When it comes to curb appeal, good architecture isn’t enough. To create a truly inspired and inspiring home, the landscape design must match the quality and attention to detail of the home’s design.

At TJH, we make beautiful, climate-appropriate landscaping a top priority. Whether you buy one of our pre-construction homes or build a new home on your existing homesite or one we find for you, you’ll enjoy personalized landscaping that fits your locale and enhances the design of your home. Here are some of the practices we use when landscaping our new construction homes in Southern California.

Plant in a variety of colors, textures, and heights

Having a variety of plants creates interest for the eye and helps your landscaping look unique and captivating. Fortunately, many plants do well in Southern California, including Mexican feather grass, silver bush lupine, fireworks fountain grass, sweet bay, and fruitless olive trees. Consider using a variety of these and other native plants in your landscape design.

Consider a desert oasis

A great outdoor design look for Southern California is the “desert oasis.” Planting cacti and succulents, such as after glow, blue glow, and carol, creates a yard that’s attractive and distinctly SoCal.

Incorporate hardscaping

Empty space is essential to creating great art, and the same is true for good landscape design. If you fill up every square inch around your home with plants, it can seem overgrown and chaotic. Using pea gravel and sand finish concrete to create areas of open space makes your landscaping more calming and aesthetically-pleasing. Pea gravel also adds texture and comes in attractive colors, including desert gold and polished or matte salt and pepper.

Don’t neglect fencing

You want your backyard to feel like a sanctuary, and having a six-foot-tall, solid fence promotes privacy and tranquility. Natural materials are pleasing and relaxing to the mind, making wood an appealing fencing option. On the other hand, vinyl fencing is easier to maintain and won’t age over time. Whichever you choose, your fence can be stained or painted a variety of shades and colors, which can contribute to your overall design aesthetic.

Play with pool materials

Not every family will opt for a backyard pool, but for those who do, a pool can, and should, be as beautiful as it is enjoyable. Pools that use white, black, gray, or blue stacked porcelain tiles or Pebble Fina or Sheen look modern and clean.

Consider the environment

You may want to include environmentally-friendly components, such as large rainwater tanks, in your outdoor design. Although not generally selected for their aesthetics, features like this can keep your turf and plants looking wonderful in a more sustainable manner.

Finally, don’t forget function

Beautiful landscaping also needs to work well for how your family uses your outdoor spaces every day. If your kids like to play soccer, make sure you have a large area of healthy turf. If you prefer to entertain or sit outside to read, fragrant plants that attract butterflies may bring you more joy.