Featured Landscape Project

Whole-Property Landscape Installation

This complete property landscape began with a client-provided concept and a difficult site.

Heavy clay soil required substantial amendment, while grading, retaining, hillside shaping, irrigation, drainage, hardscape, fencing, and access all had to be coordinated before the planting could succeed.

Living Earth completed the property in phases, including the automatic gate, vinyl fencing, hardscape, irrigation, lawn preparation with gopher wire, and the landscape installation itself.

Whole-property landscape with a curved stone retaining wall, layered conifer and shrub planting on a graded slope, lawn, and paver-edged driveway — A complete property landscape developed from the clients’ concept and carried through by Living Earth from grading and soil preparation to irrigation, hardscape, fencing, gate work, lawn, and planting.

Build the Soil First

Heavy clay was extensively amended before planting so the landscape had a better foundation for long-term growth.

Grade Before Finish

Walls, hillside shaping, drainage, access, and site elevations were resolved before the planting was completed.

One Coordinated Property Plan

Irrigation, hardscape, fencing, automatic gate, lawn, and planting were built as connected parts of the same property improvement.

Phased Without Losing the Concept

The work was completed in phases while preserving the clients’ overall design direction and the intended relationship between each part of the property.

Across the Property

Paver entry landing and steps connecting the front door and deck to the asphalt driveway, with lawn and planted beds beyond — Entry and circulation: paved landing and steps tie the front door, deck, and driveway together, with the lawn and planted beds resolved around the finished grade.

Good planting starts with the site underneath it. Soil, grade, drainage, irrigation, retaining, access, and sequencing had to be addressed as one project.

Curved block retaining wall separating a mown lawn from a mulched hillside planted with young trees and shrubs — Hillside, retaining, and planting integration: the wall holds the shaped slope and creates a usable lawn edge, with young trees and shrubs set into amended, mulched beds above.

Automatic gate and dark rail fencing at the property entrance with a stamped concrete driveway and walkway leading to the house — Gate and property boundary: the automatic gate, fencing, driveway, and stamped walkway define access and edge the finished landscape beyond.

Lawn Preparation

Gopher wire was installed beneath the irrigated lawn as part of the site preparation rather than waiting for damage to become a problem later.

Client Collaboration

The project began with a concept provided by the clients. Living Earth’s role was to translate that direction into a buildable, durable landscape and coordinate the many site systems required to make it work.

A strong landscape is built from the ground up—soil, grade, water, access, structure, and planting all have to work together.

Services Consulting

Years Later

Designed to Mature

A planting plan should improve with time, not peak on installation day.

These later views show how the trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and broader site relationships matured while preserving the structure and intent of the original design.

Mature white-barked birch trees above beds of flowering heather and spreading blue junipers in bark mulch — Years after installation, the trees now provide the vertical structure and scale the original plan anticipated.

Street view of the property with rail fencing, red-foliage shrubs, broadleaf evergreens, and birch trees along the planted frontage — Mature foliage provides much of the color and texture here without depending on constant flowering, helping the landscape remain visually strong with a more manageable maintenance burden.

Established lawn edged with paver walkway beside a mulched bed of heather and low conifers, with mature evergreens behind the house — Proper spacing allowed shrubs and trees to fill in naturally over time without losing their individual form or overwhelming the surrounding landscape.

Landscape Renovation

Good Bones, Better Next Chapter

This property already had several strong elements worth preserving, including the mature maple and existing wall, but much of the surrounding landscape had become overgrown and overmature.

Living Earth kept the features that still worked, removed what had aged out, and rebuilt the supporting systems around them. The renovation included new stairs, wall caps, low-voltage lighting, a pondless water feature, soil amendment, dependable drip irrigation, and custom-fabricated steel garden beds that helped create a more useful sitting area near the entry and water feature.

Older landscape with a mature red maple, existing block wall, concrete steps, and overgrown surrounding planting — The property already had good bones, including the mature maple and existing wall, but much of the surrounding landscape had become overgrown and overmature.

Renovated front landscape with new concrete stairs, capped walls, freshly mulched planting beds, boulders, and a gravel approach — Living Earth kept the features worth preserving, removed overmature planting, added new stairs, wall caps, low-voltage lighting, a pondless water feature, amended the soil, and installed a reliable drip irrigation system to give the landscape a cleaner, more durable next chapter.

Broader view of the finished renovation with capped retaining walls, dry creek gravel, mulched beds, a pondless water feature, and reworked walkways to the house — A broader view of the finished renovation showing the new stairs, amended planting areas, pondless water feature, and reworked circulation through the property. Custom-fabricated steel garden beds were also added near the entry and water feature to create a more defined sitting area within the landscape.

More Landscape Work

Different Sites, Different Approaches

Some landscapes call for strong seasonal color. Others benefit from restraint, structure, water, stone, or lower-maintenance planting.

Coastal hillside garden with dry-stacked slate walls, heathers, and flowering perennials above the ocean — A mature coastal garden where strong foliage, stone, and seasonal color work together without relying on constant bloom.

Front-yard renovation with a small patio, layered planting, and a lawn alternative — A front-yard renovation with a small patio and planting designed to provide future privacy where needed, year-round interest, and far more enjoyment than a conventional lawn.

Small water feature with a flagstone path winding through mulched planting beds — Part of a full-property renovation, this small water feature and flagstone path work together—the path provides access while also separating and organizing the planting areas.

Structured front landscape with clean geometry, capped planters, and easy-care planting — A structured landscape designed to give a small house a more substantial entry with easy-care planting and clean geometry. The capped box also conceals a ready hose for washing cars and everyday use.

Planting Design & Landscape Renovation Guidance →