(Elegant California Friendly Landscape)

This beautiful property is located in the hills above of Montecito with 360 degree of views onto the Channel Islands and the surrounding mountains.  Inspired by the Japanese landscape design principal of the borrowed landscape the gardens on this property serves as a kind of picture frame from which to view the natural beauty of its surroundings. 

This 15-year-old costume-built home was crafted with all the style and workmanship ship found in Villa or Château in the Mediterranean.  Unfortunately, the garden design was not as well thought out as the house was.  Most of this property receives baking sun, drying winds and is in an extremely high fire danger area.  Do to these factors many of the plants on the property were unsuitable for their location. The original planting scheme was also lifeless and colorless.  Poor landscape maintenance had left many of the plants on the property sick and dying. We came in to revive this landscape, breathing new life into it. 

Creating a drought tolerant and fire wise landscape was of utmost importance to these clients.  Staying true to the more formal landscape styles found in Southern Europe we also want to create an opportunity to design seamlessly blend with its natural surroundings.  We did that by incorporating a lot of California native plants.  This vast property also contains an avocado orchard and a vineyard.  By adding California native plants the property is inviting in native birds and insects that help keep pollinate the orchard and vineyard and keep pest problems at bay.  Because these clients enjoy harvesting from their land we added elements of edible landscaping to this project. We filled pottery and planter beds with fruit trees, culinary and medicinal herbs as well as flowers that can be used in cut flower arrangements. Lastly, we went through carefully pruning diseased plants, treating pest problems an improving the soil.  Now the landscape is not only more beautiful it is more protected against fire, is more water wise and integrate into its surrounds with a wholistic approach.