We are a landscape design and construction management firm specializing in water conserving residential landscape projects. Robert Cornell is an award winning landscape designer and former licensed landscape contractor with over 35 years of experience based in Pasadena, California. We can help you make your outdoors beautiful and water wise as well!
For more than 35 years we have been committed to environmental sensitivity in the design & construction of home gardens. This corresponds to the trends known as sustainable landscaping, xeriscape and water wise landscaping. What these approaches have in common are the conservation of resources such as water & energy and lowering maintenance costs and greenwaste.
We do this through the use of native plants and other drought tolerant species, and the placement of trees to shade buildings to lower heat loads. In addition, because of more stringent watering restrictions and higher water pricing, we recommend increased use of drip irrigation and smart controllers to reduce water consumption.
For more than 35 years we have been committed to environmental sensitivity in the design & construction of home gardens. This corresponds to the trends known as sustainable landscaping, xeriscape and water wise landscaping. What these approaches have in common are the conservation of resources such as water & energy and lowering maintenance costs and greenwaste.
We do this through the use of native plants and other drought tolerant species, and the placement of trees to shade buildings to lower heat loads. In addition, because of more stringent watering restrictions and higher water pricing, we recommend increased use of drip irrigation and smart controllers to reduce water consumption.
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We are having a nice rainy season so far this year, but we are no way out of our perilous water situation.
There seems to be some consensus that California has enjoyed an unusually wet period during its recent development.
There has been talk about the possibility of California entering a mega drought that might last decades or even longer.
From the study of submerged tree stumps in Lake Tahoe, climate researcher Susan Lindstrom found a dry spell that lasted 1,300 years before ending about 4,000 years ago.
There seems to be some consensus that California has enjoyed an unusually wet period during its recent development.
There has been talk about the possibility of California entering a mega drought that might last decades or even longer.
From the study of submerged tree stumps in Lake Tahoe, climate researcher Susan Lindstrom found a dry spell that lasted 1,300 years before ending about 4,000 years ago.
With our heavier than normal rainy season, we now need to switch from being concerned about drought to keeping our slopes from sliding down hill under the onslaught of heavy rains that supersaturate the soil.
EVALUATE the current slope conditions.
It is not uncommon that homeowners in their concern about fire hazards have eliminated all the native woody brush on the slopes around their house.
However, on steep slopes the removal of the chaparral can often destabilize the slope with the removal of these deep root systems that have kept them stable.
EVALUATE the current slope conditions.
It is not uncommon that homeowners in their concern about fire hazards have eliminated all the native woody brush on the slopes around their house.
However, on steep slopes the removal of the chaparral can often destabilize the slope with the removal of these deep root systems that have kept them stable.
Drought tolerant landscapes can take advantage of beautiful plants originating from all of the Mediterranean climates of the world.
This means here in Southern California that we can enjoy our own unique and beautiful California native plants, amazing succulents from South Africa, great flowering shrubs from Australia and, of course, fragrant lavenders and other wonderful shrubs and herbs from the Mediterranean region.
All of these climates have moist mild winters and dry hot summers so that the plants from all these regions have basically the same low water requirements and can tolerate quite a bit of drought stress.
This means here in Southern California that we can enjoy our own unique and beautiful California native plants, amazing succulents from South Africa, great flowering shrubs from Australia and, of course, fragrant lavenders and other wonderful shrubs and herbs from the Mediterranean region.
All of these climates have moist mild winters and dry hot summers so that the plants from all these regions have basically the same low water requirements and can tolerate quite a bit of drought stress.
The Wilkinson garden features a wide sampling of plants native to South Africa, which has a climate similar to our own here in Southern California.
The Rice garden situated in the historical Fairfax district of Los Angeles is a classic LA Spanish style house with a garden to match.
We could not be happier with the landscaping Robert Cornell did for us.
We live on a corner lot on a very busy street and wanted to reclaim some of the front yard space for our own as well as cut down on the visual and auditory clutter that littered our view from our living room, dining room and kitchen.
The Rice garden situated in the historical Fairfax district of Los Angeles is a classic LA Spanish style house with a garden to match.
We could not be happier with the landscaping Robert Cornell did for us.
We live on a corner lot on a very busy street and wanted to reclaim some of the front yard space for our own as well as cut down on the visual and auditory clutter that littered our view from our living room, dining room and kitchen.
In many ways the old tradition of having a rolling lawn around your house has outlived its time.
For starters a lawn in our climate consumes about 48 inches of water to properly maintain each year.
But before you go ahead and let that lawn brown out, let me give you a bit of advice, based on many years of experience which includes some costly mistakes I have made in the past.
First of all, it is better to keep the lawn green before you rip it out.
The key to this seeming paradox is this: if your lawn isn't a very recently installed fescue, then it more than likely has a lot of weeds within it.
For starters a lawn in our climate consumes about 48 inches of water to properly maintain each year.
But before you go ahead and let that lawn brown out, let me give you a bit of advice, based on many years of experience which includes some costly mistakes I have made in the past.
First of all, it is better to keep the lawn green before you rip it out.
The key to this seeming paradox is this: if your lawn isn't a very recently installed fescue, then it more than likely has a lot of weeds within it.
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