade. The agapanthus may get a little burned in hot Augusts, and the Icebergs in the partial shade bed might not grow as big as the ones in the sun, but it would be a low-care colorful garden.

Congratulations on the new baby.
Renee

Forgot the link! There's a new, dark-blue agapanthus that is stunning. There's also a reblooming agapanthus that Greenwood sells.
Renee

Here is a link that might be useful: Greenwood Daylilies

Thank you again for your reply, Renee. I really appreciate your insight. So many plants I have never heard of, but I did check them out after you recommended them. I did see that dark blue agapanthus in a catalog last year. It really is beautiful!

I DO like tropicals, but I also realize that if they do not work in the landscape, I can get some for containers in the back yard.

My tastes run all over the place. Being from New York state, I miss the fall foliage and made the mistake of putting some crazy things in the beds. I currently have red twig dogwood that did excellent last year until a month ago and there is a pink pussy willow in there that is doing well (though no catkins yet - probably because it did not get cold enough). In the full sun bed I have two varieties of holly (can't remember right now) and a flowering quince and a witch hazel - all doing well. Oh, and just to show you how naive I am too all of this, we have a fountain grass in there that took over. When I cut it back I found a wild mint growing under it. Needless to say, my beds are a mess! :-(

I realize I have a lot of decisions to make regarding the existing plants, but I am really liking the idea of the WHITE iceberg roses with a really nice ground cover or another type of floribunda rose (in red, probably). I would like to have a showstopper kind of look with the roses, but I do not know how many I would need to have that "en masse" kind of look. The full sun bed measures 47 x 100 and the part shade one is 47 x 137.

Also, I think I read in another post wherein you recommended the icebergs to another poster. Are they really that affordable? I think you said you bought yours at Home Depot for less than $5. What size was that?

I guess I like a more symmetrical look for my beds because the house front has an asymmetrical look to it. I also do not know what we are going to do when our 17-year-old gardener goes off to college and I would like something easy enough that I could take care of, but would not require a lot of work on my part because with two little ones, I just do not have the time.

Sorry for all the questions. You don't realize what a TREMENDOUS help to me!! :-)

Oh Junebug. Where did you find all of those east-coast plants? The nursery that sold you that stuff should be ashamed of itself. Dogwood, pussy willow, holly, quince and witch hazel are not well suited to the San Fernando Valley. They can be grown, but they are not the easiest choices. The pussywillow will not be long for this world, I am afraid. The others may croak too. Too hot, not enough chill.

Are you talking feet or inches on these beds? Those are some huge beds if you are talking feet! Inches, you would probably need four or five Icebergs, and they would fill the bed front to back. You could squeeze in some lilies, maybe a little green. Did you see that last photo on hoovb's blog?

I saw Icebergs this weekend at Home Depot in Simi in the 1 gal pots for 6.95 each. They had about six of them. They grow like weeds, so get small- in one year they grow to be as big as the much more expensive roses. They get big too- mine in front is at least six feet tall and four to five feet wide. A lot of icebergs looks much better than one or two.

An all red and white garden to go with your house would be stunning.Here's my Showbiz red roses (they are small shrubs) with common myrtle, white asiatic lilies, red daylilies, geraniums, and white agapanthus. You could do the same with Iceberg roses and red asiatic lilies. Easy care. I know you just yanked out roses and geraniums, but so much depends on which roses you choose and how you put them together. Yours were probably old and woody. (And I suspect your snakeskin was an alligator lizard skin.)
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WOW, Renee! What a gorgeous garden you have! I would LOVE to see more of your pictures.

The Showbiz red is outstanding! I really like that hue as opposed to the darker red that hoovb's neighbors used - so yes, I did see that picture. I really liked it and would love to have that full look of the iceberg roses with something else that has a nice, vibrant red ... and maybe something blue like the agapanthus you mentioned yesterday. I haven't decided if I want a year-long patriotic look or not. I am really liking the red and white combination. I think it would be different, but suitable, for our block. Most people use pastels or have just foliage so I would like a little different look and something that will increase the curb appeal for the street as it is LONG overdue (for our house).

The nursery that sold me all those things was in Seattle and, at the time, I had believed my zone to be 8b so I thought they would be different and work. I just really do not know what I am doing so it was good that I did not spend a ton of money on them.

Yes I did pull out the old rose bushes and, you are right. They were old and very woody. They only looked good a few times a year and I did not have the time nor know that you need to deadhead them. I am willing to put forth more effort to maintain the icebergs as I am learning a lot here.

The geranium too only looked good a few times a year. Other than that, it took over . It was even growing in the bed that we replaced with a boxwood hedge (where the skin was). That area also had some purple-type flower thing that had died. It had the most horrendous smell. And the yellow daisy-like flowers were all over the place in the full sun bed and taking over the sidewalk.

You know so much about Southern California plants and animals. I am glad to hear that you suspect it to be a lizard and NOT a snake. I saw the pictures online and can see how it would be mistaken.

Thank you for all the advice. It is so much appreciated. I will check out my local Home Depot as well as Green Arrow to see what they have. It is nice to know they are rather inexpensive.

One last question (I hope because you have been so patient with me), would I need to amend the soil or do anything special for these beds?

I always follow the advice on the tags but I really do not know what I am doing (moisture, pH, etc.) and feel the tags are incomplete. For instance, we planted a bunch of berries last year (blueberry, boysenberry, blackberry, and raspberry) in the back yard and all survived and are thriving except the raspberry. We even bought another one to increase production, but that died too. Our neighbors over the wall have raspberries that are doing fine and their canes are coming through (which they said we could have) so we are no longer concerned with growing raspberries. But it just goes to show you that we are doing something wrong. My neighbor said it could be the concrete absorbing too much heat as there is a cement paver in front of them. Then I read somewhere that our climate is not good for raspberries, yet the nurseries in the area sell them. So it is a crap shoot for me as far as what will work and what will not, despite what the tags say.

I really do not want to kill anymore plants. :-(

I am so grateful to you and hoovb for giving me simple ideas to narrow down this project that seemed so overwhelming a week ago.

WOW, Renee! What a gorgeous garden you have! I would LOVE to see more of your pictures.

The Showbiz red is outstanding! I really like that hue as opposed to the darker red that hoovb's neighbors used - so yes, I did see that picture. I really liked it and would love to have that full look of the iceberg roses with something else that has a nice, vibrant red ... and maybe something blue like the agapanthus you mentioned yesterday. I haven't decided if I want a year-long patriotic look or not. I am really liking the red and white combination. I think it would be different, but suitable, for our block. Most people use pastels or have just foliage so I would like a little different look and something that will increase the curb appeal for the street as it is LONG overdue (for our house).

The nursery that sold me all those things was in Seattle and, at the time, I had believed my zone to be 8b so I thought they would be different and work. I just really do not know what I am doing so it was good that I did not spend a ton of money on them.

Yes I did pull out the old rose bushes and, you are right. They were old and very woody. They only looked good a few times a year and I did not have the time nor know that you need to deadhead them. I am willing to put forth more effort to maintain the icebergs as I am learning a lot here.

The geranium too only looked good a few times a year. Other than that, it took over . It was even growing in the bed that we replaced with a boxwood hedge (where the skin was). That area also had some purple-type flower thing that had died. It had the most horrendous smell. And the yellow daisy-like flowers were all over the place in the full sun bed and taking over the sidewalk.

You know so much about Southern California plants and animals. I am glad to hear that you suspect it to be a lizard and NOT a snake. I saw the pictures online and can see how it would be mistaken.

Thank you for all the advice. It is so much appreciated. I will check out my local Home Depot as well as Green Arrow to see what they have. It is nice to know they are rather inexpensive.

One last question (I hope because you have been so patient with me), would I need to amend the soil or do anything special for these beds?

I always follow the advice on the tags but I really do not know what I am doing (moisture, pH, etc.) and feel the tags are incomplete. For instance, we planted a bunch of berries last year (blueberry, boysenberry, blackberry, and raspberry) in the back yard and all survived and are thriving except the raspberry. We even bought another one to increase production, but that died too. Our neighbors over the wall have raspberries that are doing fine and their canes are coming through (which they said we could have) so we are no longer concerned with growing raspberries. But it just goes to show you that we are doing something wrong. My neighbor said it could be the concrete absorbing too much heat as there is a cement paver in front of them. Then I read somewhere that our climate is not good for raspberries, yet the nurseries in the area sell them. So it is a crap shoot for me as far as what will work and what will not, despite what the tags say.

I really do not want to kill anymore plants. :-(

I am so grateful to you and hoovb for giving me simple ideas to narrow down this project that seemed so overwhelming a week ago.

A few things, Junebug, and others may have suggestions about amendments too.

1. Showbiz is a nice floribunda, easy care, but it does not bloom as often or as much as Iceberg and it is half the size. They look great together. Icebergs just need water and an occasional shearing- no pruning.

2. Amendments: It depends on the soil. I don't amend my soil. I mulch with compost instead.

3. Buy yourself a Sunset Western Garden Book and Pat Welsh's book. Don't believe anything on a tag or anything that a nursery employee tells you. Write it down and ask here. It will save you so much time and money! Things can grow to be MUCH bigger here than what it says on the tag.

4. Blackberries. Oh. No. You may want to do a search on this forum on Blackberries. I recommend digging a two-foot deep trench around them if you must keep them. Perhaps you should start a new thread and ask people their opinions and experiences planting blackberries and raspberries in SoCal. There are plants that grow TOO well here and become "garden thugs."

Renee

Here is a link that might be useful: Pat Welsh

Hi June!

There is a really nice ground cover that grows here.. I can't think of the name... it has tiny white flowers and is related to mysporium/mycantha/my....????? tree I think???? I'm a transplant to S. Ca myself :)

Blue Daze:

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I have a bunch of agapanthus and it just grows and grows with little water or attention. Provides good foliage when not blooming.

I also have Elijah Blue Fescue and Liriope in my garden, and they're both doing fine. (although the liriope gets eaten by slugs sometimes). The blue creeping flowering rosemary also does really well at my house.

We also have hebe, and that's really pretty. For red you might want to think of Calistimon Little John. You can hedge it and the hummingbirds love it. Of course, there's always Society Garlic too. I haven't met anyone who can't grow that.

Be careful with berries... but you can plant them in barrels, etc.

Gardenias are always nice but boy can they be temperamental.

WHATEVER you do, DO NOT believe nurseries/Lowes/HD, etc. THEY LIE!!!!!!!!! And tags are nearly always mismarked.

Have you considered ferns?

Commelina erecta appeared in my garden one day and I'm helping it along, it's pretty vigerous and has tons of beautiful blue flowers.

Well, Renee, I am about 99.99% sold on the icebergs. I just want to go to the nursery and check them out first. I also love the idea of something like a red daylily, ground cover rose, and blue agapanthus. To be on the safe side, I think I will probably start with the roses and give them a few months and see what else I want to put in there.

Thank you so much for the advice! And I will definitely check out the books you recommended. I have the California Gardener's Resource by Bruce and Sharon Asakawa, but I find that a bit overwhelming and it does NOT mention iceberg roses at all!

Silversword - Thank you for the advice, too! I looked up all the plants as I read your post. The Little John is pretty and seems a lot like the Crimson Bottlebrush that I dug up a few years ago. It really wasn't my thing because it was shaped into a tall hedge that came just past the windowsill. It looked very bare on the bottom and it bloomed probably only once a year around May. I remember being on bed rest with my first son in 2009 and watching through the window as the hummingbirds buzz around it. To tell you the truth, up until then, I had NO idea what the purpose of that plant was. It wasn't until last year that I decided to research all the plants on our property so I could better take care of them. A big problem we later discovered was that the previous owners mulched with STONES.

The fescue is very pretty and I have seen it around the neighborhood in mostly shade. That's good to know about gardenias. I have often thought of them, but I do not have the experience to care for them.

I get a lot of things that come across my beds too. Of course, I have no idea what they are. The lemon tree tends to get something with blue flowers and grows in kind of circular pattern. Then there is the mysterious vine that popped up in the middle of my Misty blueberry. It is fun trying to figure out what all these things are. That is, of course, when my boys give me the time. :-)

Sure Junebug :) I'd suggest cannas too (I'd forgotten all about them, but LOVE them). You can buy them in just about any color/size/flower you want, the foliage can be striking and they are easy to care for here.

Little John is related to bottlebrush, and I'm not fond of bottlebrushes in general but I love my little John. The foliage is gorgeous and delicate, it seems to be always flowering, you can trim it as a hedge, an individual plant or a bush.

PS if you want to read a pretty funny thread, check out this one:

Here is a link that might be useful: Suicidal Gardenia

My second favorite thread, after "Dogs In Elk".
Renee

Oh sure, silversword, you have to recommend Gardenias and then give me that post to read. Ha! Ha! I only made it as far as the August 3rd posts, but I intend to read a little more at each sitting. Boy is it funny/eye opening. I, being a Gemini, get bored easily and can't finish things so I just skimmed a little to see how far the thread went. I happened upon the reply from "Jim" who was giving his wife a Gardenia bush for Mother's Day and then he was printing out the entire thread and writing "sorry" on top of it and running. That was so funny!

I guess I am pretty stupid because even after reading all that, I am going to have to get a Gardenia at some point. I was sold on the description of the scent. I am just not sure I will actually try to grow one. I would probably do better to just have one and toss it aside like the Freesia. For some reason anything I try to actually put love into and take care of, dies on me, whereas anything I just neglect thrives. Perhaps my plants are suicidal too.

The title of the thread reminded me of something Jerry Seinfeld says in his book Seinlanguage and it makes me laugh every time I read it:

"I have no plants in my house. They won't live for me. Some of them don't even wait to die, they commit suicide. I once came home found one hanging from a macrame noose, the pot kicked out from underneath. The note said, "I hate you and your albums."

It's so funny to think of plants as human. I'm screwed though because I am definitely a sucker for a good-smelling plant. The house we bought has some kind of lilac that blooms in the spring and fall. It is pathetic looking (not like back home) but I never grow tired of smelling it and reminding me of home. And I love the Freesia because it smells like Froot Loops (which reminds me of my childhood). The roses that I dug up were sad looking and not very pretty plus the fragrance was not that great.

The funny thing is that I have NEVER been a flower person. My husband likes to do romantic gestures like buy flowers for me, but he won't buy roses on Valentine's Day because they cost much more than any other day of the year. So he likes to surprise me with flowers some other day. I am fine with that because we have a cat who tries to eat ANYTHING that looks like plant matter. I can't even have Easter grass in baskets because the dummy will eat it. So roses cannot be enjoyed because they have to spend so much time behind closed doors and I am not really one of "those" women who requires candy and flowers on Valentine's Day or birthdays, etc.

I might give that Little John some consideration somewhere around the house because I adore watching the hummingbirds. :-)

And, Renee, you just had to know that I would search the net for "Dogs in Elk," didn't you? Ha! Ha! Wow! What a story. It almost reads like a prank phone call.

I had never heard of the New Guinea dog before, but reading about it I can understand why that one and the Basenji would not want to come out.

Thanks for mentioning the thread, I plan to share it with my husband. :-)

Gus Pong. What a great name for a dog.

LOL. I forgot about Dogs in Elk. That one, Suicidal Gardenia and Cat Threw up in Washing Machine are my favorites :)

If you can, find a gardenia that was grafted on citrus. It will be a lot stronger. There are lots of different kinds too (Mystery is very common and hardy). I recently found a darling dwarf gardenia in Lowes and couldn't help buy it.

If you like scent, you should consider jasmines. The star jasmine is impossible to kill. And madagascar jasmine (wedding flower or stephanotis) is a great vine. I like Pikake a lot and it grows great here too.

silversword, thank you so much for mentioning Cat Threw Up in Washing Machine. I had tears streaming down my face reading all those stories. I'm so glad to hear I am not the only one!

I will look into the gardenia varieties you mention. Thanks for the advice!

Yes! I like scent, but unfortunately I suffer from migraines. Although I have never had a flower trigger one, I do have to be careful with the scents I choose to wear. I know in about 10 minutes or less whether something has to be washed off because it goes straight to my temple. I have always stayed away from floral perfumes, but I do have a body splash by Victoria's Secret that has lily of the valley in it and that doesn't bother me. I would love to try gardenia if it smells like it was described.

I have heard of the jasmines, but are any of them invasive? I thought I read that somewhere when I was thinking about vines to cover a chain link fence in the dog run we use for gardening.

That Suicidal Gardenia thread is a classic! We had a thriving Gardenia in our front yard that was pretty much neglected except for some water spray from the lawn sprinklers and a little iron my husband threw at it now and then. Our neighbor tried in vain to grow a Gardenia, but in spite of all the coddling and care she provided it finally gave up the ghost.

I want to repeat a suggestion that a previous poster made: Buy the Sunset Western Garden Book. It will give you lots of ideas if you have time to read while baby naps. Then remember to take it with you any time you go to the plant store. Also remember to write your name and phone number on the inside because you will leave it at the nursery from time to time and the nursery will otherwise think it's their own copy.

I think you could grow those ca natives that save water and don't need to have amended soil. If you sprinkle poppy seeds they will grow all by themselves, but you need to weed. Since you have a sprinkler, I guess you don't need to water, but weeding can be a big job. Canna, I can also highly recommend as easy to grow, but that was already suggested.