Elk Grove landscape designer shows how to use native plants to create bird- and bee-friendly gardens
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?”
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.”
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Flowers in My Back Yard Series
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?
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden checklist for week of May 10
Take it easy during that high heat – then get to work! Your garden is calling.
* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.
Contact Us
Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening
WINTER
Is edible gardening possible indoors?
Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
How to squeeze more food into less space
Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Win the weed war by tackling them in winter
Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
Ways to win the fight against weeds
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
Powered by California Local
