Heavenly Greens Blog

When we were in school, we all learned the three R’s of sustainability – reduce, reuse, recycle. With a little creativity, you can apply all three to living outdoor environments. “Sustainable landscaping” is a comprehensive approach to designing and maintaining residential front and back yards, commercial properties, and public spaces. 

Containers are a hot commodity when it comes to creative gardening. No doubt that’s because they’re so versatile. Containers can hold a single accent plant, armloads of colorful flowers, edible fruits and veggies – whatever you want. They can augment your landscape design, or they can be your landscape design if all you have to work with is a balcony or deck.  

If your garden is small – or you’re confined to a balcony – you may think there’s no room for grass. Perish the thought! Without grass, where will you wiggle your toes? Where will your dog or cat be able to snooze in the shade? Let’s be honest – nothing says “outdoor living” like grass. Artificial grass, that is.

You want a low maintenance yard? Pave that thing over. You’ll never have to mow, trim, spray, or pull a weed ever again. Of course you’ll have the ugliest, hottest, most unpleasant property in town. The surface will be ideal for playing hopscotch, but not much else, so you’ll never see your kids again. Even your dear (formerly loyal) dog will depart for greener pastures.

So don’t do that.

Don’t you just love the sight of lush, green grass? Nothing compares to a gorgeous lawn, so let’s look at how two local homeowners approached their desire for a luxurious lawn.  

We’re doing everything we can to conserve water here in the Bay Area, and we’ve done a darn good job. But as we strive to make our landscapes more sustainable, we begin to notice there is something glaringly out of place – our driveways. 

What color is grass? Well, it’s green, everybody knows that! But “everybody” is wrong, because we’re talking artificial grass here, and fake grass can be any color you want. Hmmm. Kinda gets you to thinking, doesn’t it? You probably don’t want an orange or pink lawn, but there are a lot of things you can do with different colors of artificial grass. And lots of good reasons to think beyond the green.  

It’s never too late to get your hands dirty beautifying your yard. And few things are more rewarding than watching your creation come alive and evolve through the seasons. So if you’re just getting started with gardening, we say, “Good for you!” 

Dining al fresco. It’s one of summer’s greatest pleasures. And when you have an inviting back yard, you can get your fill of this excellent opportunity, for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner – alone, with family, or with friends. Aren’t you glad you switched to artificial grass? Your yard looks gorgeous and party-ready, and you haven’t broken a sweat prepping it. 

After years of severe drought, California residents are now used to dealing with water restrictions. Recently-enacted new state laws make those restrictions permanent and call for even stricter limits in the future. Wasting water is not only out of fashion, it’s beyond our budgets. So we’ve been forced to rethink our relationship with water, including how we sustain our landscaping.