Landscaping in Sacramento has to live through a hot, dry summer and a winter that turns clay into mud. Lawns burn when irrigation misses a stretch, then sit soggy when the rains come if the grade points at the house. The central grid is dominated by large shade trees that cool a roof and also heave paths, pack gutters, and keep a side yard from drying. Outer ranches have less canopy and more reflected heat off fences and stucco. A delta breeze on some evenings does not water anything. If the planting only works in one season, it fails in the other, and this city will give you both.
Irrigation and drainage are the project, and plants come after. Heads that spray the siding stain it and rot nearby wood. A clock set for July will drown a bed in a cool week and still be wrong for a heat spike if the coverage is poor. Drip buried in mulch leaks without a puddle. In winter, the same yard needs a path for storm water that is not the garage or the crawl-space vent. Grade away from the foundation before you add soil against it. Raised roots and a low spot under a downspout are a landscape problem even if you came to talk about flowers. Standing water is also a mosquito problem in this valley, so drainage is not only about the lawn.
Choose plants that can take a bake and a soak. Turf you intend to keep needs real coverage and a schedule you will actually change with the season. Turf you remove should not become a gravel heat pad against the west windows. Keep shrubs off the eaves and off the cooler if one sits low. Street trees are an asset until a limb rests on the roof. Fruit and dense hedges against an alley feed rats.
Call with the season that hurts most. Scorch, standing water, a tree lifting concrete, or a clock you no longer believe are clear reasons. Say whether the lot is under the big grid canopy or out in the open. The work is water, clay, and shade for a Sacramento year.
Call the number on this page.