Drought-tolerant front garden with olive tree and decomposed granite path

Arroyo VerdeLandscape studio Book a consult

Design-build · Pasadena & the San Gabriel Valley

Gardens that belong here.

We design and build California gardens that use a fraction of the water, look better every year, and feel like the house was always meant to have them.

Book a design consult See our gardens

Now bookingSpring installs, March to May

4 of 10 build slots left this season.

The studio

A small studio of designers and our own install crews. We draw it, price it line by line, build it, and then take care of it, so the garden on the plan is the garden you live with.

320+gardens built since 2009

~60%less water, typical lawn swap

6 to 10 wkconsult to finished garden

2 yrplant and workmanship warranty

Recent gardens

Selected work

AllFront yardsBackyardsCourtyardsLawn swaps

Native front garden with olive trees — **The Mariposa Street garden**Altadena · native front yard · 1,600 sq ft
*Lawn swap*

Courtyard with fountain and potted citrus — **A courtyard for coffee**South Pasadena · 600 sq ft
*Courtyard*

Every project gets a planting plan you keep, with every plant named.See a sample plan →

Ranch house front yard after native planting — **The ranch reset**Arcadia · front yard

Backyard with fire pit and pergola — **Fire pit and pergola**San Marino · backyard · 2,200 sq ft
*Backyard*

Before & after

Same house. Eleven weeks apart.

A tired lawn and an overgrown juniper, replaced with a stone-edged native garden, a gravel path and two olive trees that will shade the porch in a few summers.

Water usedown about 64%
Lawn removed1,150 sq ft
Plants installed140, all drought-tolerant
Irrigationnew drip, smart controller

BeforeAfter

Drought-smart gardens

Lose the lawn. Keep the green.

A lawn in the San Gabriel Valley can drink more water than everything inside the house. We replace it with plants that thrive on our rainfall, and help you apply for the water district rebates that often pay for part of it.

Lawn you want to replace1,200 sq ft

Typical rebate where offered$2 to $3 per sq ft

~42,000gallons saved a year

Estimate for a sprinkler-watered lawn. We confirm the rebate for your address during the consult.

Cleveland sageBlue flowers, smells like summer, almost no water once established.

Olive and oakShade trees that handle heat and wind without fuss.

Deer grassSoft movement and structure, cut back once a year.

ManzanitaRed bark, winter flowers, loved by hummingbirds.

Small patch of natural-looking turf by a patio

Want some grass for the kids or the dog?

We install natural-looking artificial turf where it makes sense, with proper drainage and a cooling infill, and plants everywhere else.

Design-build process

One team from the first walk to the first bloom.

1Week 1Garden walk

A designer visits, measures, and listens. $250, credited to your build.

2Weeks 2 to 3Design

A scaled plan and a plant palette with photos, revised until it is right.

3Week 4Fixed price

Every stone, plant and valve priced line by line. No change-order surprises.

4Weeks 5 to 10Build

Our crews, not subcontractors, with a weekly photo update.

5OngoingCare

Optional garden care so it grows in the way it was designed.

Garden care

Gardeners, not mow-and-blow.

Our care crews prune, weed, adjust irrigation and replace anything that fails, guided by the planting plan for your garden.

Monthly

$190 /mo

For gardens under 2,000 sq ft

One visit a month
Hand weeding and pruning
Irrigation check and seasonal schedule

Twice monthly

$340 /mo

Most of our install clients

Two visits a month
Everything in Monthly
Plant replacement included
Spring and fall mulch top-up

Estate

Custom

Larger properties and orchards

Weekly dedicated crew
Fruit tree and rose care
Lighting and water feature upkeep

Arroyo Verde crew planting an olive tree

Our crews

The people who plant it are the people who come back.

Licensed C-27 landscape contractor. Every install crew is on our payroll, trained in irrigation and native planting, and works only on our gardens.

"They treated our yard like it was their own garden. Two years on, it looks better than the day they finished."Sample review, Sierra Madre

★★★★★

4.9 across 210 reviews

Our water bill went from painful to boring. And the hummingbirds showed up the first month.

Sample review · Lawn swap, Pasadena

The plan had every plant named and priced. We knew what we were getting before a shovel touched the ground.

Sample review · Front yard, Altadena

We use the backyard every night now. The fire pit and the pergola lights changed how we live.

Sample review · Backyard, San Marino

Where we work

Pasadena and the foothills.

Within about 25 minutes of our yard in Altadena, so crews spend their time in your garden, not in traffic.

Pasadena
Altadena
South Pasadena
San Marino
La Cañada Flintridge
Sierra Madre
Arcadia
Monrovia
Glendale
Eagle Rock

What does a garden like this cost?

Most front-yard lawn swaps land between $18,000 and $40,000. Full backyards with hardscape usually start around $45,000. You get a fixed, line-by-line price before anything starts.

Will a drought-tolerant garden look dry?

Not if it is designed well. We layer evergreen structure, seasonal flowers and texture so it looks full in August, not just in April.

Do you handle permits and rebates?

Yes. We pull permits for walls and lighting and prepare the paperwork for water district rebates where they are available.

Can you work with my existing trees?

Almost always. Mature trees are the best thing a garden can have. We design around them and protect their roots during the build.