Terra Prima wins four awards

CORONA DEL MAR Calif. – Terra Prima is proud to announce that they have been recognized with four awards for their landscape installation work at multiple residences in Orange County, including Irvine, Laguna Hills, Corona Del Mar and Fullerton. For the second year in a row, Terra Prima, Inc. collected these awards at the California Landscape Contractors Association Orange County Chapter (OC CLCA)’s annual Beautification Awards ceremony, held recently at the Orange County Mining Co. The awards recognized Terra Prima as an environmentally-friendly landscape contractor, using green practices, techniques and materials in all of their design, installation and maintenance work in Orange County.

“This year, we are proud to accept these four awards – two recognized in a new category 'Orange County Green,' created to recognize landscapers instituting green design, building and maintenance in the county,” said Cherie Ciotti-Roco, president of Terra Prima. “These four awards add to our growing list of CLCA Beautification Awards, bringing our total to ten awards in the past four years.”

Terra Prima, Inc. won the following awards in the categories below:
• Category: Single Family Residence, Orange County Green: The Okazaki Residence in Fullerton
• Category: Commercial Industrial, Multi-Unit and Retail, Orange County Green: Ridge View Morning Sun Island in Irvine
• Category: Small Residential Landscape Renovation: The Nagel Residence in Laguna Hills
• Category: Landscape lighting using 36-80 fixtures: The LaMonte Project in Corona Del Mar

The Okazaki Residence in Fullerton was recognized in the Orange County Green category for utilizing drought-tolerant plant materials and repurposed materials and designed and installed by Terra Prima. It is just about as “green” of a project as you can get. The Okazaki’s had a very large property overlooking a lake nestled in a wooded area. Because the house had been recently remodeled, the construction work had cleared out most of the front yard area, so they wanted to install new landscaping. They had also dreamed of a large walking garden and had started to research California native plants. They chose to install with mostly natives, but also some other drought tolerant plants that bloom at different times of the year. The walking paths are edged with a recycled plastic product and are filled with decomposed granite. A dry stream, with a quaint Asian-inspired bridge crosses over the background of the landscaped area. The irrigation system provides overhead watering via spray heads, which is best and most natural for natives. The system only runs a couple of times a month in the summer. There are low voltage path and spot lights sprinkled throughout the garden so that it can also be enjoyed at night. The homeowners love to walk their property at all times of the day – and – there is no turf to water.

For the Ridge View Morning Sun residential community (HOA) - Terra Prima was asked to renovate a large, unusable island in the middle of a street in the complex. Terra Prima convinced the HOA board to take out the four very large Eucalyptus trees and turf on the island. What Terra Prima envisioned was a more interesting planting scheme with a winding walking path that the neighbors could use and enjoy. The resulting landscape installation provided a curved decomposed granite walkway that is bordered by a variety of drought tolerant trees and plants and carefully placed boulders. One of the large boulders is positioned next to the path and can be used as a seat. Many of the neighbors now use the area for walking their dogs and meeting with their neighbors .By dropping the soil down by 4 feet, installing all drought tolerant plants and installing drip irrigation – Terra Prima not only created a community park out of a once unusable and unsightly island space, but saved the HOA water and money to maintain the space going forward. This project was also recognized in the newly created Orange County Green category.

Terra Prima won the Small Residential Landscape Renovation award for the Nagle project in Laguna Hills. Starting out as a landscape with all grass and concrete – it was re-imagined as a woodsy, multi-use, sustainable outdoor sanctuary. A curvy patio made with permeable pavers are treated to match flagstone walk-ways that meander throughout the landscape. In fact, the entire landscape is created with permeable pavers – complimented with groundcover growing in between cracks and surrounding drought-tolerant plant material. There is a center section fire pit, a fountain and one remaining mature orange tree leftover from the pre-existing design that collects all the visual, brightly colored blooms to the center. The small space is now functional and beautiful – a cornerstone of Terra Prima’s creative designs and fine craftsmanship.