Design, Consultation & Installation

	Whether you live in the chaparral  along the coast,  or on a bluff,  in the dunes, with the oaks, or by a creek, on the valley floor, or in the city...		The office at Larner Seeds

We offer consultation, design, and installation services for homeowners and landowners wishing to either restore or protect the natural values of their landscape. From the large country estate to the tiny urban yard, gardening with the native plants appropriate to that site can help provide habitat for a myriad of known and unknown fluttering, creeping, and humming things. Shaded and sheltered by native trees, delighted and renewed by our California wildflowers, fed by our native fruit and nut-bearing shrubs, the homeowner becomes ever more deeply "home." 

	Our garden gate

Doing the planting yourself may be your idea of nourishing relaxation. Or you may want us to grow some native bunchgrasses with seed collected from your own site, to show you how to do it yourself, or to have our trained and dedicated crew do the planting. To whatever degree you wish to become involved, we can encourage and inform your efforts. 

Call for more information or to schedule an appointment, 415-868-9407. Cost depends on distance traveled and the complexity of the job. Consultation services are also available directly at Larner Seeds, where the demonstration garden serves its intended purpose. 

A client from Glen Ellen, California says, "Thanks again for opening a whole new world."  

The Backyard Restoration Gardener

Our Model of Landscape:
Our model of the Backyard Restoration Gardener is the gardener who takes inspiration from the surrounding landscape. S/he brings into the garden the often threatened members of the native flora -the oak trees, wildflowers, bunchgrasses, chaparral plants - and their associated fauna. The land forms and arrangements of plants of that particular ecological niche will inform and inspire this always-learning gardener. 

	Our backyard at Larner Seeds

Maintaining what natural vegetation remains, and using natural communities as inspiration for the backyard garden - as provider of new combinations, good ideas, insights into natural processes we can plug into - can be seen in the larger context of the field of restoration. 

Freeman House, in an essay about grassroots restoration efforts titled "To Learn the Things We Need To Know", says, "There is no end in sight, but the prospect is now one of ever-deepening experience, rather than one of ever-diminishing possibilities."

Still the Same Motto: A Plant is Not a Couch

Here's what we mean. A plant is alive, therefore full of surprises. And every gardener's situation is different, especially in California, land of the microclimate. (Part of the fun of plant exploring here lies in the unexpected occurrences of species). Many customers, especially those new to gardening, seem victims of "plant anxiety." They want to know exactly what will do what and where.

But gardening is not interior design, and the great part is, there are no absolute certainties. Gardening, especially the kind we promote, is learning.

Give it your best efforts and then relax. Begin the easy, hard, challenging, unexpected, discouraging, nourishing, and always interesting interaction with the plant world called gardening. Plunge in

Plants are not furniture. It is much better than that.

There are mountains and valleys between
You and the land 
There are rivers and lakes 
Cross them all
Circumnavigate 
The most obstinate roadblocks 
Surprise! 
You will discover you have been standing (sitting/walking/lying/crawling/driving/speeding/lazing/ swimming/strolling/wandering) 

On the land all the time