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| LIFE IN SOLERA | OCTOBER 2022 | 7 With water restrictions, you might be considering re-landscaping the front yard. There are several choices. One choice is artificial turf. The requirements for artificial turf are found in the DRC Guidelines. If turf is installed, plants are not necessary. Another choice is rocks; if rocks are used, plants are necessary. A sample of the rocks must be included with Home Improvement Application. Also permissible is 50 percent turf and 50 percent rocks. Until BCVWD imposes different restrictions, front landscape designs shall be comprised of a minimum of 50 percent softscape and a maximum of 50 percent hardscape with the total square footage of the front yard area. Hardscape materials include rocks, tile, slate, driftwood, wood chips, etc. No bare dirt areas are permitted. Covering the entire front yard with rocks or painting the "yard" is not permitted. Potted plants are not considered part of the 50/50. Softscape is a form of living vegetation which will cover the desired area in two growing seasons. Know the growing dimensions of your plants. Drought-tolerant plants are a good example of vegetation that requires less water and minimal care. Some ideas that you might consider, but not have seen, are following. Plants that are less than 1 ft tall and spread less than 2 ft include agave cream spike and Queen Victoria century plant. Sedums are a type of ground-cover that stays relatively close to the ground. They come in a variety of leaf texture and color. Burros tail or donkeys tail/ears are a couple examples of different leaf texture. Chopsticks are a cylindrical leaf plant that grows upright. They are a bluish/gray and have a whitish overcoat of color dampening effect. They look like bullets coming up out of the ground. Because of their steel blue coloration, they make a nice contrast to green plants. Examples of color are: golden creeping sedum; creeping blue sedum; coral red hens and chicks; Angelina creeping sedum (bright yellow in summer changing to golden-orange in autumn); Autumn joy (red); and blue spruce. Check out different plants online. The above plants were suggested by Chris at Cherry Valley Nursery. Whatever you decide, have ideas of plants and designs for your contractor/landscaper. Drive the community. There is a variety of front yard landscaping - many good and a few bad. REMEMBER - you must have your detailed plans approved by the DRC committee before you begin your project. Design Review Committee Sedum telephium Sedum reflexum (Angelina) Queen Victoria Century plant THE PLANTING PIVOT: RE-LANDSCAPING YOUR FRONT YARD

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