Services

Landscape Design & Planting in Oakland, CA

Planting and garden refreshes typically run $3,000–$15,000 depending on scope.

Good landscape design starts with how you live, not with a plant catalog: where the kids play, where the sun lands at 6 PM, how much weekend you're willing to spend maintaining it. We design and install complete landscapes across Oakland and the East Bay — front-yard curb appeal, backyard renovations, and everything between.

We plant for this climate: drought-tolerant and California-native palettes that look lush on a fraction of the water, matched to your microclimate — foggy Alameda flats and hot Castro Valley hillsides are different gardens. Every design considers fire-defensible spacing in the hills and water budgets everywhere.

What's included

  • Design consult and planting plan matched to sun, soil, and water budget
  • Drought-tolerant, native, and low-maintenance plant palettes
  • Soil preparation and amendment for East Bay clay
  • Mulch, drip irrigation, and low-voltage lighting integration
  • Plant establishment guidance — and our one-year plant replacement promise

How it works

  1. Design consult. Walk the yard with us; we listen first and measure everything.
  2. Plan & plant list. Layout plus a palette you approve — with photos, not Latin names.
  3. Install. Soil prep, planting, mulch, drip. Most gardens: 2–6 days.
  4. Establishment check. We come back, adjust irrigation, and replace anything that failed in year one.

Recent work

Landscape Design & Planting: recent projects

Artificial turf backyard with planted concrete raised beds and bench seating, East Bay
Full backyard: turf, pavers & pergola
Built-in bench seating with cushions above a checkerboard of pavers and turf
Full backyard: turf, pavers & pergola
Close-up of square concrete pavers set in artificial turf in a diamond pattern
Full backyard: turf, pavers & pergola
Modern louvered pergola with slat privacy wall over a porcelain paver patio
Full backyard: turf, pavers & pergola

See all projects →

Ballpark your landscape design & planting

No email required. Ranges based on recent East Bay projects — your free on-site estimate turns this into a fixed number. Doing more than one thing? Add each to your project for a combined total.

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Landscape Design & Planting — questions & answers

Can you design for low water bills?

Yes — that's most of what we plant now. A drought-tolerant garden with drip irrigation typically cuts outdoor water use 50–70% versus lawn and spray heads, and EBMUD offers lawn-conversion rebates that we'll point you to.

Do you work with California natives?

Constantly: ceanothus, manzanita, salvias, yarrow, native grasses. Natives establish fast, feed pollinators, and shrug off dry summers. We blend them with proven Mediterranean plants for year-round color.

What about fire-safe planting in the hills?

For Montclair, Redwood Heights, and Castro Valley hillsides we design with defensible-space zones — low-fuel plants near structures, spacing and mulch choices per Oakland Fire guidelines.

Will my new plants survive?

They should — and if a plant we installed fails in the first year with normal care, we replace it free. That's part of the WindyPeak Promise.