The City of Signal Hill recently honored two sets of residents for improvements they have made to their homes.
Tollini moved from France to make Southern California his home and started with a sketch of his vision of a desertscape that would complement his Southwestern-style home. He began the renovation of his 800-sqare-foot front yard by removing five cubic yards of dirt and the turf. He installed a low separation wall along the north side of the property line, created a brick border at the edge of the front yard and sidewalk, and created a path of decorative paving stones. He removed traditional sprinklers and replaced them with new drip-watering lines. He also added new, low-maintenance plantings and granite sand to complete the desertscape.
The City of Signal Hill’s Sustainable City Committee selected the home at 2060 Dawson Ave. for its Sustainability Award.
Residing at the corner of Obispo Avenue and 20th Street, Nicholas and Mary envisioned a home that could be enjoyed by the entire community. They began by replacing the wood fencing on the side of the house with brick and overlaid it with a mosaic of rock. Over the course of a year, the long flowerbed along 20th Street and the front of the home became a canvas for handcrafted rocks and flowerbeds in a variety of designs: rows, starbursts and circular, floral patterns including a spiral around the mailbox stand.
They replaced the turf in their front yard with low-maintenance, low-water landscaping and created flowerbeds surrounded by rock groupings and stepping stones. New plantings include a variety of succulents, Spanish lavender, Mexican heather, meadow sage, yarrow, bottlebrush and other native California plants.
For more information, contact the Community Development Department at (562) 989-7340.
Source: City of SH
