Fairy Yardmother Landscape Design

by Kathy Oberg, Landscape Designer, Central Coast CA.
FairyYardmother[at]gmail[dot]com

Thank you for visiting my site. I enjoy bringing you pictures of gardens, plants, and ideas from sunny California. I love sharing after-photos that show how my landscape plans, plant lists and layouts come to life.
As a designer, I use plants to create drama, provide color and form, and compliment the architectural style of your home.
I strive to provide a buffer from sun, street, and neighbors while still fostering connections.
Inspired plant choices and site layout can make any space a success.
I am a Certified Watershed Wise Professional, with techniques to improve soil health and keep more water on your property.
I can help you makeover your patio, paths, planting areas, or entire property. I will consult with you, choose a look you love, and compose a plan and plant list to update your landscape, re-using what you already have wherever we can.
Each project is different because it is about making your space really shine.


Home

A garden is the best alternative therapy. --Germaine Greer

There is nothing that makes its way more directly to the soul than beauty. --Joseph Addison

As a writer, I find gardens essential to the creative process; as a physician, I take my patients to gardens whenever possible. All of us have had the experience of wandering through a lush garden or a timeless desert, walking by a river or an ocean, or climbing a mountain and finding ourselves simultaneously calmed and reinvigorated, engaged in mind, refreshed in body and spirit. The importance of these physiological states on individual and community health is fundamental and wide-ranging. In forty years of medical practice, I have found only two types of non-pharmaceutical “therapy” to be vitally important for patients with chronic neurological diseases: music and gardens. -- Oliver Sacks


Helping people enjoy nature in their own backyard is satisfying work. I believe gardens can be therapeutic, and I love helping people connect to the outdoors.

In my Landscape Design business, I strive to be environmentally conscious. I buy recycled paper and drive an electric car. Within the confines of the client's needs and desires, I choose plants that need less water, less fertilizer, and less pruning. I try to reuse existing plants and trees. I suggest permeable paving choices to keep water on the property.

I love to blog about gardens, ideas and design. I enjoy sharing information about plants and gardening, and I used to post pictures of gardens I'd see around town. Examining the landscapes around me is inspiring and helps me stay up to date with trends and creative solutions. Though lately I find myself with less time to craft these posts and keep up with the Blog section of this site, I continue adding occasional updates on my own projects. Most of the photographs in the blog are mine. If I include photos from an outside source to illustrate a point, when none of my own photos will do, I always acknowledge the source.

Thank you for visiting my site! 

Best
Kathy Oberg
213-999-5022