Planet Horticulture

Residential Garden Design & Installation 

Planet Horticulture residential work has received Awards of Excellence from Sunset Magazine‘s Western Garden Design Awards. Publications featuring Planet Horticulture include The New York Times, The London Daily Telegraph, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Gardens Illustrated, Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset Magazine, Country Living Gardener, Pacific Horticulture, and more.

A great home garden reflects the personal taste of the owner, is an extension of the home and is in sync with the surrounding environment. Planet Horticulture’s award-winning artistic skills combined with sound ecological principles of sustainable landscaping produce a unique landscape that is an aesthetic pleasure while being in harmony with the environment. With our expertise in native plants, xeriscaping, green roofing, edible landscaping, water, soil and habitat management, we evaluate your landscape needs employing a broad inter-disciplinary perspective. We are experts in using water effectively both in irrigation techniques and creating water features. We can illuminate your landscape with the latest LED lighting technologies. Using organic and sustainable practices we build healthy landscapes.

Have Planet Horticulture use its extensive knowledge of the enormous array of horticultural and native plants that can be combined effectively to create nearly any aesthetic or ecological style. Our site assessment and development strategies will help you establish project specific goals and objectives that will help you evaluate the various costs and benefits of various options. And we can create a strategy for the continued operation and maintenance of the garden and infrastructure. Planet Horticulture residential work has received Awards of Excellence from Sunset Magazine‘s Western Garden Design Awards. Publications featuring Planet Horticulture include The New York Times, The London Daily Telegraph, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Gardens Illustrated, Better Homes and Gardens, Sunset Magazine, Country Living Gardener, Pacific Horticulture, and more. Many books related to horticulture and nature have featured Planet Horticulture. Roger Raiche has contributed many articles and photographs to various publications throughout his career.

Explore Residential Gardens

San Rafael Garden

The clients had lived in their hillside home for many years, but had put off major landscaping. They finally decided they wanted to live in a garden setting and asked us to take a steep hillside behind their residence and make it beautiful and accessible. We renovated a dining patio immediately adjacent to the house. A new staircase up to the hillside was created with switchback trails to reach the highest sections. We added 2 comfortable sitting areas to enjoy the view to the distant Mt. Tam, the most prominent landform in Marin Co. We included a bountiful vegetable garden and lots of roses and tough plants to provide constant flowering, which created a look of colorful casual profusion.

Kensington Family Garden

A woman retired from a career abroad and returned to the home her father had built in the early 20th century. She loved plants and wanted to surround herself in garden of great diversity and beauty, where she could walk and find something of interest every day of the year. Over the next decade we helped her achieve this dream, while helping to unify the formerly diverse spaces of her childhood landscape. The garden has been featured on many tours and publications, giving great pleasure and satisfaction to the owner.

West County Residence

A small residence situated in a clearing amongst the redwood forests in western Sonoma Co. needed landscaping. The owner loved gardening and wanted to be surrounded by spectacular plants of year-round interest. We developed a garden space around the house combining both some of the most unusual plants that could be grown in this climate, but stuffed it with many short term annuals to provide fullness and ebullient color for immediate enjoyment. A narrow bed between a porch and the driveway was a special focus, with a tiered planting that provided separation, visual excitement yet didn't block the view.

Country Estate Garden

A young family desired that their brand new home set in an empty lot develop a landscape that was relaxed, friendly and informal, much like an old country ranch. They also wanted a landscape that was bountiful with fruits to be picked and vegetables to be harvested, but with most of the plantings respectful of the hot, summer dry climate of the region. We created a landscape with a casual feel, and diversity of spaces for outdoor living, and a child-friendly layout. A hillside stream and pool/patio area, a more formal dining terrace, and a children's playhouse were also created.

Calistoga Retreat

This country home has magnificent panoramic views of the northern Napa Valley with a primary focus on a dramatic rock escarpment called The Palisades. While the view could not be improved upon, the long driveway and the area around the two residences lacked intimacy and immediate visual appeal. We set about to create plantings in the living zone that would enhance the experience, providing close-up color, fragrance and texture. The challenges involved extreme summer heat, little available water, intense wind storms and the expansive scale of the site. By using extremely tough plants with bold features, the houses now enjoy the added beauty of being set into a garden.

Mid-Century Modern Renovation

Friends and previous clients bought a mid-century modern house located on the top of a ridge in the Claremont area of Berkeley CA. It has panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay, the Peninsula, San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Bay Bridge and Marin County. The owners renovated the house maintaining the architectural heritage of the building. The wanted to create a garden that would feel contemporary, provide circulation and access, lots of edible plants, spaces for their sculptures, and outdoor living spaces. Several choice specimen plants and antique ceramic urns were brought from their previous garden in Mill Valley, California. 
                 Case Study can be viewed here. 

Manzanita (Arctostaphylos) bark as Design Element
Planet Horticulture

Planet Horticulture

Serving the following California Counties:

     San Francisco     San Mateo
     Marin     Napa    Sonoma
     Alameda   Contra Costa 

CA License #740638
Contact Us

Email: gardens@planethorticulture.com  
Phone: + 1-415-827-4342
Office located in San Francisco, CA 

24 Years of Garden Design Excellence!

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