DESERT GARDEN BLOOMS AS AN ANTIDOTE TO WATER SHORTAGE.

Byline: > JOSH SISKIN

We are concerned about water usage in our yard and are wondering if you could give us some tips on desert gardening.

-- Dolores Mueller, Valencia

In designing a desert garden, you could choose from thousands of plants, including many ornamental species you see in Valencia. The only horticultural option you would exclude from a desert garden or landscape would be a lawn.

In our climate, a major motivation to plant a desert garden is the desire to save water. Just by eliminating your lawn, entirely or in part, you would diminish your water usage significantly. Even a pond or water garden, per square foot, requires less water than a lawn.

Rather than convert an entire yard into a desert garden, you may want to start with a delimited portion -- or just one planter -- to see if you like the results.

Remove the existing plants and put down a 2-inch layer of decomposed granite as a ground cover. The buff-colored granite will serve as a canvas for the work of botanical art you will be creating upon it.

Alternatively, you could first install your plants and then surround them with crushed brick, colored gravel, or any other hardscape ground cover that strikes your fancy. In Tucson, Ariz., I saw many desert gardens developed in this way.

Plants in desert gardens typically have either eye-catching foliage or bark, statuesque forms, or both.

While "lush green" and "vibrantly colorful" may describe the classic, if conventional, garden of our imaginations, "exotic" would be the appropriate adjective for the desert garden. Evidence of this is abundant at the Desert Garden within the Huntington Library's Botanical Gardens in San Marino.

Many herbs make excellent choices for desert gardens. The volatile oils that impart fragrance to their leaves also provide them with a measure of drought tolerance. Lavender may be the most water-thrifty herb grown for its fragrance, and a desert garden consisting exclusively of Lavendula varieties would be an olfactory delight.

Trees for desert gardens provide shade that will further cut down on water use. Although trees indigenous to deserts do not provide much shade, native oaks do, particularly the coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) and the valley or white oak (Quercus lobata).

Water-thrifty grasses should also be considered. Scores of ornamental grasses, in gold, red and blue are available.

For the full palette of California native plants, many requiring minimal watering, visit the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley, www.theodorepayne.org, [phone].

What trees grow in the San Fernando Valley, stay green all year, do not get too tall and do not shed messy berries or other debris?

-- Eloise Reed, Northridge

Citrus is a possibility, especially on semi-dwarf rootstocks. Some select the Australian willow (Geijera parviflora) and the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum) for medium-sized evergreens.

There are also small magnolias such as "Little Gem" that you might want to take a look at, as well as the mayten tree (Maytenus boaria).