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Wildlife habitat, planted by a pro

Elk Grove landscape designer shows how to use native plants to create bird- and bee-friendly gardens

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 16, 2024

Soleil Tranquilli, a professional landscape designer, says her own yard is "a demonstration garden of a sort," crammed with habitat. Courtesy Soleil Tranquilli

In Elk Grove, Soleil Tranquilli is a force for nature – creating wildlife-friendly habitat, one garden at a time.

A professional landscape designer, Tranquilli has transformed scores of local yards into native plant-filled oases for birds and bees. That includes her own.

“This yard is a model to inspire others,” she says. “It’s also a form of service, putting my money where my mouth is. It’s a demonstration garden of a sort. How much habitat can we cram into a small garden?”

Woman in garden — This is the photo of Soleil Tranquilli that appeared
on Summer Strong billboards this summer.

For her efforts, Tranquilli was honored by the Regional Water Authority as a Summer Strong Yard winner. Her garden was featured on local billboards to inspire other residents to transform their ho-hum lawns into so much more.

Packed with drought-tolerant natives and other low-water plants, her landscape has something blooming every season, from native bulbs to showy milkweed to desert mallow. The more native flowers, the better to attract pollinators.

“There’s activity going on all year, every day in our garden,” she adds. “From the sky above to the soil below our feet, it’s a mini, working watershed ecosystem.”

Owner of Tranquill Gardens, Tranquilli designed her yard’s own makeover from thirsty lawn to sustainable paradise, using her own contractor and expertise. The transformation took patience.

“We left the yard mulched for eight years after lawn removal, concentrating on removing the Bermudagrass,” she explains. “During this preparatory time, we had tons of California poppies! Getting rid of the mower and using that storage space for other things was liberating!”

Besides water savings, a no-lawn yard has added benefits.

“Maintenance is the big story here,” Tranquilli says. “Generally, we simply blow off leaves and bloom confetti from our drive and pathways (and) manage dry poppy and bulb foliage. This is about once a month, or maybe as much as a few minutes every week during the spring when it’s really growing fast.”

Her favorite part of her garden? Her trees. “Right now, the shade is my favorite Summer Strong feature!” she says.

Besides her well-established shade trees, Tranquilli loves some of her more colorful additions such as ‘Bubba’ desert willow and California redbud. Trees are a good starting point for lawn-to-habitat makeovers, she notes.

“I advise folks to think simple, think trees,” Tranquilli says. “Mulch the lawn, plant trees. Watch what happens and who comes to visit.”

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

California natives Sacramento gardening water-wise landscape habitat gardening trees birds bees Be Water Smart lawn removal pollinator plants native plants Regional Water Authority

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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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