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This family gardens – and grows – together

How did this Sacramento family spend their summer? Inspiring others on local billboards

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED AUG 26, 2024

The Dal Ben family's front garden no longer has lawn, but does have many happy low-water plants. Courtesy Anthony Dal Ben

Ditching the lawn isn’t just for grown-ups; kids like water-wise gardening, too.

The Dal Ben family of East Sacramento all has green thumbs as parents and kids nurture their slice of nature.

“Our front yard has been a labor of love for many years,” says dad Anthony Dal Ben. “The whole family is involved.”

For their efforts, the Dal Ben family were honored by the Regional Water Authority as “Summer Strong Yard Winners” and featured on local billboards. Read more here: https://bewatersmart.info/summer-strong-yard-winners/

The transformation from traditional turf to flower-filled garden started simply:

“We had a lawn we didn’t use,” Dal Ben explains. “It was difficult to mow. At the State Fair, they had a low-water landscape design display. I always looked at that section. Everybody has a lawn. I thought it would be cool NOT to have a lawn.”

As with many people, home ownership prompted Dal Ben to think more about plants. “When I bought a house, I got interested in gardening,” he says. “We rebuilt our entire Craftsman house. We took everything down to the bones. We wanted to make the property look really nice, too.”

Dal Ben familu — The Dal Bens show they are Summer Strong.
This is the photo on the BeWaterSmart billboards.
From left are Anthony, Vianna, Camilla and Bradlee.

Dal Ben, his wife, Maria, and three children – son Bradlee, 11, and daughters Vianna, 9, and Camilla, 5 – became an active gardening family.

“We’re constantly doing something,” says Dal Ben, who also creates videos of their gardening adventures. “It’s been really fun.”

At their home, a funky strip of turf next to the street became a forest of 6-foot sunflowers every summer.

“Sunflowers reseed, so the park strip has been solid sunflowers,” he says. “We have an intense amount of bees; that’s really cool.”

In addition, the garden is studded with lavender, geraniums, two large crape myrtles, hollyhocks, poppies, naturalized bulbs and much more.

“It really looks so beautiful,” says Dal Ben, who works as a maintenance engineer for Sutter Health. “We get so many compliments from neighbors or people walking by. (The garden) gives our yard personality.”

The garden makeover evolved slowly; it’s three years and counting, says Dal Ben, who did all the heavy work himself. All plants were bought at discount, keeping his costs down.

Dal Ben also got big savings on a Rachio smart controller for his new drip irrigation, thanks to the City of Sacramento (his water provider) and the Regional Water Authority.

Taking care of the old lawn wasn’t fun for anyone, he notes. “I’m no longer mowing the lawn! That’s a big time saver. As for water, we’re now all on drip, so there are savings there, too. There’s still work but it’s not bad. We enjoy gardening.”

Dal Ben urges other families to find their inner gardeners and create a yard that reflects their style. “Make it unique, make it your own. Instead of just plain lawn, there are all sorts of cool plants to match your personality.”

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

water-wise gardening Regional Water Authority billboards contest Sacramento gardening August summer irrigation lawn removal flowers Be Water Smart East Sacramento

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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