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The Proportion of Plants vs. The Scale of Your Home

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When designing your ideal landscape, it’s easy for many to simply go for plants they like without understanding how they may look once on the property. Many plants can look out of place when placed next to your home. Understanding the proportion of plants compared to your home’s scale is an essential element in making optimal design choices.

Today we’ll discuss how the scale of your home and the proportion of the selected plants can affect the final design of your landscape.

Consider the Buildings

You’ll need to consider more than the size of the home when designing your landscape. Single-story houses, multiple-story houses, homes with attached vs. detached garages, and even the type of roof of the buildings must be considered when selecting plants for your landscape design.

While the most notable aspect of a building is its size, one-story, two-story, etc., you should also consider the building’s colors, the type of roof used, and the overall size of the outer walls. If repainting the exterior is within the budget, you can better match the species of plants you use to give your property a sense of balance and unity.

Tree Selection

When selecting trees for your landscape design, you’ll want to aim for shorter trees if you have a single-story home. The Western Redbud is a reasonably fast-growing tree that grows approximately 12-20 feet high, making it an excellent option for smaller homes. Acacia aneura can get as tall as 35-50 feet tall.

Tree Location

Although many homes would look amazing with a lovely tree next to them, you need to ensure the location you choose to plant those trees is appropriate. After all, nature can grow however it wishes, and roots can cause issues if a tree is planted too close to the main property. As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to plant most trees between 10 and 20 away from your foundation. This isn’t the only placement you need to keep in mind. When planting any tree, do your best to avoid any plumbing. Sprinklers and sewage plumbing are run underground and can easily be damaged by tree roots. If it’s needed to plant near these pipes, you may need to use a growth barrier. These can be made of metal or wood, preventing roots from damaging your sewage pipes. Alternatively, you could select trees and shrubs without invasive root systems.

Outdoor Lighting

Some outdoor lighting will remain the same, such as path and accent lighting. Lighting can be cast differently on two-story homes than on single-story homes. Spotlights can be used to accent features, but their shadows can make them vanish. A two-story home can add additional lights and angles that would be difficult to show with single-story houses. 

Living Walls

A Living wall is a popular design feature for many homeowners. The reason is it’s a feature that can be used effectively in single-story and multiple-story homes. They can help reduce the ambient temperature.

How would you feel with a designed yard to fit your unique home and personality?

Our staff is dedicated to delivering unique landscapes that 100% fit the needs of homeowners. Each yard is designed in-house by our landscape designer. Our expertise and experience in Long Beach, Lakewood, Seal Beach, Rossmoor & surrounding communities allow us to custom design the perfect landscape for you.

Our team of experts carefully manages your project. Fill out our Landscape Design request for your landscape to fit your aesthetic. Call us at (562) 225-9460 or get a free quote for your project.

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Long Beach Lawn to Garden Program

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Are you looking to save money on your water bill while maintaining a beautiful garden?

The Long Beach lawn-to-garden program aims to do just that. You’ll get help paying for a professional landscape design that is part of the Long Beach lawn-to-garden program. All lawn-to-garden projects are eligible to receive money back for removing thirsty lawns.

Lawn-to-garden projects have a few goals in mind to help keep Long Beach looking amazing while being water efficient. Today we’ll go over some of the program’s core elements and why you should consider being a part of it.

Water Conservation

Although this winter has brought plenty of rain, we are still not out of the drought. And because our imported water supplies have become permanently reduced, the water we do have needs to be used more efficiently. The lawn-to-garden program aims to replace water-thirsty lawns with plants native to California or plants that can thrive in California’s current climate. Lawn to garden landscapes aims to reduce water use by about 70% per square foot. Using efficient irrigation systems helps you to keep tabs on how much water is getting used and helps you make sure you’re not wasting water unnecessarily.

Using rainwater more efficiently also is important when trying to conserve water. Installing stormwater retention features allows you to collect and store rainwater during dryer days. This can help keep your landscaping looking beautiful year-round while saving money on that water bill. 

Saving the Local Environment

A major goal of Long Beach’s lawn-to-garden program is to promote the growth and support of the local ecosystems through the use of California native flower plants. These plants are drought-resistant and water efficient, each lawn to garden project will have at least 65% of the landscape covered with plant material, and of that 65%, at least 10% will be covered by the aforementioned California native or flowering plants.

These plants and flowers are perfectly suited for our climate and often require little to no watering once they have become established. Using native plants in your garden brings the classic Californian beauty to your landscape while also helping preserve the local ecosystems. 

Saving Time and Money

Another benefit to Long Beach’s lawn-to-garden program is saving you time and money. Maintaining a healthy lawn is time-consuming. Especially if you do all your maintenance, this means you need to water consistently, reseed, or re-sod whenever there are brown patches. By switching over to a native garden, you’ll reduce your overall water use for your landscape, saving money in the long run.

Lawn-to-garden projects reduce the time you need to maintain your landscape. Many plants will thrive with little to no input from your end. Equipping your landscape with an efficient irrigation controller allows you to enjoy your garden without worrying about watering.

How would you feel with a yard expressly designed to fit your unique home and personality?

Our staff is dedicated to delivering unique landscapes that 100% fit the needs of homeowners. Each yard is designed in-house by our landscape designer. Our expertise and experience in Long Beach, Lakewood, Seal Beach, Rossmoor & surrounding communities allow us to custom design the perfect landscape for you.

Our team of experts carefully manages your project. Fill out our Landscape Design request for your landscape to fit your aesthetic. Call us at (562) 225-9460 or get a free quote for your project.