Santaluz in the News
Our coastal golf course community is full of newsmakers, including the community itself.
Welcome to "Santaluz In the News," where you will find all the latest articles and newsworthy stories about the people, places and events taking place at San Diego’s premiere coastal golf course community.
Water Conservation and Landscaping at Santaluz
It’s not only the homes, the views and the climate that make Santaluz special. It’s all of that, plus the landscaping sprinkled in that gives Santaluz that added accent and an environment you want to come home to each and every day.
Santaluz is San Diego’s premier golf community nestled within a natural habitat of golden rolling hills. The homes in Santaluz, many with ocean views, and the clubhouse are designed with timeless traditional California architecture, which creates an authentic early California setting, unlike any other in the region.
And what really stands out in this community of more than 800 homes is the attention to detail that is given to the streetscape— the look and feel in front of the homes. It weaves together an unmistakable ambiance unlike nothing else in San Diego County.
To understand the importance of the landscape here, you need to step back to the development of Santaluz itself in 2001. Back then this was an area of rolling hills and native grasses and the idea was to build a community that would preserve and at the same time complement the environment.
“Rolling hills and native grasses are the main backdrop at Santaluz,” said Mindy Walker, Community Compliance Director at Santaluz. “And they have seasonal characteristics. They are dormant in the summer and revitalized in the winner, brown in summer and green in winter. It’s a combination of a group of plants and the native grasses, two-thirds of the community has native grasses, along with drought tolerate trees and shrubs.”
Mindy Walker has been with Santaluz from the beginning and said the landscaping focus was to build on this natural ambiance and create a slice of nature, with natural grasses, classic gardens and drought tolerant shrubs.
Walker says the design services for the streetscape are provided at no cost to Santaluz residents. And most importantly, the landscaping design has taken on an important element related to water conservation.
Walker points out, “The City of San Diego requested the use of drought tolerate plants, grasses and trees and that hadn’t been done before. Santaluz has pioneered this new way of Landscaping, using drought tolerant plants, group plantings, native grasses and recycled water. Other communities are now using what we have done in Santaluz this to produce landscapes that are different and unique, that uses significantly less water— it’s good for the environment and good for the homeowner.”
You can listen to a radio interview with Mindy Walker about Santaluz design and landscaping at our Experience Santaluz in San Diego Blog Talk Radio page.