Lush garden, light touch

Instead of expanding their 1,250-square-foot Spanish colonial revival home ― even though there was ample room on the lot to do so ― Gabe Gelbart and landscape designer Paul Rhoadzhagen decided to keep the house compact and let the garden shine, providing plenty of outdoor living nooks, colorful plantings that require little water, and lessons on incorporating environmentally sound materials and practices into the landscape.

Get Gelbart and Rhoadzhagen's low-water secrets