Conejo Valley
Landscape design for Conejo Valley homes in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills and Lake Sherwood, and in the Las Virgenes communities beside them. We plan the planting around the oaks, the open-space edge and your association's review, together with the irrigation, drainage and hardscape it depends on, and our own crews build it.
Start here
Start with what you want the garden to do; the plants and materials mostly follow from it. These are the four things Conejo Valley homeowners ask for most. The photos come from our wider Greater Los Angeles portfolio.
01 A garden that keeps the oaks healthy Paths, seating and planting arranged around the root zone, with a dry trunk in summer, no regrading under the canopy and permeable surfaces where a path has to cross. See garden walkways 
02 Fire-wise planting at the open-space edge Low, irrigated, lower-resin planting near the house, hardscape and spacing to break up fuel, and the fuller, more expressive garden held further out. See drought-tolerant gardens 
03 Screening that stands up to the wind Hedges, trellis and trees chosen and staked for Santa Ana gusts, so the privacy planted in spring is still standing after the first autumn windstorm. See privacy planting 
04 A front yard the association approves Lawn replaced with water-wise planting, gravel and paving drawn to your association's standards, with the submittal package prepared alongside the design. See front yards 
Best for Spanish Colonial, Tuscan, Mission Revival and other stucco-and-tile homes, and anyone who wants a shaded courtyard built for outdoor entertaining.
On your property A natural fit for the Conejo Valley: the palette shares the oaks' tolerance for dry summers, and the Mediterranean and Spanish homes of Westlake Village and North Ranch already speak its language. Keep the irrigated beds outside any oak's root zone, where summer water does harm.
Best for Homeowners who want a true garden to tend, not just a yard to maintain, especially on a property with brick, stone or cottage-style architecture.
On your property Works best on the cooler, marine-influenced lots and in a sheltered courtyard. Keep its thirstier beds well away from any oak, hydrozone them on their own, and plant away from the house on a lot that backs onto open space.
Best for Classic and Mediterranean-adjacent homes, and anyone who wants a familiar, symmetrical look with year-round color.
On your property Suits the tract and estate homes of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village and Hidden Hills, and it reads well to a review board. Symmetry needs a reasonably regular lot, so on a sloping or oak-studded parcel it usually works best at the front entry.
Best for Modern and mid-century homes, and anyone who wants clean lines and architectural planting over a traditional garden look.
On your property Fits the newer homes of Dos Vientos and the hillside contemporaries, and its gravel, concrete and spare planting suit the zone closest to the house on a lot near open space. Specify screens and shade structures for Santa Ana wind, and keep paving off oak roots.
Best for Anyone who wants to cut water use and maintenance without the yard looking bare, and a strong fit for slopes, parkways and full-sun front yards.
On your property The strongest match for the open-space edge. Toyon, coffeeberry, manzanita, ceanothus, sages and deer grass read as a garden and suit the fire zone when they are spaced and irrigated properly, and a native palette is the natural companion to a protected oak.
Best for Homeowners who want a garden to look at and sit beside as much as gather in, and a natural fit for shaded, smaller or courtyard-style side yards.
On your property Belongs in a sheltered courtyard or on the shaded side of the house, out of the autumn wind. Keep any water recirculating, and on a lot near open space keep bamboo and dense conifers well back from the house.
Best for Side yards, courtyards and compact city lots, anyone who assumes their yard is too small to do much with.
On your property A good fit for the courtyard homes, patio lots and side yards of the planned communities, where every foot is visible from the house. Decide the one main use first, and check what your association reviews before choosing fences or screens.
Before We map sun and shade, drainage, slope and soil, and locate every protected oak with its root zone before a line is drawn. On a lot near open space we confirm the fire hazard zone and any fuel-modification requirements at the same visit.
Design Your designer lays out the garden with the hardscape and shade it depends on and presents it in plan and 3D, in whichever style suits the house: Mediterranean, English Garden, Traditional, Modern, Drought-Tolerant, Japanese Zen or Small-Space.
Selection Natives and Mediterranean plants chosen for each bed's exposure, the oaks and the fire zone, sized for maturity rather than the nursery pot, and listed on one specification sheet your association can review.
Installation Grading, soil preparation and drip irrigation zoned by exposure and kept off the oaks entirely, then planting, with new trees staked for autumn wind.
Established First-season watering, mulching and pruning, with care instructions so the garden is rooted in before its first Santa Ana season and its first dry summer.
Things worth knowing before a first consultation.
In Thousand Oaks, grading, trenching, paving and pruning inside a protected oak's zone generally need a permit. Beyond the paperwork, an oak wants a dry trunk in summer, no regrading under its canopy and no lawn or thirsty beds beneath it.
Lots that back onto open space plan for fire first. The first several feet around the house stay free of combustible material, planting nearby is low, irrigated and lower-resin, and the fuller garden sits further out. The 2018 Woolsey Fire is why this is a design question here, not a formality.
The valley funnels wind every autumn. Trees are chosen and staked for the worst week of the year, and screens and trellis get footings sized for gusts rather than for an average afternoon.
North Ranch, Lang Ranch, Dos Vientos, the Westlake lake community and Lake Sherwood all review exterior work, sometimes including planting near shared frontage. The planting plan is drawn to the standard your association expects.
Marine air over the Conejo Grade keeps summers milder than in the San Fernando Valley, but south-facing slopes and lots further inland still bake. Plant choice and irrigation zoning follow each bed's exposure, not one palette for the whole yard.
Hillside lots in Agoura Hills, North Ranch and around the lakes need grading, drainage and irrigation planned together, with smart controllers to manage water across varied terrain.
Many Lake Sherwood properties rely on septic systems rather than a sewer connection. Planting, irrigation and hardscape are placed with the septic field's location in mind rather than over it.
Planting should soften patios, steps and walls, not fight them, and leave room for a mature canopy without roots lifting the paving.
No quote written off a photograph can account for what your property is like.
Decking, drainage, utilities, planting, shade and lighting all bear on where a feature goes and how it gets built. Settling them on one set of drawings is what keeps conduit out of the wrong trench and stops paving being cut to fit afterward.
Access, engineering, permits, finishes and scope vary a lot from one property to the next, so the investment and the schedule for your project are set once we have seen the site and the design is settled.
Tell us about the property and what you want the space to do. We will walk through the design, site and permitting factors likely to shape it.
The designer captured our vision for family gatherings and outdoor dining with stunning plants and irrigation. Our backyard is now the perfect setting for creating lasting memories with family and friends.
Jay designed our complete transformation from a dirt yard into something beautiful. Our backyard is now the most beautiful and functional space in our home.
Pacific Outdoor Living replaced the original landscaping with drought-tolerant plants, making the yard look like a completely different home. The transformation was stunning and immediately improved our curb appeal. We were thrilled with how they handled the planting design and modern aesthetic choices.
California natives and Mediterranean plants do the heavy lifting: toyon, coffeeberry, manzanita, ceanothus, sages, buckwheats and deer grass are natural companions to the oaks, and olive, rosemary and lavender suit the Mediterranean homes. The key is matching each bed to its exposure, since a south-facing slope and a shaded courtyard on the same lot need different plants.
Carefully. An oak does best with a dry trunk in summer and undisturbed soil under its canopy, so we avoid lawn and regular irrigation beneath it, keep grade changes and trenching outside the root zone, and use mulch and a sparse, drought-tolerant understory instead of a thirsty bed.
Often, yes. The city's oak ordinance covers more than removal: grading, trenching, paving and pruning inside a protected zone generally need a permit. We map the protected trees during the site analysis and design around them, which keeps the application routine.
Mostly the planting closest to the house. The first several feet stay free of combustible material, the near zone is planted low and irrigated with lower-resin species, and hardscape and spacing break up continuous fuel. Further out, past the clearance zones, the garden can be much richer. We confirm your parcel's zone and any fuel-modification requirements during the site analysis.
Yes. Planting plans, specified materials and color selections drawn to the standard your association uses, with review comments worked through alongside the design. Rules differ between North Ranch, Lang Ranch, Dos Vientos, the lake community and Lake Sherwood, so we ask for your governing documents early.
Fall through early spring. New planting roots in over the cooler, wetter months and goes into its first dry summer established. Fall planting coincides with the Santa Ana season, so new trees are staked and watered with that in mind.
It can. Many Lake Sherwood properties rely on septic systems, so we locate the septic field early and keep trees, irrigation and hardscape placed with it in mind rather than over it.
It depends on the size of the planting area, the plant sizes specified, how much grading, drainage or fuel-modification work the lot needs and how much of the yard is included. Your designer sets the design fee at the first meeting, once the site analysis has measured the property.
Very likely. We design and build landscapes in Thousand Oaks, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Lake Sherwood and Simi Valley, and on the Las Virgenes side at Calabasas and Hidden Hills. Each community has its own page with an address checker.
Schedule a consultation with one of our designers to discuss your project goals and explore what's possible on your property.
What happens next: we set up a visit, measure the property and talk through what you want the space to do. Then you get a design to look at before you commit to anything.
