Tree of Life Landscapes

Description of Work: n/a

Description of Work: Mark and Emily Maeda designed, built, and held my hand through a large soup-to-nuts residential landscaping project. From the bottom up it included but was not limited to grading, soil prep, drip irrigation, downspout burials, 1000 plus square feet of gravel path, construction of a dry creek bed, 20 tons of moss rock boulders, and hundreds of mostly zeric trees, shrubs, ornamental and native grasses, perennials, and groundcovers. I didn't know a thing about zeriscaping so there was a lot of educating to be done and emailing back and forth. My work hours were too long back then, thus helping to supervise and attending meetings were pretty much out of the question. Mark and Emily patiently accomodated me with phone calls and extensive emails. Long story short, most every planting started out small and nondescript, but grew so fast I've had to relocate several that moved beyond bounds, and looked great until the years of drought, high winds, and brutal sun took their toll. My only regret was that my hope for a nearly monochromatic flowering color scheme did not work out. Still haven't gotten used to the pale blues, lavenders, yellows, and pinks so I am gradually transplanting those to a less visible area and replacing with mostly white to cream flowering shrubs and perennials. Sure is sweet to revisit pictures of what was once a barren lifeless moonscape and compare to what quickly evolved into a lush out-of-doors where there is something interesting to see nearly every month and more little woodland creatures than I could've ever imagained. My yard has become such a haven for wildlife that I've had to discourage the occasional coyote pack (they feast on my beloved cottontails) and deer (they devour beloved plants). The running about with noisemakers is all worth it when the spectacular hummingbirds, meadowlarks, cedar waxwings, goldfinch, brand new bunnies so tiny they look like big-eared mice, and butterflies take over my own personal wildlife sanctuary.