Yards designed for how you use them.

A good yard plan starts with how the space gets used: where the kids play, where people sit in the evening, what you see from the kitchen window, and where the sun lands at four in the afternoon.

From there the design sorts out the practical layer: grading so water drains away from the house, paths that follow the way people actually walk, and planting beds sized so they can be kept up.

Real grass and artificial turf solve different problems. A living lawn stays cooler underfoot and feeds the soil, but it needs water, mowing and feeding. Turf stays green without irrigation, which suits play areas, dog runs and putting greens.

Either way, what is underneath matters most. Turf needs a compacted, well-draining base so it stays flat and rinses clean, and new sod needs prepared soil and steady watering while it roots in.

Xeriscaping is landscaping that gets by on little water: native and Mediterranean plants, mulch to hold moisture in the soil, and rock and gravel where turf used to be.

Done well it doesn't look like a gravel lot. Boulders set partly into the ground, planting in drifts and a few strong shapes such as agave or olive give a dry garden its structure all year.

Efficient irrigation means drip lines for shrubs and beds, sprinklers only where there is lawn, and separate zones so each part of the yard gets what it needs. Systems drift over time as plants grow and heads get knocked, so checking and adjusting them is part of keeping water bills in line.

Outdoor lighting makes paths and steps safer after dark and lets a yard keep working into the evening. Warm, low fixtures aimed down at the walkway usually look better than a few bright floodlights.

One-time service or ongoing weekly care is available. A cleanup gets an overgrown yard back to a clean slate; regular care keeps it there, with the mowing, edging, weeding and pruning done before small jobs become big ones.

Mulch is the quiet workhorse of a dry-climate garden: a few inches over the soil keeps roots cooler, slows evaporation and keeps weeds down.