The first step in bringing forward the very best your garden has to offer is to complete an in-depth assessment of its current well-being. Scheduled at a time that is convenient for you, owner Mariela Guastavino will personally walk through your gardens with you (or your chosen representative).

The intention of this walkthrough is three-fold. First, to listen to and clarify your personal vision for your garden. Second, to assess the health of each sub-community, whether trees, plants, lawns, or other accents. Third, to evaluate the current condition of the soil, irrigation systems, and the impact of sun/shade cycles and other unique meteorological or topographical characteristics of your garden. All these findings will be the furnished to you in a detailed report.

Our report will give you a step-by-step analysis of what is required to create the garden you envision—and how to maintain it at it’s best. It will indicate current strengths, challenges, and areas of opportunity for your green spaces and make clear recommendations.

At Le Quattro Stagioni, we also recognize that stewarding the natural resources of your garden includes stewarding the financial resources you wish to allocate to it. Tiered options are available upon request, so that you can make informed choices as to which areas you wish to make a primary focus of your evolving vision for your garden.

Your in-depth report is founded upon these essential elements:

• Listening carefully to your vision for your garden.

• Evaluating the foundations of your garden: analysis of soil chemistry, plant health, and irrigation effectiveness.

• Clarifying the specific shaping and training needs of plants and trees.

• Identifying the presence and impact of harmful fungus, insects, or other detrimental organisms.

• Reviewing garden design for possible plant relocation or addition of perennials to enhance sun, shade, and water use.

Southern California’s Mediterranean climate (also sometimes called “Dry-Summer Subtropical”), has an average of 263 sunshine days and only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually. This makes for great beach weather, but can be harsh on the soil!

With an advanced education in Agronomic Engineering (as well as Landscape Design), owner Mariela Guastavino has tended gardens on three continents and in numerous climate types. She has almost twenty years of experience in evaluating, conditioning, and nurturing a wide range of soil profiles, specializing in those that occur in Southern California.

At Le Quattro Stagioni, the goal is always to work with your garden, not just on it. To awaken the soil’s full potential in ways that are safe, sustainable, and effective, and that produce optimum growth, vibrant, colorful blooms, and full fruit trees.

Unless proactively tended to, soils become highly compacted and nutrient-depleted. This negatively impacts the health of flowers, trees, shrubs, lawns, and other garden populations. Soils require the ongoing addition of organic materials—in the form of compost, seaweed, etc.—besides fertilizers, to create a solid foundation (a “soil foodweb”), where highly beneficial microorganisms and friendly bacteria coexist.

A healthy food web occurs when:

“... all the organisms the plant requires are present and functioning. Nutrients in the soil are in the proper forms for the plant to take up. It is one of the functions of a healthy foodweb to hold nutrients in non-leachable forms so they remain in soil, until the plant requires the nutrients, and then the plant “turns on” the right biology to convert the nutrients into forms the plant can take up (but which are typically very leachable).

“The correct ratio of fungi to bacteria is present, and ratio of predator to prey is present, so soil pH, soil structure, and nutrient cycling occur at the rates and produce the right forms of nutrients for the plant.”

- Dr. Elaine Ingham, Soil Foodweb

Skillfully developing and enhancing your soil’s profile, Mariela and your assigned team may recommend and include any of the following practices:

• Identifying soil composition and chemistry. Initial analysis recommended, and then every two years.

• Removing significant debris (perhaps left from the original construction of your home) that undermines plants health.

• Balancing the topography of the terrain by bringing in new dirt to replace what is removed, while preserving the natural character of your garden and any attractive undulations or mounds that may exist (unless you wish them removed).

• Developing and maintaining an evolving, amendment, mulching and fertilization program.

• Applying select, custom-blended organic fertilizers tailored for each area of your garden, its specific plant materials, and by season.

• Nourishing the earth with compost and materials such as kelp, seaweed, mycorrhizae, and other organic elements as needed that will support a healthy base where plants can truly thrive.

• Adjusting your customized fertilization program to your garden’s evolving needs.

• Amplifying the soil enrichment program with deep cultivation (two or more times a year), especially to allow shrubs to compete successfully with larger trees. This ensures that smaller plants can get the water and nutrients they need.

• Ensuring your soil receives the correct amount of irrigation.

* While debris removal can be a time consuming task that needs to be done by hand—no machinery will remove a thin layer of dirt—the return on the investment of this time is very high. Time spent here will save many hours in future maintenance costs.

Our commitment to those we serve is this: to deliver impeccable garden care that nurtures every garden to reach its greatest potential. In addition, this care will be delivered organically (links to organic.html): a way that is not only good for your garden, but also good for those who enjoy it—you, your family members, children, pets, and visiting friends and other beneficial wildlife!

Implementing a restoration plan specifically designed to create the garden you want, your team will include appropriate tasks selected from the following key areas:

• Pruning, shaping, training and development of trees, perennials, and vines.

• Customizing care for rose gardens, fruit trees, and native Californian, Mediterranean, tropical, and exotic plants.

• Enhancing overall garden health for optimum growth, vibrant, colorful blooms, and full fruit trees.

• Trimming and renovating seasonal flowers and pots.

• Developing and maintaining an evolving, organic mulching and fertilization program.

• Applying select, custom-blended organic fertilizers specifically crafted for each area in your garden.

• Supporting or introducing beneficial organisms to maintain the natural ecosystem in your garden and initiate long-term, natural pest management.

• Encouraging beneficial birds, butterflies, and wildlife into your garden using a variety of plant choices and environmentally friendly products.

Just like your garden, your organic maintenance program is a living entity. It will change according to the evolving character and needs of your garden, your evolving wishes, and with shifting seasonal priorities.

This ongoing program of care will be specifically designed and implemented to care for and enhance the unique qualities of your garden. It includes four essential areas of focus: soil development, irrigation maintenance, pest management, and nurturing plant communities.

Soil Development

• Applying select, custom-blended organic fertilizers customized for each area of your garden, its specific plant materials, and by season.

• Nourishing the earth with compost and materials such as kelp, seaweed, mycorrhizae, and other organic elements as needed that will support a healthy base where plants can truly thrive.

• Identifying soil composition and chemistry (analysis recommended every two years) that adjusts the fertilization program to your gardens evolving needs.

• Developing and maintaining an evolving amendment, mulching and fertilization program.

Irrigation Maintenance

Regulation of your current system is included as a part of ongoing maintenance. Depending on the current functioning of your irrigation (sprinkler) system, an additional full three phase program of irrigation restoration may be recommended.

In addition, Mariela and her staff will offer up-to-the-minute information about remaining within current water restriction guidelines while maintaining the health and well-being of your garden.

Regular maintenance includes:

• Monitoring the irrigation system once (and sometimes twice) a month to respond to the shifting environmental, seasonal, and meteorological conditions that often change at short notice.

• Regulating coverage, making corrections in the flow as plant communities evolve.

• Cleaning heads and filters as necessary.

Pest Management

• Scouting for insects and diseases, establishing the proper method to control them, releasing beneficial insects, and always using natural products.

• Supporting or introducing beneficial organisms to maintain the natural ecosystem in your garden and initiate long-term, natural pest management.

• Encouraging beneficial birds, butterflies, and wildlife into your garden using a variety of plant choices and environmentally friendly products.

Nurturing Plant Communities

• Cultivating of beds to assist smaller plants in their development—especially those close to hedges or individual trees.

• Trimming and shaping of all perennials in the proper season.

• Thinning out or dividing plants as necessary when they mature.

• Graceful training of vines.

• Relocating plants as sun/shade change over time with the growth of your garden and larger elements, such as trees.

• Pruning, shaping, training and root development of trees, perennials, and vines.

• Customizing care for rose gardens, fruit trees, and native Californian, Mediterranean, tropical, and exotic plants.

• Enhancing overall garden health for optimum growth, vibrant, colorful blooms, and full fruit trees.

• Trimming and renovating seasonal flowers and pots.

Plus...

• Ongoing suggestions as needed to make minor modifications if a particular area does not seem to be thriving as it could.

• Addressing any other garden related challenges if they arise.

At Le Quattro Stagioni, we specialize in installing and/or adjusting irrigation systems so that they work both effectively and efficiently. On rare occasions, this element of a garden beautification or restoration project is so important that client approval of irrigation improvements will be a prerequisite before proceeding with a larger project.

Irrigation System

Often pre-installed irrigation systems do not address gardens as they evolve in design. Sometimes some areas are over watered, and some are under watered. Both scenarios create specific challenges.

It may be that your system needs only fine-tuning—cleaning the heads and filters, fine-tuning the time and days they function, and adjusting them to accurately reach the desired areas.

To successfully address—once and for all—more persistent problems that you may have been experiencing, a more in-depth irrigation assessment may be required. This is a three-step process:

1. Assessment and Report

Identifying and submitting a report on the following elements:

• Size of main pipe bringing water into the gardens

• Current functioning of all stations

• Any other issues, such as leaks, cracked piping, etc., that may be contributing to low pressure

• Most economical, least impactful approach available for resolving current problems

2. Recalibration

Ensuring that all areas of your garden are receiving adequate amounts of water (and not too much—a common problem). When there are visible signs of dryness, often the most efficient and cost effective way to address this (rather than changing the whole irrigation system in the lawn) is to add one or more valves to the area with additional sprinkler heads.

3. Fine-Tuning

Regulating the irrigation system once (and sometimes twice) a month to respond to the shifting environmental, seasonal, and meteorological conditions that often change at short notice.

Note: It can be challenging to accurately estimate the amount of time to complete a full assessment. If the time spent on an irrigation assessment is less than initially estimated, that will be reflected in a reduction in your final invoice.

Irrigation—Lawn

Often there are areas of lawns where that the coverage is less than sufficient, leading to visible signs of dryness. Often, the most efficient and cost effective way to address this (rather than changing the whole irrigation system in the lawn) is to add one or more valves to the lawn area with additional sprinkler heads.

Irrigation—Trees

Sometimes, gardens have been designed with trees that are enclosed in stone or other beds that have rotary sprinklers, which are connected with the main lawn sprinkler system. Typically, we recommend changing rotary heads to bubblers and low emitters. This has a beneficial, two-fold effect: avoiding the water hitting the trunks every time the system is on; and isolating the irrigation of the trees to a different valve.

This enables a reduction in the frequency your trees are watered—ideal, since both the trees (as well as plants around them) typically need much less water than grass. This gives you reduced water usage and supports the health of the trees by avoiding exposure to the potential for trunk rot. Talk about a win-win!

Irrigation—Additional Valves & Timer(s)

When adding additional valves—in order to fine-tune irrigation to different plant communities in your garden—it may be necessary to add one (rarely more) irrigation timer if the existing one does not have additional stations available. This would incur additional one-time costs that are itemized in any proposal. If it is determined as necessary, it will be emphasized that the need for this additional timer and valves are foundational to the success of our work. Client approval of this item may sometimes preempt any other work.

At the heart of Le Quattro Stagioni’s philosophy is a commitment to organic approaches to all aspects of gardening, including pest management. Read a short, personal story from owner Mariela Guastavino that encouraged to her to embrace this approach.

Centipedes prey on slugs and snails, dragonflies eat mosquitoes and aphids. (Broad-spectrum insecticides often kill the good insects. For instance, Malathion, a common mosquito-killer, also kills the mosquito-eating dragonfly population.) The common ground beetle feeds on cutworms. Ladybugs, spiders, lacewings and even some types of mites are also naturally occurring, pest controlling species that should definitely be welcomed into your garden.

The broad brush strokes of developing an Integrated Pest Management Program (IPMP) are:

• Visiting the gardens regularly to scout for diseases and pests.

• Identifying any pathogens that are discovered.

• Presenting and implementing a plan to correct environmental conditions that may be adding to an increase in pest populations.

• Developing and implementing the protocol for releasing required beneficial insects to assist in pest control as appropriate.

An intentional, organic, and scientific approach to pest management draws on many available approaches, including:

• Creating the strong foundation of a healthy soil food web with a vibrant community of microorganisms and friendly bacteria is essential to combating pest outbreaks.

• Calibrating environmental circumstances, including irrigation, to naturally reduce the conditions that insects and diseases need to thrive. At the same time, these adjustments will sustain a healthier foundation for your plants.

• Implementing an Integrated Pest Management Program (IMP) over time—this is a process not an event. Working in harmony with the inherent natural processes that support plant and soil health are the route to sustainable, long-term success.

• Pacing carefully measured changes in areas that are showing any outbreak or growth in pest activity, and which can be tracked over time. This not only supports the long-term health and vitality of your plants but also the reduction of management costs over time.

• Maintaining and nurturing soil conditions. Through ongoing, effective, scientific techniques, the conditions of the soil can continue to be improved. This enhances the plants themselves in becoming inherently more pest and disease resistant.

• Trimming trees professionally. Splintering of tree limbs, especially when they are not smoothed out, leaves open ongoing opportunities for pathogens to compromise your trees. Proper cutting of branches (as well as pruning back branches that may be touching electrical cables for safety) is essential to tree care.

• Maximizing currently available resources in support of these goals. On larger properties and estates, involve both existing staff and volunteers in the ongoing scouting for—and identification of—any pest activity.

• Incorporating from a range of different plants, including a variety of herbs, which have natural pesticide properties. Growing them as companions alongside susceptible plants can help dissuade pests.

• Supporting or introducing beneficial organisms to maintain the natural ecosystem in your garden and initiate long-term, natural pest management.

• Encouraging beneficial birds, butterflies, and wildlife into your garden, using a variety of plant choices and environmentally friendly products and approaches.

• Designing natural barriers. Netting can keep birds from eating your seedlings and rings of sharp gravel will discourage slugs and snails.

Rose and Other Specialty Garden Design, Installation, Care, and Irrigation

The miracle is that you can truly have the garden of your dreams! In fact, why have just one? Within the overall canvas of your garden, any number of beautiful, individual, character-filled sections can be created. Specialty gardens, container plants, beds, potted plants, hanging baskets, perennials, native plants ... the options are plentiful. Le Quattro Stagioni offers the following and more:

• Rose garden design, installation, and care.

• Container plants design, installation, and maintenance.

• Specialty Drip Irrigation design and installation for beds and potted plants.

• Imaginative design using unusual perennials, native California plants, etc.

Lawn Revitalization or Replacement

The life of a lawn in Southern California is not an easy one. Due to many factors, such as the dry Mediterranean climate, the common use of non-native grasses requiring high water usage, and the commonplace poor functioning of irrigation systems, areas of lawn often struggle to thrive. Le Quattro Stagioni’s comprehensive approach is designed to ensure a thriving lawn—one that takes into account soil profile, irrigation, maintenance, the impact of surrounding trees, shrubs, and plants, and the use and care of equipment that is used to mow it.