For The Union-Tribune
If there’s anyone bound to win a garden contest, it would certainly be Janet Chambers. Chambers is the 2025 Vista Irrigation District winner of the WaterSmart Landscape Contest for the design of her front yard. Now retired from her work as an office manager for a small printing broker, she has previously been a garden center manager in Oregon, worked for a landscaper, is a former master gardener and had her own landscape management business in the Bay Area. And, she has an associate degree in horticulture from junior college. But, mostly, she says, these days “I like to just play.”
Chambers and her husband Marc, a retired electrical inspector for the city of San Diego, bought their 1980s home in 2014. Back then, the 30-by-50-foot front yard space was pretty much a thick green lawn with a mature liquidambar tree. The original cement walkway from the garage and driveway leading to the small patio in front of the front door remains. In the squarish garden bed by the house that was created by an angled walkway, there was a seedling fan palm tree — since removed — along with still-intact rose bushes and a hibiscus, along with a collection of smaller flowering plants.
Before: The front yard is largely covered with grass, and a liquidambar tree. A tree fern centers a planting bed near the entrance. (Janet Chambers)
The front yard in transition. (Janet Chambers)
After: A stone patio offers a small seating area with a view of the front yard. (Janet Chambers)
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Before: The front yard is largely covered with grass, and a liquidambar tree. A tree fern centers a planting bed near the entrance. (Janet Chambers)
As soon as the Chamberses moved into the home, Janet Chambers began work on the yard. She left the liquidambar tree but starved the lawn of water, easing the process to pulling it all out. Then she got to work on designing and planting a wide variety of plants, from a fruitless olive tree to a collection of salvias, cacti, succulents and low water flowering plants, including natives. It took her two years to get most of the garden completed — no gardener believes their garden is ever actually complete.
A bee approaches a chandelier of kalanchoe blooms. The garden gets “lots of bees,” Chambers said. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Last year, she attended an event held by the San Diego Floral Association in Balboa Park’s Casa de Prado. The speaker was from the city of San Diego water district.
“Her presentation was about drought tolerant gardens,” Chambers recalled. “She brought up the annual WaterSmart Landscape Contests held by water districts across the county and encouraged us all to enter. I went to the WaterSmart Landscape Contest website, which listed all the water districts, found mine and entered.”
She found out last July that she had won and received a $250 gift card to Lowe’s, which she used to buy some plants, wall stones and bamboo fencing for a project in their side yard.
The front entrance welcomes neighbors who often stop by. Chambers has shared both clippings and advice. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The inspiration
Before moving to San Diego, the Chamberses had lived for years in Central Oregon on 10 acres.
“The garden was about 2 acres, mostly flowers,” she said. “I’ve got to have my zucchini, have to have my tomatoes, but otherwise, have to have my flowers. And so color is really important to me. And I always knew that it was going to be a drought tolerant garden.”
Chambers explained that she had grown up in the Bay Area and was always encouraged to save water. That ethos extended to her time in the high desert of Central Oregon and later in San Diego. So, her goal was to create a colorful drought tolerant garden — a pollinator garden.
A ladybug crawls across a sage plant leaf. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Groups of kalanchoe blooms provide bursts of color. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Bright red Hester aloe flowers bloom in front of bird of paradise plants. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A serve-yourself little free library and bench are along the street. Small white alyssum flowers grow at the base of the bench. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Detail view of small colorful milkweed flowers, some of the many plants that Chambers specifically chose to attract pollinators to the garden. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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A ladybug crawls across a sage plant leaf. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
“We now have a ton of butterflies, hummingbirds and bees, lots of bees,” she said.
Chambers gets inspiration by spending time in public gardens and goes on garden tours. But she also, of course, came to the project with a lot of experience.
“Mostly, I got the inspiration from the plants themselves,” she said. “The whole idea is ‘the right plant in the right place.’ You have to plant things according to their water needs and sun and shade needs. But after that, it’s sort of having an eye. You just have to look and thread the color through to make a flow.”
Two golden barrel cacti nestle near a selection of varied succulents on the side of the yard, in full sun. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The details
With an eastern exposure that allowed plants to enjoy full morning sun without suffering from intense afternoon rays, Chambers could build a collection of plants that would thrive. Spreading under the liquidambar is a field of white alyssum.
“I love the smell of alyssum, and the bees really like it,” Chambers explained. “It’s one of the earliest bloomers that the bees can get to. It covers up the dirt, and lizards need hiding places. Little critters, like caterpillars, actually like to be underneath it.”
On the sunny January day when I was visiting, there was a soft blizzard of bees throughout the garden — not just on the alyssum but also on the ‘Provence’ lavender, the lantanas, the red-flowered buckwheat, the salvias — ‘Mystic Spires Blue’ salvia, Germander sage, Mexican hummingbird sage — and the geraniums.
Colorful lantana plants catch the eye in Chambers’ front yard. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
By the alyssum and beside a sundial are tufts of Mexican feathergrass, which Chambers warned is an emerging invasive grass in California. One corner by the driveway has a large jade plant. Nearby, under the liquidambar is a lavender “free library” she put up, along with a comfy bench.
“A lot of people use the bench: A lot of walkers of different generations come and hang out there,” Chambers said. “Some read stories.”
Morning sun shines though fruitless olive trees above, with two large aloe plants below. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Bougainvillea in vivid bloom continues a wave of color that Chambers has threaded across the front yard. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Sunshine dapples Nasturtiums and decorative rocks. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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Morning sun shines though fruitless olive trees above, with two large aloe plants below. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
On the other side of the bench is a Palmer’s Indian mallow, with soft, velvety round leaves. It’s surrounded, of course, by alyssum and near a couple of lavender bushes. Marguerite daisies in full bloom dot the yard. Chambers has milkweed, which draws monarch butterflies. It’s a busy space for critters.
There’s a row of bird of paradise plants that her next door neighbors planted on the same side of the yard, near her fruitless olive tree, that are striking above a selection of succulents and cactus. Chambers is nurturing a small ocotillo. Nearby are a couple of golden barrel cacti. There’s kalanchoe, a redflower false yucca, propeller plants and thriving foxtail agaves. Chambers also has nasturtiums popping up all over. Her purple passion flower attracts Gulf fritillaries, bright orange butterflies with black markings.
Chambers has her favorite nurseries. She bought many of her plants at Briggs Nursery & Tree Co. in Vista, Waterwise Botanicals in Bonsall, Green Thumb Nursery in San Marcos, El Plantio Nursery & Landscaping in Escondido, Ganter Nursery in Vista and Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano.
“Plants kind of jump in my basket,” she said with a laugh.
A bee ventures inside the bell-like blossom of a kalanchoe flower. The striking clusters of delicate blooms are a key attraction in the garden at the moment. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Plants weren’t Chambers’ only yard project. She and her husband installed a footpath from the street up to the little patio filled with decomposed granite (DG) from Evergreen Nursery. They changed out sprinkler spray heads for drip irrigation. And they carved out a space by the house for seating. Using graph paper, she drew up the plans and the couple bought reclaimed granite bricks from Modern Builders Supply in San Marcos and slate bricks from KRC Rock. They laid down DG and did a grid that alternated the two stones, separating them with sand. Chambers said it was hard work and done in spurts in the heat. But now they have a small bistro table, chairs and an umbrella that they use all the time.
The couple have been enjoying their yard, sometimes with their three young grandchildren who live with one of their two sons in Oceanside. Their other son is in North Carolina and has three older kids. They also enjoy the company of neighbors and their kids.
“I always keep a few dandelions in the yard for the kids,” she said with a smile. “That’s my excuse for not going after every dandelion.”
It’s a close community and neighbors often stop by.
“They compliment the garden, they love the fact that there’s a lot more butterflies in the garden,” she said. “I give neighbors clippings. And young couples who want to start gardens will ask me, ‘Where do you start?’ ”
But Chambers loves the little boys and girls who want to come in and pick flowers and puts their parents at ease.
“Absolutely, the garden is for people. They can tromp through. If they step on a plant, it’s unfortunate, but they’re experiencing the garden,” she said. “It’s great. It’s been 100 percent positive.”
Costs
All told, Chambers estimates she and her husband spent $1,800 to $2,000 on the project. The plants cost about $500, mulch and soil amendments about $200 and it was another $200 for the drip irrigation. The hardscape materials ran about $900. They did the work.
A closer look: Janet Chambers
Plants used: ‘Mystic Spires Blue’ salvia (Salvia x ‘Balsalmisp’), Germander sage (Salvia chamaedryoides), Mexican hummingbird sage (Salvia leucantha), ‘Sugar Plum’ hardy geranium (Geranium incanum), Cranesbill geranium (Geranium ‘Rozanne’), ‘Moonshine’ yarrow (Achillea x ‘Moonshine’), blanket flower (Gaillardia aristata ‘Arizona Sun’), blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), California poppies (Eschscholzia California), red-flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum grande var. rubescens), butterfly weed (milkweed) (Asclepias curassavica), ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens), golden barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii), redflower false yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora), Lantana camara yellow ‘New Gold’ and pink/yellow ‘Irene’ (Lantana camara L.), trailing lantana (Lantana montevidensis: trailing purple), firecracker or cigar plants (Cuphea hybrid), artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus), Texas Ranger (Leucophyllum frutescens), Palmer’s Indian mallow (Abutilon palmeri), apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua), ‘Provence’ lavender (Lavandula x intermedia ‘Provence’), Mexican feathergrass (Stipa tenuissima — caution! this is an emerging invasive grass in California), passionflower vine (Passiflora incarnata), fruitless olive tree (Olea europaea ‘Wilsonii’), hollyleaf cherry tree (Prunus illicifolia), pomegranate (Punica granatum)
Estimated costs and any rebates you got: Chambers estimated she spent between $1,800 and $2,000 on the landscape but acknowledges that it’s a rough estimate because she adds plants, seeds, fertilizer and mulch every year. Among the costs were plants, mulch and soil amendments, converting irrigation sprayers to drip, and hardscape. The hardscape involved a DG pathway with bricks lining the path and a cobblestone patio. She, her husband and brother did all the labor.
Chambers said that the rebate program wasn’t around when they pulled up the grass so they didn’t get any rebates.
A sundial helps keep track of time in the garden. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A bee hovers among lavender blooms, a drought tolerant mainstay of the Vista garden. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
An award reflects Janet Chambers’ first place win in 2025 for her garden transformation in the Vista Irrigation District’s Watersmart Landscape Contest. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
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A sundial helps keep track of time in the garden. (Charlie Neuman / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Who did the work: Chambers did the design and installed all elements. Her husband helped with the patio and her brother hauled the DG for the path.
How long it took: Chambers started working on the garden 11 years ago when she and her husband first moved into the house. The initial landscape design involved getting rid of the lawn, adding a decomposed granite (DG) path, and doing the first plantings over the space of a year or two. Installing the cobblestone patio was a big project, which took months. There are approximately 800 stones, with no two alike, and they were all dry-laid. Planting the garden is an ongoing process — a garden is never completely “done.”
Water savings: The entire front yard was all turf grass and very green when they moved in. She said it was probably being watered daily. Now Chambers waters three days a week, three zones at five minutes each. The irrigation is turned off from mid-October until at least February (depending on the rainy season).
Advice:
• Don’t be in a hurry! Take time to look at your garden from more than one angle and time of day. Take your time choosing plants, different plants look good and bloom at different times of the year.
• If you don’t recognize a seedling, let it grow for a while. It could very well be a desirable volunteer, not a weed!
• It’s OK and sometimes necessary to move plants around. They might need more or less water, more or less sun, or might simply be getting too big for the space.
• It’s OK to keep fallen leaves and green sprouts on the ground for a while. Completely bare, scraped earth isn’t nature’s way.
• Don’t spray pesticides if at all possible. You’ll kill many more “good” bugs than “bad” bugs. Insecticides harm butterflies, bees, and the birds that depend on bugs for food.Your garden is meant to be enjoyed!
About the series
This is the seventh in an occasional series on 2025 winners of the annual WaterSmart Landscape Contest, conducted in partnership with the San Diego County Water Authority. To learn about entering the next contest, visit landscapecontest.com.
For details on classes and resources through the WaterSmart Landscape Makeover Program, visit watersmartsd.org. Landscape rebates are available through the Socal WaterSmart Turf Replacement Program at socalwatersmart.com.