TreePeople
If you’re a homeowner, a landscaping professional, or someone who just cares a lot about the health of your local trees, you’re probably familiar with the practice of pruning. In its simplest form, pruning involves removing branches from a tree for a specific purpose. But how often should you be doing this? Which branches should…
It’s been a wet, rainy winter here in Southern California, and as we look towards the warmer days ahead, nature-lovers are wondering — does that mean there’s another superbloom in store? The short answer is: it’s too soon to tell. While rain can help usher in the dramatic floral displays that blanket our hillsides in…
You’ve undoubtedly seen it, and may aggravate you as you drive by it. The sight of a mature tree that has been cut well below the height it should be reaching. This tree, sadly, has been Topped. It is as unnatural as it seems, a huge trunk with a tiny sphere of leaves. This is,…
Are you thinking of replacing your lawn with a native garden? Turning your yard into a native landscape can be a powerful tool in protecting local habitat, saving you money on your water bill and lowering your carbon footprint. It can seem like a daunting challenge: where do you start, how hard is it to…
It’s hard to go a day in Southern California without overhearing someone say, “Well, you know LA is a desert.” Let’s get this out of the way immediately — Los Angeles is one hundred percent, categorically not a desert. Southern California does have desert environments, but you have to go out to say Joshua Tree…
Rainwater is a precious resource in Los Angeles and the best way to harvest it is to start with your home. Many of our homes have gutters and downspouts installed that direct vital rainwater away from our gardens and directly to the street and storm drains. A great alternative to this is to install a…
As your garden evolves from a typical lawn-centered landscape to one that is more sustainable and appropriate to our southern California climate, it is important that the maintenance of your yard shifts to accommodate the new landscape. Sometimes this involves working with your gardener to better understand the needs of your garden. Some helpful tips…
If you like to trim in your garden, there is nothing like a new pair of pruners when cutting flowers and pruning trees and shrubs. They are so clean, sharp, and cut like butter! Oftentimes we don’t take care of our gardening tools—letting them get rusty, dull, and clogged with sap and sawdust, making you…
Southern California winter months are the ideal time to install native and climate-appropriate non-native plants into your landscape. In Southern California, it rains in late fall, winter and spring with almost no rain in the summer. Rainfall in December is around 1.75 – 2” increasing to 2.75” in January and then begins to decrease after…
One of the keys to maintaining native and climate-appropriate plants in your sustainable landscape is the health of the soil. Plant roots utilize and store nutrients in the soil environment, so it is essential that the soil contains what the roots need! Can’t I Just Add Fertilizer? It is not necessary to spend your…
Contrary to popular belief, LA does, in fact, have seasons. They may not happen when or how you expect them to, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a fix of fall color in your life this autumn. Some of our evergreen natives color up in fall when the temperatures drop by getting a reddish or…
Dead, diseased, damaged, or deranged – think this is not the description of a horror film character? Guess again! At TreePeople, and in the field of arboriculture, they are known as the 4 D’s. It is the simple way to remember what to prune out of a tree to help ensure it is happy and…