Start Rewilding

2. Plan to Plant in the Fall

Fall is the best time to plant natives in Santa Ana. Cool weather and winter rain let roots settle in before the first hot summer, so plants need far less water to establish. Planting can stretch into early spring, but the later you plant, the more you will have to water that first summer. Avoid planting in summer.

Sheet mulching takes a few months to kill a lawn, so count backward: start removal in late summer to plant in fall, or in fall to plant by early spring. Rebate approval and mulch delivery take time too, so line those up first.

4. Remove the Lawn

Avoid herbicides where you can: they harm the insects and soil life you are trying to bring back, and they wash into the Santa Ana River. Take the lawn out by hand where you have to, and smother the rest under cardboard and mulch. Most yards need both.

Hand Removal

Start with the plants that will not die under cardboard: Bermuda grass, nutsedge, oxalis, and anything with a bulb or a runner. Dig them out with the roots and put them in the green bin, not your compost or mulch pile. For plain turf like fescue, you can skip digging entirely and go straight to sheet mulching, or rent a sod cutter if you want the ground clear right away. Keep the soil; you will plant into it.

Sheet Mulching

Mow the lawn as short as you can and water it well. Lay plain cardboard (tape and staples removed) over the whole area, overlapping the edges by 6 to 8 inches so no light gets through, and run it a foot past the edge of the lawn. Wet the cardboard, then cover it with 4 to 6 inches of mulch the same day. Leave it for two to three months. When it is time to plant, cut an X in the cardboard and plant through it.

The Bermuda Grass Problem

Bermuda grass is the hardest lawn to remove, and most Santa Ana lawns have some. It spreads by rhizomes a foot or more underground and by stolons across the surface, and every fragment left behind can regrow. It will push through gaps in cardboard, creep in from the neighbors, and reappear a year after you thought it was gone. Sheet mulching alone rarely kills it. Plan on all of the following:

1. Dig It Out — Water the area first so the soil is soft, then dig out the rhizomes with a garden fork, following each one to its end. Sift the soil with your hands and pull every piece. It is slow work; do it in sections.
2. Then Smother It Anyway — Sheet mulch over the dug area with a double layer of cardboard, wider overlaps, and a full 6 inches of mulch. Extend the cardboard well past the edge of the old lawn, because the grass will try to come in from the sides.
3. Keep Pulling — Check the area every week, especially in warm weather, and pull every blade the moment it shows, before it can rebuild its roots. Expect a year of follow-up. Bermuda grass goes dormant and brown in winter, so do not mistake a quiet winter for a win.
4. As a Last Resort, Spot Treat — If you cannot dig deep because of an existing tree’s roots and the grass keeps breaking through the mulch, a one- or two-time spot application of herbicide on the regrowth may be worth it. Follow the label, keep it off everything else, and never spray on a windy day. Left alone, Bermuda grass can choke out your native plants, and that is a worse outcome than a careful, limited treatment.

6. Plant

1. Dig Wide and Plant High — Santa Ana has heavy clay soil that drains slowly. Dig a hole about twice as wide as the pot but no deeper, and plant on a low mound so the crown of the plant sits an inch or two above the surrounding ground. Water then drains away from the stem instead of pooling around it. Plants that want sharp drainage, like many sages and buckwheats, need the mound most.
2. Remove the Potting Soil — Tip the plant out and gently loosen the roots. If the plant tolerates it, shake or rinse off most of the potting mix so the roots go straight into your soil; this avoids the potting mix boundary problem above. Some plants, like manzanitas and ceanothus, resent root disturbance, so check Calscape (opens in a new tab) or ask the nursery before you do this.
3. Backfill With Native Soil — Fill the hole with the same soil you dug out, breaking up big clods. No compost, no potting mix, no “planting mix”. Native plants are adapted to our soil, and an amended hole in clay acts like a bathtub that drowns roots.
4. Skip the Fertilizer — Do not fertilize, now or later. Natives evolved in lean soil, and fertilizer pushes soft, leggy growth that pests love and that dies back in summer. Mulch is all the feeding they need.
5. Build a Basin and Water In — Shape a ring of soil a few inches high around the outside of the mound, like a donut, to hold water over the roots. Fill the basin slowly two or three times so the water soaks deep. Then spread mulch inside the ring, keeping it a few inches away from the stem. Water deeply but infrequently through the first summer, and let the top inch or two dry out in between.

Each plant has its own tolerances for drainage, sun, and root disturbance. Look yours up on Calscape (opens in a new tab) before planting, and see our recommended plants for the ones that do well in Santa Ana.