Gardens built to be lived in.
We draw the garden, then our own crew builds it. One contract, one number to call, and a yard you use every week instead of every summer.
The studio
Most yards in Los Gatos get used eight weekends a year. Ours get used on a Tuesday. That is the whole difference between a landscape and a garden you live in.
We are a design-build studio. The person who draws your plan is on site when the concrete pours. There is no handoff to a contractor who never saw the sketch, and no second bid that doubles the number. Fourteen of us, one shop on Los Gatos Boulevard, about twenty gardens a year.
- 212gardens built since 2012
- 38%less water than the lawn we replaced, averaged
- 14person crew, all on payroll
- 10 wkmedian time on site
Seasons of a garden
Designed for the year, not the photo.
A garden that peaks in May and sulks for the other eleven months is a bad trade. We plan every bed for all four seasons in this valley: what blooms, what rests, what the light does at six in the evening.
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01 / Spring
The garden wakes up first.
Ceanothus goes blue in March. Salvias push new growth and the hummingbirds show up the same week. The drip system comes back on at a low schedule, and we cut the deer grass back before the new blades show.
CeanothusPacific Coast irisCalifornia poppy
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02 / Summer
Shade first, then water.
The pergola earns its keep. Limestone coping stays cooler than concrete underfoot, and decomposed granite paths do not glare. Irrigation runs at dawn, twice a week, deep. Lavender and olives do not notice the heat at all.
OliveLavenderDeer grass
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03 / Autumn
The best month outside is October.
Warm days, cool nights, no wind. The fire feature gets lit every evening and the outdoor kitchen sees more use than the indoor one. This is also planting season. Roots go in while the soil is still warm and the rain is on its way.
ToyonManzanitaCoast live oak
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04 / Winter
Rain does the work.
Swales carry runoff to the plants that want it and the rain garden fills for a day or two. We prune the fruit trees, top up mulch and test every valve. The lighting runs longer, and the thyme between the steps stays green all winter.
Manzanita bloomHelleboreBay laurel
Built work
Twelve gardens, twelve lots.
Swipe the row. Every project opens on the projects page.
What we do
Six things, done by one crew.
- Design-buildWhole-yard projects. One contract from the first drawing to the first dinner outside.$80,000 to $400,000
- Outdoor livingKitchens, fire features, pergolas and shade. The rooms outside the house.$45,000 to $180,000
- PlantingNatives and Mediterranean plants that live on a third of the water a lawn drinks.$12,000 to $60,000
- IrrigationDrip lines, smart controllers and the water district rebates that pay for part of it.$6,000 to $24,000
- LightingLow voltage and warm. Aimed at the garden, never at the neighbors.$5,000 to $22,000
- MaintenanceMonthly care from the crew that built it, on a calendar written for this valley.$450 to $1,400 a month
Budget estimator
What does a garden like yours cost?
Slide the yard size, tick what you want, pick the slope. The range updates from the averages on our last three years of jobs.
An estimate from averages on our own jobs, not a quote. Soil, access, permits and finish choices move the real number. The site walk pins it down.
How a project runs
Six phases, in the same order every time.
You know which phase you are in, what it costs, and what happens next. No surprise invoices, no mystery weeks where nobody shows up.
- 01
Site walk
Forty minutes on your lot. We talk about how you want to use it, not what it should look like yet.
Week 1 - 02
Concept
One plan on trace paper, a plant list and a real budget range. You mark it up.
Weeks 2 to 4 - 03
Drawings and permits
Grading, drainage, structures and lighting drawn to scale. We pull the permits.
Weeks 5 to 9 - 04
Build
Our crew, our foreman, a weekly photo update. Hardscape first, planting last.
Weeks 10 to 20 - 05
Planting and lights
Plants go in, drip is tuned, lights are aimed at night with you standing there.
Final 2 weeks - 06
The first year
Four visits in the first twelve months. We adjust water, replace anything that failed, prune.
Months 1 to 12
Client words
What people say a year later.
We eat outside four nights a week now. In October we barely go in.
Our water bill dropped by a third and the yard looks better than the lawn ever did.
Same foreman every day for sixteen weeks. He knew the dog's name by day two.
Book a site walk
Tell us about the yard.
Mara or Luis reads every request and replies within one business day to set a time. The walk is free and takes about forty minutes.
Or call the studio
(408) 555-0107
Mon to Fri, 7am to 4pm