Specialties
We create beautiful landscape designs based on your wishes. We emphasize low maintenance, water saving plants, and habitat creation. We favor local materials in creating unique patios, shade structures and water features. We enjoy using edibles, practice permaculture, and use rainwater harvesting techniques.
History
Established in 2001.
In 2001, Bernadette Balics founded Ecological Landscape Design based on the conviction that it is both possible and important to apply the principles and strategies of sustainable agriculture, ecology, and permaculture to create healthy urban landscapes that are at the same time beautiful, functional, and personal.
She has since completed over 250 design projects and is frequently requested to give workshops, talks and classes on California native plants, ecological landscaping and creating habitat gardens.
Meet the Business Owner: Bernadette B.
Bernadette began digging in the dirt, planting flowers, tomatoes, and trees alongside her father, Louis, a landscape horticulture graduate, just as soon as she could walk.
Growing up in Davis, she gained a deep understanding of the conditions in the Sacramento valley --the wet and the dry, the variety of soils, and the lively and unique diversity of plants indigenous to northern California.
Pursuing a lifelong passion for plants and the environment, she earned her master's degree in Ecological Agriculture from the Wageningen Agricultural University in the Netherlands. Her master's studies in sustainable agriculture encompassed the micro to the macro, from soil science, ecology and animal husbandry, to the sociology of agriculture and farming systems.
In 2001, Bernadette founded Ecological Landscape Design. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, cross country skiing, exploring art and design, and riding her bike around town, in the company of good friends.