The image search is where most people begin. A flagstone patio surrounded by lavender. A modern pool with clean lines and ornamental grasses. A pergola draped in wisteria with string lights glowing overhead. The images are beautiful. And they are almost never from Sonoma County.

That matters. Because landscape design that works in this region has to account for conditions that a photo from Connecticut or North Carolina does not. The summer drought. The fire risk. The water restrictions. The clay and volcanic soils behave differently from anything on the East Coast. The Mediterranean climate makes certain plants thrive effortlessly, and others fail despite every effort to keep them alive.