Fairfax is where the valley narrows, the flat ground runs out and the hills take over. Many homes are tucked onto steep lots off winding roads, shaded by bay laurels, oaks and redwoods, with gardens that slope sharply toward the street or the creek. Winters are wet, and when the big storms come, water pours off the hillsides and through backyards on its way down. Summers swing the other way, with dry, still heat on the sunny slopes and deep shade on the north-facing ones.
We build Fairfax yards to hold the hill and handle the water. That usually starts with solid retaining walls and drainage, then planting that suits whichever side of the hill you're on. Fairfax homeowners also tend to love native gardens, and we're glad to build them. Lots here can be oddly shaped, with a creek, a shared driveway or a wall of rock in the way, so every plan starts with a careful walk around the property. A quick call or a note through the form is all it takes to get a visit on the calendar.
Hillsides That Move in a Wet Winter
After a run of heavy storms, Fairfax hillsides can start to move. Saturated soil gets heavy, loses its grip and slips, sometimes as a small slump at the edge of a garden, sometimes taking out a wall, a path or part of a driveway. Most of the time the cause is water that had nowhere to go: runoff from the road, roof water dumped on the slope, or an old wall with no drainage behind it. Prevention starts at the top of the hill. We catch water before it reaches the slope, send downspouts into solid pipe, and build walls with a gravel-filled drain chamber behind them so pressure never builds up. On banks too steep for walls, deep-rooted native shrubs and erosion fabric hold the surface while the plants grow in. If your slope has already shown cracks or bulges, it's worth getting it looked at before winter. Larger slips sometimes need a geotechnical engineer, and we're happy to work alongside one. For more on keeping water off the hill, see our yard drainage work.
Native Gardens for the Upper Ross Valley
Fairfax is surrounded by open space, and many homeowners want their gardens to feel like part of it. Native plants make that easy. On sunny slopes, manzanita, ceanothus, sticky monkeyflower, California fuchsia and native grasses thrive with little summer water and pull in bees, butterflies and birds. In the shade under oaks and bays, coffeeberry, sword fern, wild ginger and hummingbird sage do better than almost anything from a nursery catalog. A native garden isn't a no-work garden, but it asks far less than a lawn: a little pruning, some cleanup in fall, and occasional deep watering for the first couple of summers. Gravel paths and stone steps fit the look and drain beautifully. We plan these gardens with fire in mind too, keeping the ground right next to the house clear and the plants farther out well spaced. Similar shady, native-friendly conditions continue down the valley into Kentfield, where many of the same plants carry a garden from the sunny front yard to the shaded creek side of the lot.
Fairfax Landscaping Questions
Mostly because of water. After several days of rain, the soil on a slope fills up, gets heavier and loses strength, and if anything is concentrating water in one spot, like a downspout, a road culvert or an undrained wall, that spot is often where it lets go. Steep slopes, loose fill and old walls without drainage make it more likely. Catching and redirecting runoff, draining walls properly and planting deep-rooted cover are the best ways to keep a hillside in place.
It depends on sun. On open, sunny slopes, try manzanita, ceanothus, sticky monkeyflower, California fuchsia, buckwheat and native bunchgrasses. In shade under oaks, bays and redwoods, coffeeberry, sword fern, wild ginger, hummingbird sage and Douglas iris do well. Most need steady water until their roots settle in, then very little. We match plants to each part of your yard so you're not fighting the conditions.