California Native Gardens Services

We offer a variety of services aimed at transforming under-utilized outdoor spaces into functional gardens. Our services range from full yard re-landscaping to smaller projects such as container gardens or simply sprucing up existing spaces. By understanding the unique characteristics of each of our clients’ homes (including sun exposure, microclimates, irrigation, and aesthetic preferences) we are able to determine the best approach for each project.

Our landscape projects range from full yards to parkways, container gardens or retouching projects in existing spaces. Although we will occasionally work with climate appropriate plants or any specifically sentimental plants a client may want, we focus on using California native plants wherever possible. Learn more about California native plants here or here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are California native plants and gardens?

Every single plant you see came from somewhere. Meaning, every species of plant originated somewhere on earth in one specific region or continent. Sometimes, we associate certain plants with their places of origin. For example, people often associate Bamboo with Asia, or Coast Redwoods with California.

Gardens in California, whether they are in a residential backyard or in front of a mall, usually consist of a variety of plants from places all over the world with similar climates. Bougainvillea, Lavender, Ficus, and most Palm trees are plants commonly used in Southern California that are actually from other parts of the world.

TL; DR: California native plants are plants that originated right here in this state. California native gardens are gardens that use a majority of native plants.

Why does it matter if you use California native plants or other plants? As long as it looks good, who cares?

Although people design gardens for their own uses and tastes, gardens play an important role in our ecosystem. This means that gardens are not just for humans. Our houses, cities and streets used to be wild space where animals lived and thrived. When we pave over natural places and replace the region’s plants with those from other parts of the world, we destroy very crucial animal habitat.

The unavailability or extinction of a plant species creates a domino effect, harming wildlife and their food webs. Luckily, we have an opportunity to restore some of that missing ecosystem by just adding certain plants to our homes and gardens.

I have a lot of birds and other critters in my backyard and I don’t have any native plants.

That’s great! Many common animal species that we see today in our gardens have been able to thrive off of non-native plants. You might tend to notice you only see the same 4 or 5 types of bird or insect over and over again. There are many more species we can’t see because they are missing in our cities due to habitat loss.

Fun fact: California native plants can actually be more nutritious in feeding birds, insects and other wildlife because they evolved in conjunction with one another.

Are there other benefits to native plants? I’m not a big animal person.

Yes of course. Native plants, when used correctly, require up to 75% less water than traditional lawns or other super thirsty plants. This helps us reduce water usage and avoid things like drought and freshwater salinization.

California native plants are also beautiful and unique species that can only be found here. Instead of importing plants from around the world, we can embrace our own unique flora.

You can learn more about California native plants here.