Living Architecture
We have been a part of the design, installation and maintenance of several award winning green roof projects, and received Awards of Excellence for the last two years at Green Roofs for Healthy Cities’ annual conference.
From roof-top meadows and natural grasslands to vibrant living walls, we incorporate plants that attract birds and beneficial insects to the roof and the landscape.
Green roofs and living roof systems are not a trend but a major advancement in landscape design.
Our living roofs and green walls cool buildings in the summer, and insulate them in the winter. They also absorb sound and deflect light, helping to reduce the urban heat-island effect.
Throughout the last ten years our team of certified green roof and living wall professionals has worked on over 40 green roofs throughout California.
Borrowing from nature (Bio-mimicry) our walls are living walls. When placed on the south and west facing facades of buildings they act as a cooling system and reduce impact on energy use. They can also be used to filter and cleanse storm water.
An adaptation recently introduced is the living landscape retaining wall. We no longer need to build eyesore concrete retaining walls but can create walls populated with appropriate plant material that utilize all potential on site water by reabsorbing it into the water table. These walls breathe naturally, which increases the life of the wall materials.
Our gardens are designed for minimal water use but they do require supplemental water to establish. The best kind of water for any plant is nutrient charged natural rainwater and fog drip. We designed and built our first rainwater catchment system 9 years ago for a client who could not sustain his Orchid collection with treated tap water.
We came up with the concept to use natural rainwater (and summer fog drip) and his Orchids thrived! We incorporated this concept into the design of our native gardens and have been doing so successfully ever since. 1″ of rain on a 1,000 square foot building will capture 700 gallons of water!
Habitat Restoration
Habitat Gardens was founded by individuals trained in horticulture, ecology and biology. This broad base of education leads to helping to fix and reverse environmental degradation.
Our team is trained to assess a site’s current biological and ecological functions, and then create a plan to ameliorate the site’s weaknesses.
One of our passions is restoring California native grasslands that have been utterly destroyed from over grazing, over burning and poor management. We have taken this restoration approach to the residential market and are recreating Nassella, Danthonia and many other grass and wildflower species. Not only does this result in lower water usage but using native grass species is the optimal form of erosion control.
Our Riparian restoration services include stream bank stabilization using bio-engineering techniques.
We use willow wattles and other techniques borrowed from nature to stabilize stream banks and other heavy erosion areas.
We represent the Del Monte Forest Foundation and are responsible for planting native pines in the Pebble Beach area.
Our goal is to remove and control invasive species like iceplant, conocosia and other invasive species in sand dunes and restoring local native species. We have used these same techniques in our applicable landscapes for many years.
Custom Hardscapes
One of the primary aspects of any landscape is captured in its hardscape features. Our team includes professional stone-workers and masons who build state of the art hardscapes for all of your property’s needs.
We encourage the reuse of onsite materials such as boulders, wood, rock & water etc.
Water features create a tranquil, one-of-a-kind space. We create the luxury, calming feel that only a water feature can provide.
Our fire features can transform the outdoors into places of working art combining strength and beauty for a most intriguing outdoor feature.
One way to add a warm and inviting look to your front or backyard is to have a paving stone patio installed. There is a wide selection of different styles, colors, and patterns that can be used.
Whether it’s the perfect picket fence or a great idea for creating privacy, Habitat Gardens will help design the right fence / wall for your outdoor space.