This yard was almost completely red lava rock, with tree and paver accents.

This is black bark mulch with plants and simple faux riverbed.

If the riverbed is long enough, you have to put some bends in it, or it just looks like a pathway.

White rocks with new plants, no border.

Two-tone rocks with attractive border and futuristic shrubs.

This is attractive, but I guarantee that stone pagoda is getting stolen.

Here's a very complicated yard.

This is an example of a lawn which was killed with a thick layer of black plastic sheet. There are enough rocks to keep the plastic from flying away, but probably twice this number of rocks would be better.

Admittedly, "black plastic and rocks" looks bad, but how shitty do all the brown lawns look? They look shitty.

On a positive note, the plants look fantastic!

Variety is good. This guy bought some of everything at the landscape store. Brick walkway, flagstone, rough rock, river rock, all together in an attractive combination. Never having to get a lawn mower across it means that the bumps and hills are yours to command.

Here's another angle of that yard.

This yard looks like it just got started. These should grow to fill the space at least a little.

This white star was one of my favorites. The homeowner was outside, so I asked him if it was difficult to construct. He told me the secret was to snap chalk lines before he started, and to examine the angles from a lot of different viewpoints before getting started with the rocks.

I asked him if there was any maintenance on a yard like this. He just laughed! "No! They are rocks! It has been like this for fifteen years!"

I like this yard, but my kids would be riding their scooters along that low wall, trying to jump the gap.

Regal looking palms.

This looked like a rock yard which had been neglicted and had perhaps overgrown the original black weed-stop sheeting.

I like the wavy cement border, but this yard needed some time and money invested.

This yad was unusual, broken up into long triangles. I don't know what the short shrub is in front.

Another shot of the same yard. The green in the center is ground cover. This is probably one of the most expensive yards full of plants I saw.

It looked chic!

Finally, the final yard. This yard wasn't perfect, split with a long walkway. The walkway was flanked by twin wavy-cut hedge bushes, and the front wall was completely engulfed in a pastel-colored flowering vine.

Before this years' drought, I had never seriously considered pulling my lawn and covering it with rocks, mulch and plants. After this tour of our city's best low- and no-water front yards, I'm ready to try it!

Green and Brown Lawns in Sacramento

River-Friendly Landscaping Coalition