Just a block away from La Mesa’s downtown is a residential street lined with sweet vintage Craftsman and Spanish-style homes. Most have lawns in their front yards, but there are some unique gardens that show off the owners’ distinctive style. One of them belongs to Joy Andrea, a petite, retired phys ed teacher who spent her career at Sweetwater Union High School District.
Andrea has lived on the street since the late 1960s, originally in an apartment. She became friendly with an elderly neighbor who lived in a 1925 Spanish-style home.
“Her name was Mrs. Greenwell. When I lived in the apartment, I came to visit her one time and she was sweeping in the house,” Andrea recalled. “I took the broom from her and started sweeping the entryway. And I just had this overwhelming feeling that this was my house. It was just there. ‘This is going to be my house.’ And it came true.”
Andrea moved into the home as a tenant and, in the early 1970s, Mrs. Greenwell sold the house to her but continued living with Andrea until she moved into a retirement home in the late 1970s.
“She was very particular about things, so I didn’t do much to the house until she moved out,” Andrea recalled.
WaterSmart makeover: A low-water ‘mountain glade’ in EncinitasAmong the changes she began to make was to the 50-foot-by-25-foot front yard, which at the time was covered in brown Bermuda grass with a large diseased pine tree that dropped needles on the roof. Andrea got rid of both and, over the decades, she has installed trees, bushes and assorted plants, added statuary — mostly animals plus two Virgin Marys — and created a unique, vibrantly colored low-water garden.
Last year, it drew the attention of a Helix Water District employee.
“I found a note on my door from one of the gals at the water district,” Andrea recalled. “She says, ‘We’re having a contest and I think you should enter.’ The next day I was outside gardening and she showed up here with an application. I thought, well, the universe is giving me this opportunity. I’d better respond.”
Andrea did respond — and she was named the district’s 2023 WaterSmart Landscape Contest winner. For that, she was awarded a $250 gift card to The Home Depot.
The inspiration
Andrea, who also shares a home in Washington state with her partner and two dogs, didn’t have a formal plan, but she explained that she wanted to create something sustainable.
“My garden has been evolving since the ’70s when I bought the house,” Andrea said. “That’s a long time, but it’s been an ongoing labor of love. I wanted to create an old-fashioned, natural look to complement my 1925 historical home — a sustainable garden; a haven for birds and bees, something unique, beautiful, and fun.
“I chose unusual plants that were drought resistant and interesting. I brought in large rocks to complement the foliage. I created two rock sculptures in the front of the yard: a donkey with rope bridle and saddle, and a prehistoric bird. These were made out of colored rocks. When the plants grew over them, I made them into rock streams. I have many cement animal statues that make the garden interesting and whimsical.”
Andrea focused on silver colors and purple as her theme. Over the years she has tried various plants, and if something didn’t work out, she’d take it out. The garden gradually coalesced into a distinctive statement that reflects her love of nature, her sense of whimsy and her ion for her house. While she has a gardener who comes in twice a month to keep plants in order by pruning and watering during her time in Washington, Andrea still does a lot of the work around the garden herself.
The details
The garden is divided in half by a path leading from the sidewalk to the front door. The left side is dominated by an enormous orchid tree with long brilliant fuchsia flowers that is thriving in the western exposure. Below is a field of pink African daisies, or gazanias. Nestled among the flowers is a grouping of stone birds. A stone armadillo is nearby.
A queen palm towers on the far left, and in the corner is a black acacia tree that she cut back dramatically. Nearby are birds of paradise, an almost full-size statue of a deer with a full rack (that Andrea worries will get broken off by mischievous kids on Halloween) and the occasional succulent-filled pots.
At the front left corner of the house stands a Virgin Mary statue that she brought up from Rosarito. Just at the entrance to the house are bottlebrush bushes on either side of the walkway.
On the right side of the walkway, the gazanias also spread out as groundcover. Andrea planted roses, a New Zealand tea tree and a crepe myrtle. She also carved out a little area that holds a grouping of different sized rocks and boulders surrounding a fountain filled with green glass rocks, and over which a stone rabbit hovers. At the front, near the sidewalk, a tall rock pedestal holds a statue of the Virgin Mary.
WaterSmart makeover: Olivenhain homeowner is the raining champ“I designed the rock sculpture that s a beautiful statue of the Virgin Mary,” Andrea said. “She is surrounded by roses and is the focus of the garden. I wanted to make something where people could stop and have a quiet moment. It’s meditative.”
In front of the statue is a gathering of mounds of blue fescue enveloping a loose collection of manzanita branches, itself very sculptural.
And, of course, to get her purple fix are dramatic Pride of Madeira bushes with their long spikes of purple flowers.
Andrea has a sprinkler system that she hired someone to install years ago, but recently the pipe that directs the water to the system broke. While she’s waiting for it to be repaired, she’s been hand watering.
Over all the decades Andrea has worked on the garden, it’s pretty much been the result of her labor, even hauling in the rocks and planting trees.
“I never had a landscaper and I have a gardener to do basic maintenance while I’m gone, and I’ve done most of the work myself,” she said.
The garden has long been beloved by the neighbors.
“I’m never out here that somebody doesn’t walk by and tell me that they love my garden,” she said. “We’ll talk and I’ll ask if they want a cutting.
“I didn’t want to do the rocks and succulents,” she added. “It’s easier, but it’s boring. And I wanted to get old-fashioned. This house dates back to 1925 and I wanted something that would complement it.”
Costs
Because the garden has been a work in progress for more than 40 years, Andrea has no tabulation of what it’s cost over the decades. She picked up some rocks and boulders at nurseries, but others she was able to get for free at nearby construction sites. The plants came from various nurseries over the years. And she did almost all of the labor herself, other than having the sprinklers installed professionally.
Water saved
Similarly, since Andrea has worked on the garden for more than 40 years, there was no before and after in identifying water usage or savings.
A closer look: Joy Andrea
The plants used: lantana (Verbenaceae), Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), African daisy (Gazania rigens), blue fescue (Festuca glauca), bottlebrush (Callistemon), bird of paradise (Strelitzia), jasmine (Jasminum), bougainvillea , sword fern (Polystichum munitum), roses (rosa), hebe , Jacobinia (Justicia carnea) and a variety of succulents. Trees include queen palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana), orchid (Bauhinia variegata), Pseudobombax , acacia and crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia)
Estimated costs: Since Andrea started the garden more than 40 years ago, she hasn’t tracked the cost of the plants, boulders or statuary. Some of the rocks and boulders she picked up for free at construction sites.
WaterSmart makeover: A gardenful of succulentsWho did the work? Andrea did almost all of the labor over the years, other than installing the sprinkler system, and she now has the bi-monthly help of a gardener who does basic maintenance while she’s away.
How long did it take? The project started in 1979 and has been an ongoing work in progress.
Water savings: Since the previous owner had let the lawn go and Andrea started work on the garden within a few years of moving in, she has no previous bills from 45 years ago to compare water usage.
Advice:
- I recommend that people chose plants and colors that they like. Plant them and see what happens. If they don’t work, then try something else. There are an abundance of plants available, and there are no rules. … just create a garden that appeals to you and makes you happy.
- Put low foliage in the front of the garden, and taller ones closer to the house.
- Always try to visualize what things are going to look like full grown so you don’t overplant.
- Don’t try to do everything at once. Don’t make it a chore. Let the garden evolve. Enjoy the process. Have fun. Your garden can be wild or peaceful or low key, a lovely reflection of you.
About the series
This is the fifth in an occasional series on 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 sdcwa.org/your-water/conservation.
Landscape rebates are available through the Socal WaterSmart Turf Replacement Program at socalwatersmart.com.
Golden is a San Diego freelance writer and blogger.
