San Francisco Bay Area-Friendly Residential Landscaping

The Alameda, Calif. County Waste Management Authority Board’s San Francisco Bay Area-friendly residential landscaping tips include the use of permeable paving on the driveway and walkway to the front door, along with 16 other design suggestions.
Photo: Belgard

While investigating an ordinance that the city of Fremont, Calif. passed, we came across a related agency—the Alameda County Waste Management Authority Board. Alameda County is in the southeast section of the San Francisco Bay Area, and Fremont is within that county. The Fremont City Council approved in June 2009 a resolution requiring city landscape projects 10,000 square feet or larger to meet minimum requirements set forth by the Alameda County Waste Management Authority Board.

The Alameda County Waste Management Authority Board and the Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board, we learned, operate as one public agency and has a website www.StopWaste.Org. The agency offers grants and funding, tips on San Francisco Bay Area-friendly gardening and landscaping to keep in harmony with the natural conditions of the San Francisco Bay watershed.

Regarding its San Francisco Bay Area-friendly residential landscaping, the agency lists on its website 17 design suggestions that we thought worth mentioning:

1. Permeable paving on driveway and walkway to front door.
2. Water channel from roof to a cistern.
3. Water available for wildlife.
4. Pavers with spaces and low-water plants in between.
5. Front lawn replaced by diverse plants with many Calif. native ground covers, shrubs and trees and no invasive species.
6. All plants given the space to grow to their natural size.
7. Plants selected to match the microclimate.
8. Irrigation controller set according to plant needs, soil moisture and weather.
9. A repository to catch leaves for mulch.
10. Deciduous trees placed to the west and southwest for summer cooling.
11. Mulch paths to keep soil covered.
12. Drip irrigation where feasible.
13. Raised beds constructed from plastic or composite lumber.
14. Compost bin to recycle plant and kitchen debris.
15. A windbreak of evergreen trees to block north winter winds
16. Trees not topped but pruned properly.
17. Small lawn in back where family will use it.