A Stunning Fall Garden Tour with Landscape Designer Roberta Walker

Hi everyone, Janie here. Welcome back. I am so honored to introduce you all to Roberta Walker. She's an award-winning landscape designer. You've been featured in Sunset magazines, different magazines, television, radio. You are the very first person who developed Taking Out the Lawn, Ditching the Lawn. I did. So that's also known as a drought-tolerant landscape. But back when I started Ditching the Lawn, I had some very courageous homeowners that were getting tired of mowing. But the main reason is that we get no rain in the summer. So we spend billions of gallons of water on lawns, and it takes a lot of maintenance. So it was back in 2004, but 2006 was the first Sunset article on Losing the Lawn. And they featured this landscape. This one right here. This one right here. Okay, so we're in Sacramento, California. We're zone 9b, and like Roberta's saying, we get drought. Like we get no rain, and having a lawn, it becomes quite an issue, not only for environmental issues, but also for the homeowner, right? Yes, and financially. Financially. Financially to water it and keep it, you know, all that kind of stuff. Well, the days of having one monthly price for your water is long gone. We all have meters, and now we pay according to the water usage that we use. So you have your indoor usage, and your laundry, your dishwasher, and showers. But the outdoor could be three, four, five, ten times the size of your indoor, and you're using that much water, especially with lawns. Lawns are so thirsty. So did you get a lot of pushback when you started the no lawn movement? Well, you know, I just started designing, and the movement happened because we were in a drought. So I was interviewed on the news, and because, hey, someone's doing something different. We have no water. And then the movement kind of happened organically, and because, again, there's no water, and the idea of price is going up, but mainly the maintenance of mowing constantly. So it all started to roll forward, which is what we needed to do. And for a while, I don't know what year, but I worked with Habitat for Humanity, and we built LEED certified homes, which are the highest in energy efficiency. And on the team, they said, well, what about having cisterns? That's when you capture water, and you keep it in barrels, which is a wonderful idea if you get water more than two or three months out of the year. If it rains, that's a great idea. So we did at one property, because the homeowner wants it, we do it. We put in a 10,000 gallon tank under the garden. It was a massive house, and so when it rains, there are thousands of gallons that come off our roofs. Right. And so it filled up pretty quickly, the 10,000 gallons, and basically it was enough just to water in the summer their 25-foot square garden. Gosh. So cisterns really don't work in our area. They're wonderful in other parts of the world, and even the Midwest, but here... Where you get summer rain. Where you get summer rain. Yeah. We don't. In fact, I mean, this is an unusual year. We had, I think, two different rains. I know, it's been lovely. But you still couldn't dig in the dirt. Right, right. So when you first moved in, how long ago did you move in here? It's been about 25 years. Okay. And I waited two years. Because there used to be a lawn here, right? This was all lawn. So the only, and this was a Modesto ash. I don't know if you know about Modesto ash, but they have a 55-year life. Well, this house was built in 1954. Okay. And apparently they knew that they only lived the planting. So one by one, they all started to die. Oh boy. And then a friend of mine, there was a little brick, a brick planter here, and then she ran into it with her car, and I thought, okay, it's time. That's it. To make the change. And so the tree got cut down. And one thing about when you cut down trees, you've got a root system underneath. Yeah. And so the best way, instead of trying to dig it out and cut it out, is make a mound. And as it decomposes. Oh, I love that. There's all kinds of, you know, wonderful soil bacteria and things going in. And then you plant your new planting, just aside from where the trunk was. Oh, I love that. So that's what you did here. So that's a mound, yeah, where the old tree was. Okay. And then you planted this new, gorgeous Chinese pistache. Yes. This is stunning. So beautiful. It says, thanks for calling me new, because it's about 20 years old now. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. Well, I just have to say it's so fun with the, I first met you, I met you through our friend Michael Glassman, but I met you at the NorCal Home and Garden Show, where you've done some presentations there on drought-tolerant gardening. You're a wonderful speaker. You are a really, really, and it's so interesting to hear what you have to say about landscaping and gardening. So I really appreciate you being here, and I hope we can do more videos in the future. Oh, no, I love talking about it. I want to pick your brain, everything you have to say. Well, you know, I have, over the 30 years I've been doing this, I have thousands of before and after photos. And so when I spoke at the show, and now one of my designers speaks at the show, people love to see before and after, because so many landscapes and homeowners say, there's nothing we could do with this. Right. It's just a mess. It's a lost cause. There is no lost cause in nature. It's just. I love that. Learning how to do it, and you don't have to spend thousands of dollars. You can if you want. Right. But then gardening is all about, you know, you plant the seed, it grows. We're not going to go that far, but if you have patience, you could grow your garden along with your budget. I love that. I absolutely love that. Well, let me grab the camera, and then we'll take a look around your own personal garden, which is an oasis. It, like, this is absolutely beautiful. And we are in basically November at this point, and it is still looking absolutely incredible with no lawn. Yeah, no lawn, but it is fall, so you'll see everything just starting to go to sleep, or lose the leaves. The leaves are falling. I think it makes all the ambiance. I think it's perfect. Okay, Roberta, we are in your front garden right now. I, this garden looks like it's been here forever. It is so beautiful, and the colors, there's so many different colors going on. So, like, where do we start? Where do you want to start? Well, we can start here. So, try to imagine that everything here was just a green lawn. Wow. And when you have a green lawn, I'm just saying it was a green lawn, but generally you have Bermuda grass and all these different weeds. So, let's just, let's just say it was kind of a green palette. Green palette. I love that. Green palette. I love color. I'm just a color fiend. And so, by, you could create, like, a painting for your landscape by using plants that have fall color, or like the red barberry here that's got that deep plum red color. This is amazing. And, and what you have is you have year-round interest. Oh my goodness. This is really incredible. And one thing I have to say that I love about your garden, there are some blooms, but you're not relying on the blooms for color. You're relying on full, a lot of foliage and a lot of texture, which is really, really neat. Well, that's a good point, because so many people love the idea of an English garden. Yes. Yeah. Magazines, beautiful foxglove and roses. We don't have that climate. No. But you could create something lush looking that doesn't flower all the time, that's still full like an English garden. We're at the end now, but I do have a lot of things that do come into bloom. The plumbago and the roses, groundcover roses. Right. So, but to really have a landscape that holds throughout the season, consider using shrubs that have innate color. I love this. So, it's hard to see that there's a berm back here behind all the bushes, because everything has kind of grown up over it. Yeah. Well, if I walk up. Yeah. Okay. Now I'm on top of the berm. This is so, that is so interesting. So, if you're going to cut down a tree, just fill it, fill it in. Yeah. You know, you could chop it up a little bit and fill it in. Yeah. It will decompose. So, if you chopped a huge log and sunk it. Uh-huh. Eventually, you're going to have a swale. Yeah. Yeah. I just, your trees, we have the red Chinese pistache, the black, is that a plum? A black plum. And then, that's another Chinese pistache, but it's green, right? It's green. You know, who knows? Nature is nature. And it probably gets different light quality, because I have a huge signal in the back. And as the sun sets west, that's getting more shade. Oh. So, this is in the sun longer. And knowing your plants and what works where is also really important. Oh, it's just gorgeous. Can you tell me about, what is this plant right here? This is one of my favorite plants. It's beautiful. This is a juniper. Now, there's all kinds of junipers, but the Juniper Conferta, C-O-N-F-E-R-T-A. Okay. All gold, is a ground cover that's drought tolerant. It's just absolutely beautiful. I need this in my garden. This is stunning. This is so beautiful. I have such an appreciation for evergreens and conifers. Yeah. I spent a lot of time, actually, in England, looking and learning how they do things. And I always had this, oh, it's a juniper, because, you know, everyone's got junipers. If they're put in the 1960s and they get lumped, then they're like aliens in your yard. However, when I went to England, I have a family member that has a conifer garden. And so, she had all these conifers and dwarf conifers. And all year, it's stunning. All year. This will always keep its color when everything else, this is going to be cut down because it's a perennial. And so, when things and the crape myrtles will lose their leaves. So, at that point, it's your evergreens that are going to hold down the fork. So, the juniper, and then that's a bottle brush. Yeah. Cholestamon. Yeah. There you go. There you go. Yeah. Is that evergreen? Yeah. Okay. That is, that is just beautiful. And then there are the invasives. This is a outgrass, which is beautiful if you're, you know, if you like to arrange flowers. Yeah. You'll have it all over your yard. Oh, I didn't know that. I was just about to say, oh, I have to, I have to get that in my garden. Let me gift it to you. I don't know if I want it to spread everywhere. This is solidago, which is goldenrod. It just finished blooming. So, it's just this cascade of yellow. Oh, how fun. Oh, this is just so, so beautiful. And then can we do a little look over down this way? Because this is really beautiful as well. So, we have the bottle brush here. What's underneath the bottle brush? So, we have a ground cover rose, which when I do design work, ground cover roses, they bloom constantly. This one's just stopped blooming. Yeah. And maybe every three years I'll cut it back. So, it's not a high maintenance rose like some of your hybrid teas. Yeah. That have to be cut all the way back. So, ground cover roses could take the heat. They could live in part shade. Over here is aloe vera, which it plants itself. And so, it's a great plant because, again, at a certain time of year, it has these long stalks that come out. They're so beautiful. With salmon colored flowers. And hummingbirds love it. And then this lavender, which is, I'd say, probably 10 feet long, was a little one gallon plant. No. Oh, that's amazing. And so, you'll have... And I whack it back now and again, but it's just so wonderful. Lavender is wonderful. And also the bees love it. Yeah. And when you take out your lawn, you're creating a habitat for everything else that lives around, even cats. I know. Look at this cutie. When did he show up? A couple years ago. Isn't he just the cutest old man cat? He's an old man cat that loves to eat. Oh, I love that. That's so cute. So, one thing I'll say about your garden is, I mean, it's absolutely stunning, but you can tell it doesn't need a ton of work. No. Did you do that on purpose? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I have never in all my years and all the clients I've had, never had anyone say, I want a really high-maintenance landscape. No? Did you put in something that I have to work constantly on? Or pay someone to come and check, you know? Or pay someone to come. No. If you plant it right, and either you research your plants or you hire a designer that knows the plants and knows what you like and knows what colors you like. And also, I balance everything with evergreen. So, 80% of the plants in my landscape keep their leaves. So, you never have a dead-looking landscape. You are so good at that. I see what you're saying. This one... That's the Barbary. Careful. Oh, Barbary. Yeah, you're right. But it is so pretty. And then, of course, deer-resistant, right? It's deer-resistant, yeah. And this is its fall color, but in the spring, it's bright red. Oh my gosh. It's called Orange Rocket, and it's just amazing. Orange Rocket. And then underneath here is a Nandina Gulf, and over here is the Nandina Nanas. Nanas. Those turn colors, and they're evergreen, and they are fabulous, and they're deer-resistant. And then behind it is a Circus, which is a redbud. What kind of redbud is this? Well, it was a Weeping... Travelers? No, it's not the Traveler. I think it was Burgundy Hearts. Oh, okay. And I had clients that had someone else plant them, and they wanted it out. So, I transplanted it. And the dead part, the part that was grafted, the normal, is what's come back. Oh, funny. Yeah. Oh, so it kind of took over. And this is a Leucodendron. It's an Australian plant that, again, it was a one-gallon, and now it's massive. And if you could see the little cups at the end, you pay a fortune for those for flower arranging. A fortune. And you'll have all you need. And there's many different kinds. Roberta, I didn't know this got so big. I thought it was a little shrub. This is the Safari Sunset. The other one, yeah, you have to read. I'm making my list. I'm making my list. Okay, so Safari Sunset, that Juniper over there, for sure. And then the Barbary, for sure. I'm making my list. And then there's the Abelia Kaleidoscope next to the Barbary. This one? And so, yeah, so you want colors to play off of each other. And then down below is a Sansolina that has yellow buttons. You'll see the part that hasn't been clipped. Wow. And then there's these grasses. This is a Carex. It's the Prairie Fire Teslar. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I love when this turns that orange color. Yeah, it's really lovely. And then it's, what is this, an Agave? It's an Agave Pariae. And this was a baby from that. Oh, from one of these things. And the one over there. So propagating succulents is easy. Yeah. It's wonderful. And I usually give them away. I give them away to clients or to neighbors. Or to friends who have YouTube channels. For friends, yes. Yeah. I love that you've done the grass next to the Agave. I love that contrast and texture. That's, I mean, that's one thing I have to say. The contrast in this garden is so cool because even if the Barbary and the Abelia look kind of similar, they're different colors. And then you come on to another texture over here. And the Spirulica, the Variegated Yucca. Oh, it's so fun. And then we have the Wolfinii. Euphorbia. Euphorbia. Oh, gorgeous. Again, it just puts itself everywhere. I love, and I love the blooms on this one too. He's just sitting there waiting for me to take a video of him. I know, because this should be about cats. He's like, wait, you're filming? You gotta film me. You gotta film me. All right. So we're making our way to Roberta's backyard. And I just had to stop at your side yard because your side yard is absolutely beautiful. My goodness, look at this. And side yards get ignored. I know. A lot. You did a whole feature on a side yard, right? I did. It's just more space. And with some of my clients that have side yards that are sunny, we put in raised garden beds. Oh, I love it. So you could have a garden. So don't neglect your side yard. This is beautiful. Tell me about the trees that you have up here. Okay. So this is a fruitless mulberry that was here. And I don't know why people have, I don't know, they give fruitless mulberries a bad rap, like, oh, they're so big. But let me tell you, for shade, and when we go into the hundreds, my neighbor, I have my tree guy come and cut and he says, oh, no, I like it. It keeps it nice and cool over here. Yeah. I mean, I can believe it. It's like free air conditioning. Do you know what I mean? My house is always cold, except when it's over a hundred. And then there's a... And that's a pretty big deal for us in California to say my house is always cold. Well, thus we have our tree foundation, which are trying to get people to plant more trees so they have shade and use less electricity. So it works all the way around. Oh my gosh. Look at your garden, Roberta. This is my first time seeing it. Come this way and look down here. Oh my gosh. We'll sort of go all around. Oh, this is incredible. So this was all grass. This was all grass. This is all grass. And now this here on the left. Okay. This is a 300 square foot cottage I built. Oh my goodness. How fun. So, you know, it's for when guests come. I've also had it on Airbnb and... What an Airbnb, huh? To have to stay in this. It's just a garden cottage. Yeah. It's just... Yeah. And we're in town. Like we are in Sacramento. And it does not feel like it at all. This is, I mean, this is incredible. Everything was lawn except for the... See, now look to the right. You see that giant sycamore? Uh-huh. That's what sold the house for me. I saw it over the roof because I wanted... Back then I was younger. I wanted a quarter of an acre and big trees. Yeah. So that tree was there. This shrub, which I think is a Photinia, but it's just so old it doesn't look like a Photinia anymore. It just looks like this big shrub. Yeah. The one behind it up above is a camphor that straddles both my neighbor's yard and mine. Oh, I love. But these, this tree here and that tree here, these are an autumn fantasy and an October glory maple. Oh my goodness. I absolutely love these. That I put in. They're so beautiful. And I love, again, you're looking at more of the change in texture with the camphor versus the maple and then the change in color. And then you even have the weeping cedar. Oh my goodness, Roberta. This is just incredible. And maples will be going red. Yes. They're really beautiful. Yes. Oh, this is really stunning. And then again, I put in the stone path with the concrete. So when people come in, they could roll their suitcase. But then from here out, we have the step zone. Gets more wild. Gets more wild. Do you want to go that way? Yep. Show us that way. And I love that you have art in your garden too. Yeah. Dragonflies. Yeah, little things all over. And reflection balls. And oh, this is just really gorgeous. And I love that this is an arch. And then there's another arch that you're walking through as well. And this is a Cecil Bruner rose. She just got chopped. But once a year, my first Sunset Magazine article. Yeah. We waited for the front one to come into bloom because the entire rose over my doorway, which is the same rose. Yeah. Maybe hundreds of pink roses. It was so beautiful. Oh, this is just stunning. And this is my, this is my more vegetable garden. Okay. In here. And I put the fence to keep the cats out. Okay. Cats think it's a joke. Yeah. They don't, they don't listen to the fence. No. Oh, this is just beautiful. And I love you've done the stones for your raised beds. Yeah. This is just gorgeous. Do you find yourself growing a lot of vegetables or are you kind of lean? Well, I'm, I'm doing more and more now. So it's lettuces now that lettuces are close to $4 a head. I know. I'm growing my own. I grow all my own romaine now. Oh, that's so, that's what I just put in is romaine. Yeah. And I think I put some red lettuce in and I have artichokes. I have kind of all kinds of things here. I'm trying, I'm trying to show every little thing. Cause you have so much cool stuff, like trees and pots and then little statuary and then even little ground cover over here. Is this Mondo grass? Yes. Dwarf Mondo. Oh, it's just so pretty in between the flagstones. It's really gorgeous. Great. And so tough. It's, it's really tough. And then I saw on YouTube, this one didn't really do anything, but if you take ginger and you plant it, these are ginger more ginger. Oh, how fun. And it's really pretty too. Yeah, I know. It's really pretty. Oh, it's gorgeous. And now there is my clumping timber bamboo. So let's make it clear to everybody, clumping, clumping. This is clumping. Whenever Michael Glassman talks about bamboo, people are like, Oh, bamboo. So every type I have here, so I have, this is a, this is called Alphonse. No, that's Alphonse. Sorry. This is old Hemi. I also use a different one, but this has been in for 20 years and this is where it stays because it's clumping. It's clumping. And then, Ooh, this one's really pretty. And that's the Alphonse car over there. Oh, that's really beautiful. And it's got green stripes in this one. We'll only get to about 18 feet high where that's another old Hemi. Yeah. Those are, this is, this is bamboo. Oh, it is 30 or 40 feet, but that height hid the telephone pole behind it. Oh, I didn't even realize there was a telephone pole. I made this fence here out of the dried bamboo. Wow. This was the bamboo that grew. It's just, no. It's when they get brown. No. Oh, Roberta. Oh, I love it. I hope you guys can see that. That is so cool that you grew that. Yeah. That is so neat. And then the smaller ones I use to prop up plants. And then if you come this way, I will show you something that a lot of people don't know. These are called combs. You see the little pointed, those are new bamboo shoots. Oh, yes, yes. Okay. Right there. If you were to cut those off and peel them, you have edible, fresh bamboo shoots. No. That's where they come from. What? Yes. Yes. Those are so cute. Yeah. And so I have a friend that's got a massive bamboo forest and he sells them. He goes to San Francisco and sells them to the Chinese restaurant. Oh my goodness. Oh, I love that. Most people buy canned bamboo shoots, but that's where it's from. I think I've only seen them in cans, like in the stores and stuff. Yeah. Oh, this is so beautiful. And I want to, I don't want to emphasize, but I want to remind everybody we're in a neighborhood. You're not out in the middle of nowhere. We're in a neighborhood and you cannot tell at all. You can absolutely not tell. This is stunning, Roberta. This is so beautiful. Can I go this way? Keep going. Yep. So, and then you'll see, because this landscape has been here for so many years and trees have been here, that there's so many roots. It's really hard to dig in. So I bought these half wine barrels. Oh, I love that. I grew cucumbers and squash and all kinds of things. Right now there's just herbs in there. And this is my mandarin that's just coming in. I love your DG with your bricks. I think that that's so pretty. Yeah. So this is my work in progress. You know, landscapes don't have to be perfect. No. This is nature and there's, you know, always things going on. How boring if it's perfect and you leave it for 20, you know what I mean? How boring. You know what's boring is having all concrete with concrete paving, step stones and astroturf or, you know, fake turf, which is plastic. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. So this, well, this is absolutely gorgeous. Oh, what are, what are these? That's a good question. You don't know. I don't know. So I had maybe eggplant. Well, no, I had a lot of vegetables and all of a sudden I had masses of tomatillos, which I did not plant. So this one's starting to bud. And I said, you know, if, yeah, this is a tomatillo. Oh, tomatillo. I said, if you're going to be a tomatillo, that's it. I've had it. I've had enough tomatillos. Look at how pretty. Did you put that in the sun there on purpose? No. Oh my gosh. But do you know what I mean? It kind of looks like it's like you purposely put that to shine right there. Well, so many people have seen Harry Potter, right? Yeah. You know how the paintings move? Yes. They talk. Yes. That's what your landscape does. Oh, I love that. My daughter, who's obsessed with Harry Potter, is going to love that. Oh, good. That's such a really great way to think about it. Your garden is alive and it moves and it has, you know, the sun shines at different times and illuminates different parts of it. And it's magical. And also it gives you peace, really. There's a lot going on. And if you were to spend an hour in your garden versus an hour on social media, there will be two different things going on in your body. Oh my gosh. And your mind. I need you just to talk to me every day. Janie, get off social media and go in their garden. It's addicting, I know. Oh, this is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Now you have to duck to come this way. Okay. And oh, oh, we got one. Look at you. We got one last. This is Cecile Brunner. No, this, this is a David Austin. It's an old rose. So when these come in in the spring, they're really tight and beautiful. But this is the end. So you never know quite what you're going to get. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then. So pretty. This is my garden storage area. Your work area. And my little garden shed. Even your work area is beautiful. Oh my goodness. What a fun, like I would love to spend a day in this garden. Well, you're welcome. This is just amazing. And then I love that you have rocks still. Is this like a supposed to be a dry creek bed? Dry creek bed. And you know, the easiest way to create a landscape if you don't have a huge budget is mounds and rocks and boulders. So if you do the mound, like in Japanese gardening, a mound represents a mountain in microcosm. A cobblestream that's dry represents a river. Okay. And then a boulder, smaller boulders are more mountains. Yeah. And so if you had a big flat area and you created some mounds, and you could do that easily because you could, you could call pool companies who need to get rid dirt. So, you know, you got to check the dirt. But anyway, you could do that. You could put in a cobblestream and some boulders. And now the basis is set. Now you choose your trees for shade. And remember, when you choose a tree, it's like you're choosing a family member that's going to be there for 80, 90, 100 years. I love that. And that tree, you know, it's a relationship. It's going to give it water and love. And it's a family member. I love that. So there, there you go. You've got the basis, you've got your trees, and then you could start filling in with the pretty stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And a drip system is much less expensive than a whole spray PVC system. Right. And if you have drought tolerant plants, which we started with talking about, you don't need so much. And if everything in here and this back is on a drip system. Oh, that's amazing. So even though I have Japanese maples that are not drought tolerant, they're on a drip system and they do fine. And they're protected from the sun by your shade of your mature trees, which are just so beautiful. And there's, this is a dwarf bamboo. I don't even know what that one's called. Oh, it's gorgeous. I just have to show your pot sitting here. It's just so pretty. Just everything looks so pretty, Roberta. Everything, even the parts that you don't really want me to see. You just walk past them like, wait, this is so pretty. There's little things hidden. Oh, I love. What a fantasy-esque garden you have back here. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like I'm in like The Hobbit or something. Well, I'm so glad. Well, now this is a dogwood that's starting to go. And in the spring, these will all be pink dogwood flowers. Oh, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And then you can see the in the background. Yeah. Man, this is gorgeous. Yeah, that's, that's, see, we were looking below, but yeah, the top of the October Glory. Oh, it's just so beautiful. It is so beautiful. And right behind you is one of my favorite plants. It's called a camysipris mops. Oh, false cypress, false cypress. This is really, and it's evergreen too. So again, there's some beautiful evergreen things. And then this bird of paradise got massive. So you could barely see my three graces in the back. Oh, beautiful. Oh, I love that. What are those behind them? Podocarpus. That's a podocarpus? That's the hencali. It's more weeping. Oh my goodness. I need that. Add that to the list. Need that. Is this a birch? Yes. Wow. And this birch has been here for years and years. I was going to say that birch looks very mature for it because birches sometimes don't do as well. Well, no, no. Well, they used to, but now because of our drought ongoing for years, the water table has dropped into the deep. So many birch are dying. I regularly have my tree guy come and take off what's dead. And it's right by this little fountain, so it gets lots of water. And you can see my hostas, they're in pots and they get lots of water, but I kind of keep it concentrated. Now, why do you have your hostas in pots? Is that because of slugs? Slugs and snails. Yeah. Okay. They get decimated. I believe it. I believe it. And I love them. I look at these back east and people just plant them in parking lots. They plant them in parking lots. And I'm like, what? How does that happen? I don't understand. I know. So anyway, you could have your cake and eat it too. You just need to know where to put it and how to treat it. Yes. Now, what is this? Camellias. This is a camellia. So your camellia is blooming already. I know. Is it a sesenqua? I don't know. Years ago when I bought the house, if you look at the bay, somebody planted the camellias too close to the tree. Okay. So they're part of the tree. And that ivy I've cut down a million times and it just grows back. But it's so pretty. Pretty much, you just give up. It's so pretty. It's like, I know we're not supposed to plant ivy. I get it. I get it. But, oh my goodness, it's so romantic and beautiful. I just love it. Okay. So let's finish off with, oh, another kitty. That's another kitty. He has lots of kitties. Hi, sweetheart. Oh, he's, that's Juniper. He's very old. So he's deaf. Oh. But he was born, he and his siblings were born in the yard, in the bamboo in a rainstorm. Because the bamboo has piles of, yeah, so. So he probably didn't even hear you coming. Oh, I love that. And those poles were also dead pieces that we cut off. Oh my gosh, I love this. Oh, I just love this. Okay. So it's a, it's a metal pergola. This one's metal. Okay. And then above us is redwood. Okay. And I have west, western sun coming in. So that's why I planted the two big maples. Yeah. And put up the pergolas. Just for protection. So you can be out here. Right. And then above this pergola is a $20 shade sail from Costco. Love. Which is perfect. It's perfect. And I like the leaves catching in it. I think it's so pretty like that. Sometimes the cats sleep in between. Oh my gosh, I love this. Now tell me about this. This is beautiful. So I created that for one of the home shows. Oh, you did? I had it vertically and I had it standing vertical and it was a little partition between where the barbecue was and the dining area. Oh, I love it. And also these two, this is a polycarbonate. Okay. It's a plastic. Oh. So you could use things like that. And also the polycarbonate is over this overhang, which will keep it dry. Oh, I love that. So you can have what looks like an open pergola to let the light in. Yeah. Because a lot of people don't want their house to be dark. Yeah. So you could have it open and you could put what looks like glass, but it's a hundred times stronger than glass. Right. And we'll laugh. And we'll laugh. Yeah. Through rainstorms. Did you just make this out of two by fours? Yep. I made it out of two by fours. Oh my goodness. And then I had the same, the same welder that made this pergola made posts for it. Oh my goodness. I love it. This is so, I want to do this project. Yeah. I've actually designed another one just like this into my clients. And it was just a thought, an idea. Well, that's a good thing about social media. Yeah. Because you could find a lot of ideas. You get, you go down a wormhole and you can find the most interesting things. I have a whole list of like to-do projects that I want to do. This is on it now. This is on my to-do projects list. Yeah. So that's just, that's just two by fours. This is gorgeous. And then I just have to point out your chandelier. This is beautiful. So there's little glass that goes here with the lights. And then I, I buy a florist ring that I soak in water and I, I put it here. I slip it over the top. And then I have fresh flowers cascading when I have parties here. Oh my gosh. I know, you could do dried flowers. There's nothing in it now because we have the rains coming. Yeah. Yeah. But even, even with just these, you know, I mean, these, I'm assuming are just kind of cheapy pearls, right? Yeah. And then you can hang crystals and then, and these are led lights. Yeah. And so they're on a different switch. So at night this is illuminated and you can have, you know, dinner out here and this is the time of year we could be out here. I know. This is so, this is so beautiful. It's not too hot. It's just gorgeous. Well, Roberta, I have so many questions, more questions for you. And I want to hear you talk more. Can, I know you have a lot of projects going on. Would you be willing to let us come in? Yeah. Maybe film a couple of projects. So I have a project that's ongoing, that's going, it's ongoing. It's a very large project. It's two acres and it's, it's an 8,000 square foot house. But here's the interesting about the house. Yeah. That's on a Creek in the back. This house originally was built years ago by the people that had the lumberjack stores, which were pre-Home Depot. Oh yes. I know what you're talking about. Yeah. And then they sold the house and whoever bought it, I don't know the person's name, kept it empty for 24 years. Oh my gosh. Yep. So my clients bought it a year ago and the house is being renovated. So we stripped everything. I love to, I've just started planting in portions because depending on the renovations, the inside and the trucks, you know, in the areas that we can plant. So I would love to have you come and in segments, watch it being developed because two acres, if you're not a landscape designer, it's overwhelming. What do you do with all this? I have half of that and I'm overwhelmed. So I can only imagine, you guys can't see my face right now, but my jaw's open and I'm like nodding like, yes, yes, yes. We'll have to do it. And I designed, I designed this beautiful gate. It's a, it's 20 feet long. She showed me pictures. And when we go there, I'll show you my drawings for it. And then the, the metal worker, the, what do you call them? Anyway, welder. Welder. Yeah. Yeah. Built it according to my drawing. And then we held up, you know, it's got little balls. And so we held up everything. And so for me to have the, to have that to work with is really something. So is it your jumping off point kind of? It's well, it's normally, you know, for years, myself and my designers, we've done landscapes everywhere, but they're in neighborhoods, they're small. Yeah. Yeah. So to have a piece of land and the finances to develop it into what's going to be. And what you have, what you could imagine. Yes. Right. Like, yes. So you'll see what's, I think our next step will be between a new library that was built and the main room. We're doing a Japanese garden. Oh my gosh. So you tell me when and where and I'm there. Okay. So we'll, we'll, we'll set that up. But I'd like everyone to come with us on that tour because you could see just what was there. And then the concept and most concepts that come to me, come to me through a conversation with my clients and the land and what I know. It's always a co-creation. So, so tell everybody at Roberta Walker Landscape Design. Yes. You offer consultations, you work mainly in Sacramento or do you go further than that? We go a little further than that. So we do the Sacramento area. So we go up to Auburn, we go a little bit down to the Delta and some Roseville. So all around, I have two designers and my website is Roberta Walker.com. I will link it all. I'll link all of the Sunset articles because they're very, very interesting to read. They're very fun. And I just want to say, I feel so, so special that I finally got to come here and see your garden. I love talking about gardens and I know you do a brilliant job. Thank you. Plant nerds. Yes. So we, um, we were at Michael Glassman's Halloween party and we were just sitting at the table with Jim Putnam just talking for hours. And I was like, okay, Roberta, I got to come to your house. I know I was at a table where, you know, nobody thought I was weird. No, no. And her and Jim Putnam kept talking, um, uh, scientific names of plants. And I was like, oh wow, we're, we're nerds. I know. Botanical names. Thank you. Thank you so much for letting us come to your beautiful home. I mean, even in fall, I know it's not in its peak, but it is just absolutely stunning. And I cannot wait to see more from you. Oh, good. Well, you'll have to come in the spring, but then we'll work on the project together. I love it. With my ongoing landscape. I love it. So I'll keep you all updated. Huge thank you to Roberta and a thank you to all of you for watching. I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you have a chance to get out in your garden today.