San Fernando Valley
Landscape design for San Fernando Valley homes, from postwar lots on the Valley floor to hillside gardens above Ventura Boulevard and along the foothills. We plan the planting with the shade, drainage and hardscape it depends on, so the garden holds up through a Valley summer and looks better each year it grows in, and our own crews from Sun Valley 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 Valley homeowners ask for most. The photos come from our wider Greater Los Angeles portfolio, including the Hillside Cascade garden in Studio City.
01 Shade that makes summer usable Trees and structures placed against the western afternoon sun, so the patio is a place to sit in July rather than a place to cross. See shade structures 
02 Water-wise without looking bare Drought-tolerant and native planting on drip irrigation, zoned by exposure, that reads as a full garden instead of a gravel yard. See drought-tolerant gardens 
03 Privacy on a close-set lot Layered hedges, trellis panels and a well-placed tree give a standard Valley lot back its sense of enclosure without walling it in. See privacy planting 
04 A hillside that holds Boulder walls, terraces and planting that stabilize a slope above Ventura Boulevard or along the foothills and turn the grade into a view. See hillside gardens 
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 The most natural fit for the Valley: the palette was made for hot, dry summers, and the Spanish and traditional houses of Encino, Sherman Oaks and Valley Village already speak its language. Plan the pergola for the western sun from the start.
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 in the Valley with more care than most styles. Keep the roses and perennials on the morning-sun side, hydrozone them on their own, and let the hedging do the structural work. Expect two to three seasons to fill in.
Best for Classic and Mediterranean-adjacent homes, and anyone who wants a familiar, symmetrical look with year-round color.
On your property Suits the 1930s and 1940s homes of Valley Village and Toluca Lake and the larger ranch lots further north. Symmetry needs a reasonably symmetrical lot, so on an off-center parcel it often reads best scaled to 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 Rewards the flat, open postwar lots of the Valley floor, but the heat changes the materials: lighter paving, shade planned into the grid before it is poured, and sculptural plants that handle reflected heat off walls and paving.
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 Valley sun, especially full-sun front yards, parkways and slopes. Decomposed granite needs occasional raking, artificial turf almost none, and loose gravel needs an edge so it stays put.
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 Needs protection from the hot afternoon sun the Valley is known for. It does best under an established canopy, on the east side of the house or in a shaded courtyard, with a recirculating pump for any water.
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 compact lots of North Hollywood and Studio City, and for yards shared with an accessory dwelling unit. Decide the one main use first, and confirm side-yard access before anything else.
Before We assess sun and shade on each side of the house, drainage, slope, existing trees and soil. On a Valley lot that also means reading the old concrete and drainage of a postwar parcel, or the grade and fire zone of a hillside one.
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 Trees, shrubs and perennials chosen for Valley heat, your exposure and the style, sized for maturity rather than the nursery pot, and listed on one specification sheet.
Installation Grading, soil amendment and drip irrigation zoned by exposure, then planting. On slopes, mulch over jute netting holds the ground until the roots take over.
Established First-season watering, mulching and pruning, with care instructions so the garden is established before its first full Valley summer.
Things worth knowing before a first consultation.
West- and south-facing beds in the Valley take reflected heat from walls and paving. Plant choice, mulch depth and irrigation zoning are set by exposure, not by one palette for the whole yard.
Where the shade comes from decides what can grow under it. Trees and structures are placed first, then the planting is chosen for the light it will actually get.
Drought-tolerant and native planting cuts water use the most; English and traditional gardens need more water and deadheading. Hydrozoning by plant water need keeps the thirstier beds from setting the schedule for everything else.
Coast live oak, valley oak, western sycamore and California black walnut are protected in the City of Los Angeles. Grading, trenching and new irrigation stay out of the root zone, and work close to a protected tree needs city review.
On hillside lots, boulder walls and terraces hold the grade, and slopes are planted through mulch and jute netting so they stay put while the roots establish.
Lots in the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones along the northern foothills and the Santa Monica Mountains plant conservatively near the house: low, irrigated, lower-resin species close in, with the fuller planting further out.
Postwar lots often carry compacted soil, buried concrete and irrigation that no longer works. We locate utilities and test what is there before planting 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.
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.
Other companies struggled with the steep hillside, but Pacific Outdoor Living transformed it into a three-tier patio space with thoughtful design and execution. Their expertise in handling difficult terrain made all the difference. The final result is stunning and has completely changed how we use our property.
The company used its own crews, treated the yard and homeowner with respect, and got the job done on time. Having the same team throughout meant consistency and accountability. We appreciated their professional approach and the respect they showed our property.
Mediterranean and California native plants do the heavy lifting: rosemary, westringia, sages, ceanothus, toyon, coffeeberry, olive, ornamental grasses and citrus all read as full and green on drip irrigation. The key is matching each bed to its exposure, since a west-facing wall and a shaded side yard on the same lot need different plants.
Fall, from September through November, and spring, from February through April. New planting needs time to root before its first full Valley summer, so we avoid planting into July and August heat where we can.
Yes. A smaller lawn or artificial turf where the kids and dogs actually play, with drought-tolerant planting doing the work everywhere else, keeps the useful open space and drops the irrigation demand substantially.
Possibly. Coast live oak, valley oak, western sycamore and California black walnut are protected in the City of Los Angeles, so if one is on the property we map its root zone during design and plan grading, trenching and planting around it.
With the grade, not against it. Boulder or engineered retaining walls make level terraces, steps and paths connect them, and slopes are planted through mulch over jute netting so they hold while the roots establish. On Hillside Cascade in Studio City that meant three walls of granite boulders and a dry river bed carrying the stone down the slope.
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 such as toyon, lemonade berry and deergrass, and the fuller planting sits further out. We confirm your parcel's zone during the site analysis.
Routine planting usually does not. Retaining walls above a certain height, major grading, hillside work and electrical for lighting can, and work near a protected tree needs review. Our permitting department confirms what your scope needs and handles the submittals.
It depends on the size of the planting area, the plant sizes specified, how much grading or old hardscape removal 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. Our yard and showroom are in Sun Valley, and we design and build landscapes from Burbank and Studio City to West Hills, Northridge and Porter Ranch. 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.
