With wonder and a sense of whimsey

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• Yard Sail: A little garden by the sea

  Yard Sail: A little garden by the sea

  Eleven years ago, Carrie Davison knew two things: She knew she wanted to relocate to the Central Coast from Southern California to pursue her teaching career, and she knew she wanted to buy a house on one of the wide older streets leading to the ocean in Shell Beach.

  She found the house first, and rented it out while she waited for the job. She was fortunate to eventually be hired as a teacher for the blind for San Luis Obispo County schools.

  It was a good thing that it was Davison who purchased the classic fixer-upper, a former boathouse-turned-beach cottage, as it needed someone young and energetic with an eye for design to bring it to life. The original owners, who had a home on one lot, built the boathouse on a second lot next door. With tall ceilings, it was just big enough for their sailboat during the early years. In the 1970s the family converted it to a simple summer cottage. Davison purchased it from the 90-year-old original owners.

• Marino garden in Morro Bay: The better half

  Marino garden in Morro Bay: The better half

  In April 2009, when Vince and Janet Marino moved to Morro Bay, just half of their lot was planted, with grass, palm trees, and one giant bird of paradise. The other half had been cleared by the previous owner, who had planned to build a second house there.

  That autumn, Josh Marino, their contractor son, built a retaining wall to stabilize the disturbed soil on the uphill portion of the property. The family joked that the leveled site resembled a bocce ball court. Only Vince considered the idea seriously.

  The couple attended the fall home and garden show for landscaping ideas. Afterward, they invited three of the landscape designers, individually, to view the site and discuss their garden concepts. They chose Gabriel Frank, of Gardens by Gabriel, who envisioned a succulent garden with a “botanic garden feeling.”

• Ferreira garden in SLO: The quiet joys of cultivation

  Ferreira garden in SLO: The quiet joys of cultivation

  To describe Leslie and Cathy Ferreira’s garden as diversified would be an understatement. It has a koi pond, a Japanese garden and a collection of more than 100 bonsai plants. The standard-size lot also includes two more ponds with waterfalls, two spacious seating areas, each warmed by a gas fire, a barbeque area, aspa, an outdoor shower with solar-heated water and a greenhouse.

  The greatest diversity is in the garden’s variety of edible plants.

  The fence around the property supports grape, passion fruit and kiwi vines, plus three types of thorn-bearing berries. Strawberries fill raised beds. Of the 42 fruit and nut trees, some have been grafted to produce a total of 61 fruit varieties.

• Sanchez garden in Morro Bay: Petite and picturesque

  Sanchez garden in Morro Bay: Petite and picturesque

  Sylvia Sanchez says she was lucky to find a house within walking distance to the beach.

  Undeterred by the fact that the small cottage needed a lot of work, she did much of its renovation herself over a two-year span, finishing with a bright and cheerful exterior paint job.

  Aside from a large variegated agave and an overgrown Hollywood juniper in front, the neglected yard was all weeds. Desiring a welcoming front garden and a private hideaway in back, Sylvia envisioned a low maintenance “picturesque landscape.”

• Trogdon home in Nipomo: Water, pottery and dogs

  Trogdon home in Nipomo: Water, pottery and dogs

  After establishing his Nipomo-based tropical plant business, Pacific Sun Growers, in 1979, Ben Trogdon wanted to live near his workplace. The lot that he and his wife Robin purchased was part of a large eucalyptus grove. They lived in a trailer house on the property during the two years it took for them to clear an opening and build their house.

  They designed their home with environmental consideration. A south-facing sun room brings solar heat into the open living-kitchen-dining area, and a woodburning stove keeps the home cozy in winter. Solar panels on the roof provide most of their electricity; a photovoltaic system, recently added, supplies energy for the couple’s electric pottery kiln.

  Initially, a lawn surrounded the house. In the backyard, the grass was removed gradually and replaced by the Mexican blue palm, acacias, Catalina cherries, bottlebrush, timber bamboo and Ceanothus that now grow there.