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Consultations and Plant Settings
At California's Own Native Landscape Design, we specialize in the design and creation of unique California native landscapes and habitat gardens. We are located in Escondido and serve the greater San Diego region, with the majority of projects in North County. Although our primary emphasis is on residential and institutional landscapes, we are currently engaged in several very successful restoration programs. In fact, we treat every installation as if it were a restoration. The result is usually a stable, ornamental, low-input garden with substantial habitat value.
We offer a full range of services, from on-site assessment and consultation, through design, installation, and specialty maintenance. California's Own is fully licensed and insured (C-27 License Number 717147). For those interested in a construction estimate, we charge $100.00 per hour and $.55 per mile one way for a site assessment, where we look at your property and come up with design ideas. We then take that information back to the office and create a proposal for your review (we do not charge for the actual proposal). It is not unusual for larger projects to be done on a Time and Materials basis.
On the other hand, if you just want a design only consultation, we charge $150 per hour plus one way milleage of $.55/mile. If the client does a scaled baseplan on graph paper ahead of time, we can usually do a design for a standard residential frontyard OR backyard (no more than about 1500 square feet) in two to three hours sitting at your dining room table. Larger areas may have to be designed back at our offices. Contact us for details.
Estimates are based on either an initial site consultation or a design by California's Own. We only install other people's designs if they meet our criteria, as our protocols and specifications differ considerably from standard horticultural practice, and frankly, we have been successful where others have not.
Restorations
Habitat restoration is usually done with private parties who own acreage. We love to take 1/2 to 100 acre lots and turn them into private parks and preserves, with a full complement of wildlife. We can create paths, dry streams (that become creeks when it rains!), sitting areas, bird baths, shade structures, even signage if you want. We can carve out a mature un-irrigated landscape from impenetrable chaparral, or restore a weed-infested field to English country garden beauty.
Full Service Construction
Our construction crews are competent, experienced, and polite. We carry full Workmen's Compensation and liability coverage. We are a full service, vertically integrated contractor. This means that we handle all areas of landscape construction, including site prep, irrigation and drainage, hardscape installation, planting, and mulch. Each crew leader is cross-trained in all aspects, including the operation of heavy equipment. Most everything is handled in-house; it is rare that we require the services of a subcontractor, although we are fully able to administer subs as well.
Maintenance
Maintenance is performed on an "as-needed" basis and is by appointment. We typically do not engage in conventional maintenance (i.e. "mow and blow"). Native landscapes are usually not very maintenance intensive, but benefit greatly from the occasional (monthly to quarterly) cleaning-up. Dead-heading and pruning are the most common tasks. There is no such thing as an absolutely "no-maintenance" landscape (at least if you intend to impress the neighbors), but we get pretty close.
Brush Clean-Up
To promote fire safety, California’s Own recommends thinning chaparral in the 30-100’ radius around a house located adjacent to wildlands. We target dead wood, all non-native weeds, and the most flammable natives. By removing approximately 50% of the coverage, 60-80% of the fuel is removed. We do not remove native root systems, so as to minimize disturbance and erosion. We do mulch up the native debris and blow it back on site to help prevent the return of weeds. And finally, if the customer would like, we can add paths, sitting areas, bird baths and low native perennial color to enhance the area as we “carve out” a mature native landscape from impenetrable chaparral.
Before Clean-Up:
After Clean-Up:
