On Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at 7:30 PM, in the basement of the Los Altos Masonic Lodge, 146 Main Street, Los Altos, the De Anza Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society will feature a program by the garden designer Kim Raftery on Designing A Front Yard Without A Lawn.
Kim Raftery, the owner of Raftery Garden Design in Palo Alto, has been associated with Gamble Gardens, and some of the gardens she designed has been featured in the annual Gamble Garden Spring Tours.
https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2010/04/13/how-do-their-gardens-grow
Raftery Garden Design has taken part in the City of Menlo Park’s Lawn Be Gone Program, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District Landscape Rebate Program.
https://www.menlopark.org/DocumentCenter/View/10826/Landscape-Professional-List_7-20-16=
https://www.valleywater.org/sites/default/files/Landscaper%20Professional%20List%203-23-17.pdf
During her program, Kim Raftery will talk about drought resistant plants.
Rhododendrons such as the species R. carolinianum, R. maximum, and R. catawbiense, and hybrids that have these species in their background, are drought tolerant.
http://www.rosebay.org/chapterweb/drought.htm
Rhododendron macrophyllum, which can be found from British Columbia to central California, finds the typical garden to wet and prefers a dryer area.
http://nativeplantspnw.com/pacific-rhododendron-rhododendron-macrophyllum/
https://www.wnps.org/files/138/Plant-Spotlights/532/Pacific-Rhododendron.pdf
https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi
The best form of Rhododendron macrophyllum is Albion Ridge.
https://www.wnps.org/files/138/Plant-Spotlights/532/Pacific-Rhododendron.pdf
To meet regular garden conditions, Trillium Lane Nursery grafted their Albion Ridge onto the hybrid Helen Druecker.
Rhododendron macrophyllum Albion Ridge can be seen at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden.
https://www.gardenbythesea.org
http://www.hirsutum.info/rhododendron/hybrids/detail.php?start=&id=3049
Admission is free. There is plenty of parking in the parking lot near the North (back) entrance of the Masonic Lodge, facing State Street, which can be seen on Google Maps in the area of 37°22'47.3"N 122°06'56.0"W.
Information on the De Anza Chapter, and the rest of the American Rhododendron Society can be found at:
http://www.deanza-ars.com
https://www.rhododendron.org
https://www.rhododendron.org/membership.htm
To find out about drought resistant gardens, please come to our meeting.