Dry Oasis – Experimenting With Water-Wise Gardening
Nov 13, 2021
Always interested in naturalistic gardening techniques and how they work in unique situations, we've become avid readers of Hans blog, Dry Oasis. A collector of succulents, Hans has been experimenting with water-wise gardening on his property in the Bay area of Northern California (And blogging about it) since 2018.
He is constantly sharing useful insight and practical knowledge about everything from plant material to hardscape (plus area garden excursions).
Hans has been gracious enough to allow us to re-post one of his most recent blogs as he adds a legion of large rock steps to his hill-side garden. So please enjoy...
Rock Steps
I've been working on the steps which connect the bridge with the upper garden path. They've been left as dirt footholds cut from the hillside for the last year+ which has made getting between the the two areas precarious.
Because of the fire hazard all grass is cut short during the dry season. Most of the year that means the hillsides in our neighborhood are left looking barren.
There wasn't enough horizontal room ("run") to meet the existing top landing (shown below) so I disassembled it's edge and reused the boulders as steps.
As you can see below - to make this happen required sacrificing about a foot of the landing. Oh well.
As the "rise to run" ratio steepens on the steps they become less comfortable to negotiate. I find myself slowing and looking down with each step. This makes a natural spot to add smaller, specimen plants - maybe Agave Kissho Kan, or an Agave 'Cream Spike'.
I'll add rock to hold the right edge of this path which will in turn open up new planting space. I'm hoping to create a sense of enclosure with some larger sized Leucadendron etc on the downhill side of the path. It may be hard to tell from the above picture but eventually these steps will form a ribbon of rock cutting through a green landscape.
Over the next weekend
Looking at the above shot makes me wonder when does a garden turn into a landscape? I'm not sure I understand the difference but vaguely think of landscapes as a slice of nature - perhaps a bit unkempt or even unfriendly. Gardens are our creations while landscapes just exist and don't care whether we fit in or not. I've borrowed some of the later for this garden so it looks like a stylized version of a natural space. If I push it too far will it feel like a landscape with garden-ish qualities? Someone walked by a few months ago and complemented the garden but then stopped mid-sentence and wondered out loud if it even was a garden. Good question - I thought it was.
By this point the steps have been given a layer of decomposed granite aka "Gold Fines" as well as edging. The common surface gives the steps a new sense of uniformity that I like.
The concept of a hybrid garden / landscape and at what point one turns into another is fascinating for some reason. I don't think there's a magic point at which one turns into another - it seems more likely there's nuance involved. That's good because it gives us gardener's room to operate and find what suits us and the environment. Maybe another way to think about the difference is gardens are made by us to serve our needs and wouldn't last long without our care whereas landscapes existed before us and regardless of us - though they may still serve some of our needs. Both can be beautiful and inviting but one is controlled while the other is wild.
Maybe the hybrid garden / landscape is intriguing because it's hard to categorize. It's a little wild and dangerous but still manicured and ultimately artificial - so safe.
More time passes...
I just learned about the old adage -
It’s better to plant a 50-cent plant in a $5 hole, than a $5 plant in a 50-cent hole.
Some landscapers / horticulturalists disagree with this sentiment which I think has mainly to do with amending the native soil. I have mixed feelings about the topic - but what is apparent on a hillside is that the "$5" can easily be spent on labor and materials to hold the plant in place!
With a lot of effort I planted a total of... 5 plants. Two of them were the young Euphorbia amarak's which I thought might punctuate the hillside dramatically over the coming years.
Nestled in a rocky corner is one new Agave...
I was reading some very practical advice recently that mentioned gardens should compliment the architectural style of nearby buildings. For example a modern house might benefit from clean lines in the garden and avoid overly ornate pots or statuary. I came away feeling a little constrained until I realized this hillside garden is completely disconnected from our house - you can't even see our house while in the garden. This space can take whatever flight of fancy it wants because it stands alone. It is it's own thing.
Finishing
The real rain has arrived a little early this year with a classic pineapple express hitting Northern CA. This is great news for our corner of the west because we certainly need the moisture. It's not great news for my efforts to put some finishing touches along the step's edges.
It's hard to tell from a distance but I added about 50+ lbs of smaller rocks around the plants late yesterday. When I'm lucky the rocks and plants have complementary hues.
There is more work to do in this area around the steps but I'll save that for another post. With the dramatic turn in our weather this seems like a good stopping point.
Happy Landscaping!
-Hans Brough
If you would like to learn more about Hans work, including the building of his hill-side garden (there's a great 3-part series on dry creek building), his collection of unique plant material and/or all other things, Dry Oasis, check out his site where you can read his posts free of charge and follow him on Instagram, @dryoasisgardening
-Sara-Jane & Alicia at Virens Studio
Virens Studio are planting design specialists in the Vancouver, Canada area that love to build exceptional naturalistic garden spaces and chat all about it. And don't forget to follow us @virensstudio on instagram.
© Virens Studio 2025 (all photos are used for demonstration purposes and do not necessarily belong to us.)
I feel like we’ve all seen the iconic fairytale image of a hedgerow. A dark thicket of brambles; spooky leafless trees. With the viewer surprising a wisened old crone toting her basket full of dangerously pretty blooms or a small collection of polk-a-dotted mushrooms. Perhaps there’s a hedgehog or an owl peeping out from a…
Hedgerows: Magic on the Fringes
Virens Studio is expanding our landscape and planting design business! We’re shifting from talking about the ecological benefits of coppicing shrubs, to actually doing it. And, we’d like to give everyone a chance to get involved. What We’re Up To Early next year, we’ll be installing a short-rotation willow coppice on our Fraser Valley farm….
Welcome to The Coppice: Introducing Hedgecraft Willow
As do many of you, I’m sure, we have a Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus) problem. Yes, they may offer up delicious dark berries at the right time of the year, but their prickly canes will just as easily take your eye out and pull at your hair. They push in quickly and tend to take…
The Astonishing Story of Luther Burbank & His Himalayan Giant (Blackberry)
