Yardsmart: Powerful plants and paint

When I purchased this odd, 1940s bungalow in Palm Springs, Calif., it was painted a stark white and sat amid a barren field of rocks and a few citrus trees. The entry looked like a glorified trailer. But as I began to work on the garden, the whole place changed. Today, just seven years later, it is a veritable oasis. The impact of coming through the front gate is profound. But above all, it was done inexpensively — with little more than plants and paint.

These two elements are among the cheapest things you can buy for your home and yard. Both have the power to change your space dramatically. The glaring-white house paint was the first to go, turning into burnt orange with Frida Kahlo blue-violet trim. A friend said upon first entering, "Wow, I wish I had the courage to use color this way!" But for me, it wasn't about courage; it was about turning a glorified trailer into a work of art. It was about setting a festive tone that would repeat through color, front yard and back.

The plants were next. Fortunately, I was volunteering at Moorten Botanical Garden, an old, privately owned public garden filled with a collection of desert plants second only to the Huntington Desert Garden in Pasadena, Calif. My four-year stint with curator Clark Moorten not only taught me about desert plants, primarily cacti and succulents; it also allowed me to take away every slip and cutting that landed in the trash.

I began a sheltered location on the north side of the house where I grew these castoffs to garden size. Clark's kind donation of larger plants went straight into the garden. A collector, he spurred my desire to have at least one of every new succulent plant I learned about. These Moorten plants are now so dense I can no longer walk through the garden, and I'm now taking cuttings of my own plants to give away.

This is an excellent example of how to grow a garden pretty much for free. Volunteer where they grow, or collect plants at parks or botanical gardens, both private and public. At Moorten Botanical, I had access to thousands of species at one time, and also received an invaluable learning experience.

Much of what remains in my garden I found on the street on garbage-pickup day or at garage sales. The only big-ticket items were the fountains, one in front and one in back that reverberate constantly with the sound of falling water. Here in the desert, it's vital to have such soothing sound, and a whole community of wildlife has taken residence around these clean-water sources.