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Licensed & insured · serving Greater LA since 2015
Landscaping in Hollywood
Hillside drainage, canyon planting and 1920s garden restoration above and below Franklin.
Why Hollywood yards behave the way they do
Above Franklin, access decides the method
A hillside property reached by a single-lane road with no turnaround cannot take a ten-yard delivery. Material comes in small loads, often by hand or by chute, and that shapes both the design and the price. We work it out at the quote, not on the morning.
Hillside drainage is a neighbour issue
Water leaving a hillside property ends up on somebody else's. Terracing, swales and a drain that actually goes somewhere legal are part of the landscape here, not an add-on. Most hillside disputes we see started as a drainage shortcut.
The flats have old gardens worth keeping
Hancock Park, Larchmont and the Hollywood bungalow streets still have original planting structure: mature camellias, deodars, citrus and brick edging. Restoration usually beats replacement, and it is nearly always cheaper.
What actually thrives in Hollywood
Six plants we specify here more than anywhere else in Greater LA, and the reason each one earns its place. This is a starting point, not the whole palette; the final list depends on your light, your soil and how much maintenance you want.
| Plant | Type | Water | Why it works here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quercus agrifolia | Native oak | None once established | The right canopy tree for a hillside parcel, with a dry summer underneath |
| Heteromeles arbutifolia | Native shrub | Very low | Toyon holds a slope and feeds birds with no irrigation |
| Camellia sasanqua | Shrub | Moderate | Period-correct for the flats and happy in part shade |
| Muhlenbergia rigens | Grass | Low | Roots fast on a cut bank and copes with reflected heat |
| Rosmarinus 'Huntington Carpet' | Groundcover | Very low | Covers a sunny slope face and holds decomposed granite in place |
| Dietes bicolor | Perennial | Low | Survives neglect on a hillside bed that is hard to reach |
Five things that go wrong in Hollywood gardens
These are the problems we are called out to most often in this part of the city. Four of the five are design or irrigation faults rather than plant faults, which is why replanting on its own rarely fixes them.
Terracing skipped because the slope looked stable
Decomposed granite on a grade is stable until the first long rain. Beds cut straight into the face lose their mulch, then their soil, then the planting.
Drains piped to the property line and stopped
That is not drainage, it is a dispute waiting to happen. The line needs a legal outfall, and finding one is part of the job.
Galvanised irrigation pipe left in service
Plenty of flats properties still run original galvanised mains. They corrode from the inside, pressure drops, and the symptom looks like a coverage problem. Replacing the main fixes what adjusting heads never will.
Mature trees pruned to clear a view
Heavy cuts into an old deodar or oak leave wounds that do not close and regrowth that is weakly attached. Thinning for light is a different operation and it does not shorten the tree's life.
Hillside brush left until summer
Hillside parcels have clearance obligations and the dry season arrives earlier than people plan for. We schedule it in spring with the rest of the maintenance.
The year in a Hollywood garden
Southern California does not have four seasons, it has a wet half and a dry half. What you do and when you do it matters more here than in almost any other climate.
- October to December
First rains and shorter days
The best planting window of the year. Soil is still warm, rain does the watering, and roots establish before next summer. Controllers come off the summer schedule, rain sensors get checked, and drains get cleared before the first real storm.
- January to March
Wet ground and dormant growth
Pruning season for deciduous material and the right time for structural work: walls, paving, drainage and grading, while planting is cheap to move. Watch for standing water, because what the ground does now is what it will do every winter.
- April to June
Growth and the first heat
Everything puts on growth at once. Feeding, mulching to lock in winter moisture, irrigation audits before the hot months, and the last comfortable window to plant anything that will need to survive August.
- July to September
Heat, wind and water bills
Maintenance rather than construction. Watering before sunrise, adjusting run times as the heat peaks, thinning trees ahead of the Santa Ana season, and keeping an eye on the plants that are telling you they are in the wrong place.
Water, trees and the rules that apply here
Water in Hollywood comes from LADWP. Watering-day limits, tiered rates and turf replacement rebates change from year to year and from provider to provider, so check the current position with yours before you set a schedule. We program the controller to whatever is actually in force on the day we hand over.
Tree removal is the other rule that catches people. Street trees in the public parkway and protected or landmark trees on private land are regulated, and the requirements differ by city. We will tell you plainly which category a tree falls into before anything is cut, and we will not remove a protected tree without the proper approval.
Hours at this location
- Monday to Friday7:00 am to 6:00 pm
- Saturday8:00 am to 4:00 pm
- SundayClosed
Send plans, photos or HOA documents to in**@*************la.com and we reply within one business day.
How the Hollywood crew works a property
The same five steps on every job, whether it is a front garden conversion or a full rebuild. The order is the part that matters.
Walk the whole property, not the problem corner
We start at the meter and work outward. Sun exposure by elevation, soil texture in three spots, where water actually goes when it rains, what the existing irrigation is really covering. Most of what a yard needs is decided here, before anything is drawn.
Soil and drainage before plant lists
A hole and a hose tell us how fast the ground drains. Clay that holds water for a day needs a different plan from decomposed granite that drains in twenty minutes. Skipping this is why replanted yards fail in their second summer.
A plan with real numbers on it
You get a written scope: plants by name and size, materials by quantity, irrigation zones, what we remove and where it goes, and the price. No allowances, no vague line items, nothing that changes once work starts unless you change it.
Irrigation first, then hardscape, then planting
Order matters. Pipe and wire go in before paving, paving goes in before plants, and plants go in before mulch. Doing it out of order is how a new patio gets cut open three weeks later.
Handover with the controller programmed
We set the irrigation schedule for the season you are actually in, show you the valves and the shutoff, and leave a written plant list with watering notes. Then we come back to adjust it when the weather turns.
Neighbourhoods the Hollywood crew works
Coverage from this location is set by drive time rather than city boundaries. If your street is near this list and not on it, call and ask; it is usually a yes.
ZIP codes covered from Hollywood
18 ZIP codes run from this location. Where two locations overlap, the job goes to whichever crew reaches it fastest on the day.
Hollywood
90038, 90028, 90068
Los Feliz and Silver Lake
90027, 90029, 90026, 90039
Hancock Park and Larchmont
90004, 90020, 90005, 90010, 90036
West Hollywood edge
90046, 90069
Northeast LA
90041, 90042, 90031, 90065
Questions we get from Hollywood homeowners
Yes, with the right method. Small loads, staged deliveries and hand transport where a truck cannot turn. We look at the access before we quote, because it changes the price more than the planting does.
A combination: a bench or low wall to break the grade, deep-rooting plants such as deer grass, toyon and prostrate rosemary, coarse mulch that will not float, and jute netting while things establish.
Keep, almost always. Mature structure like that takes decades to replace and usually only needs renovation pruning, soil work and a modern irrigation system underneath it.
Hillside parcels in the city carry clearance obligations and the fire department inspects them. Check your current notice for what applies to your parcel, and we will schedule the work to meet it.
Yes, along with Atwater, Echo Park and the Hancock Park side. It is a short run in each direction.
Every service available from the Hollywood location
All fifteen run from this office with the same crews, the same rate card and the same warranty as every other location.
Nearest other locations
Book a free walkthrough in Hollywood
We walk the property, talk through the options, and put a real number on paper. No obligation, and no sales pressure.
1075 N St Andrews Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90038 · Get directions · Opens 7 AM, Monday to Saturday