Landscape design is an extension of our homes, and that couldn’t be more true then in San Diego.

The style of your home should set the style for the landscape, for either to reach its potential they must work in harmony. If you live in a Spanish revival home your landscape should work to compliment the rustic beauty it possess. Modern architecture with its clean lines should have a landscape that reflects its “controlled restraint”. While a loose open beach bungalow looks most at home in a carefree landscape of grasses and the sweet smell of summer.

Now with that said there are no hard and fast rules, but look around at successful landscapes in magazines and online and you will often see a strong correlation between the style of the home and its landscape.

If you would like to have Cleator Landscape Design help create a landscape that is inline with the architecture of your home, please contact us at 619.917.3644

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Landscaping design in San Diego can mean different things to different people, but the common thread is drought resistant. For good reason, we are in the midst of a serious drought and with all the other factors such as increasing regional temperatures and population growth we must do what we can to save every drop. I’m not promoting we all leave with barren landscapes, far from it. Properly landscaped areas help reduce run off, cool surround air, give wildlife a home, and clean the air among many other wonderful things we all need to survive. So today I wanted to  share with you a few San Diego appropriate plants that you can incorporate into your garden.

California Fushia with its scarlet flowers which hummingbirds adore and it ability to handle tough conditions, its a real standout.

Matilija Poppy has large white blooms with the feel of paper mache, great drainage is a must.

Deer Grass is a beautiful native grass that can handle a wide array of conditions without missing a beat.

Cleveland Sage is another native that displays great blueish purple flowers while provided a nice aroma.

Coyote Bush is a “go to” plant for the worst conditions you have to face here in San Diego.

All these plants plus many others can beautify your without putting additional strain on our environment.

If you would like to have Cleator Landscape Design create a beautiful outdoor space that is easy on the environment, please contact us at 619.917.3644

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Here is San Diego we are blessed with a surplus of landscape maintenance companies to select from. However the overwhelming majority of the them are unprofessional and at best a “mow and blow” service. That may be fine for some people, but even the most basic landscape stills needs some level of care. When was the last time you saw an abandoned lot and said “wow look how nice that yard looks”, every yard need looking after.

With the popularity of drought tolerant landscapes people think they are “no maintenance” that is completely false. Yes the may require less maintenance then a formal cottage garden but they still need looking after by a trained individual that has a vested interest in the success of that outdoor space. So please select a maintenance company not on how cheap they are but on successful examples of other property they maintain. Then speak with the homeowners of these projects to see how much of the work they are really doing themselves, you may be surprised that they do all the fine tuning while the gardens do only the mowing and weed pulling.

As the homeowner you take great pride in your property and we both know that you spent a great deal of money to achieve a certain look, the designer too has poured their heart into the success of the space only to have a guy with a mower and blower come wreck the whole thing for $75 bucks a month. No matter how great the design all landscapes can be ruined without proper maintenance, so please pick your maintenance company with as much care as you selected your landscape designer for we are counting on it.

If you would like to have Cleator Landscape Design create a beautiful outdoor space for your property please contact us at 619.917.3644

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I just wanted to write a quick blog post today about the drought. I know that unless you leave under a rock everyone here in San Diego knows about the drought, but I wanted to give the single best tip on helping to ease our water emergency.

Remove your lawn, that’s it.

Cover your lawn with 6-8 layers of newspaper, then top it off with 6 ” of aged steer manure and let it all sit for about 4 months (if you have a bermuda lawn then strip the lawn first with a spade). The newspaper and manure will kill the lawn and prep the soil for future drought resilient plants such as Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos among others.

By doing this one thing we can vastly reduce our dependance on imported water while equally reducing your water bill. If you are interested in having Cleator Landscape Design create a beautiful drought tolerant outdoor space for your property please contact us at 619.917.3644Screen Shot 2014-08-08 at 10.02.24 AM