Our Journal

California is blessed with an incredible diversity of native plants, but not all are easy to grow in managed landscapes. To look their best, some plants require an exact match to their native water, soil, and sun exposure preferences. The following three are exceptions and they are exceptionally well suited to gardens. All are evergreen shrubs, so they look great year-round. They attract pollinators with their colorful flowers and birds with their small fruits, and they need no irrigation after establishment. Now that is a water…

We were thrilled to be selected for a project at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA), a leading cultural institution located between downtown and Lake Merritt. Working from the provided plans, we installed roughly 500 California-native trees, shrubs, and perennials around – but mostly on – the structure, which includes giant concrete planting beds from top to bottom. Yes, we planted oak trees on the building! Our crews prepared the planting areas by sheet-mulching and installing a drip irrigation system. Next came the…

The client asked us to replace a non-functional, water-guzzling lawn with drought-adapted perennials and groundcovers and now Bay Area commuters get to see our work every day! Ornamental grasses move with the wind, succulents offer year-round interest, and Star Jasmine perfumes the air. It’s like a nature drive among freeways! Creeping Myoporum spreads quickly and smothers most weeds. It thrives with very little water – best with a monthly soaking. Kikuyu grass is creeping in at the lower left hand corner, but that weed needs…