Updating your landscape design is the easiest way to add curb appeal to your home, as it changes the entire look of your Manhattan Beach property and increases the functionality of your outdoor space. Read on for some new, trending SoCal landscape designs to help reimagine your garden and yard.
Southern California Landscaping Ideas
1. Desert Inspired Gardens
Southern California is synonymous with drought, making it difficult and expensive to have a thriving garden. Enter xeriscaping – landscaping or gardening which reduces or eliminates the need for irrigation and water. Drought-tolerant landscaping reduces and preserves water. Planting is expensive, and in a dry climate you want to invest in plants you know will survive. Water-conserving landscapes are low maintenance, helping you keep your plants alive year-round. Plus, gardening is trending towards succulents, cactuses, and other desert-scape plants!
2. Less Formal, More Nature
Another trend is a return to more unstructured, wild planting. Tidy, formal gardens are out; stones and boulders, reclaimed lumber, and other natural objects are in. Keeping artificial structures more natural in appearance helps maintain a less manicured look. This helps your garden appear more natural and rustic, a true picture of Southern California if left to its own devices.
3. Native Plants over Flowers
Rewilding is the restoration of an area to its natural, undisturbed, uncultivated state. Rewilding focuses on the reintroduction of native animals and plants. It is a shift from human-centered, intensively managed plants to the natural habitat in our gardens. Native plants are the base of local food webs, so rewilding helps increase biodiversity. Additionally, native plants have significantly higher survival rates as they have evolved to thrive in your environment, saving you time and maintenance.
4. Permeable Paving
Driveways are a big eye-catcher, for good and bad! Ditch the massive runways and parking spaces of concrete pavement or asphalt. Instead, opt for a trendier, more eye-catching alternative. Permeable paving is a healthier, eco-friendly option. Pavers or natural stones and greenery create an environmentally beneficial driveway or walkway. Groundcovers allow rainwater to soak into the soil, eliminate flash flooding and weeds, and preserve the soil base during hot, dry seasons.
Make it Wild Again with Design Scapes
Do you want to create a wild, natural garden that saves you time, money, and headache? Give us a call at Design Scapes today for a consultation.
