Sun City landscaping
Landscaping Built for Sun City Homes
Sun City was Del Webb's first active retirement community in California. It opened in June 1962, and the core of it is 4,762 homes built between 1962 and 1981. The bones are good, the lots were planned properly, and almost none of it has been rebuilt from scratch.
Paul's Landscape Services is based in Menifee and Sun City is right here. We do the whole yard: turf, sod, sprinklers, drip, drainage, plantings, renovations and maintenance. From Turf to Total Transformation, We Do It All.
The Sun City Housing Stock
All 4,762 of the original residences belong to the Sun City Civic Association, run by homeowner volunteers. The community is 55+, resale only, and not gated. It sits west of Interstate 215 and north of Salt Creek.
The City of Menifee formed on 1 October 2008 out of Sun City, Menifee Lakes, Quail Valley and Romoland, and true urbanization here started with Sun City's founding in 1962, so it is the oldest housing in the city by far. The newer tracts came later, starting with Menifee Lakes in 1989.
On the ground that means sixty year old yards, original valves and heads, and owners who want the place sharp without spending their weekends on it.
What we handle here
What We Do Most in Sun City
Sprinkler Repair
Homes built between 1962 and 1981 are often still on their first valves and heads, so a leak or dead zone is usually the first thing we find on a sprinkler repair visit.
Artificial Turf Installation
If mowing is what you want gone, artificial turf handles it. Menifee code requires a minimum eight year no fade warranty and licensed installation.
Landscape Maintenance
Plenty of owners want the yard kept sharp without doing it themselves, so our scheduled maintenance mows, edges, trims and cleans beds on a set schedule.
Shrub Planting
Live drought plants are the only thing the water district rebates, and our shrub planting puts in at least three plants per 100 square feet so the project qualifies.
Why Sun City calls us
Why Sun City Yards Are Different
Two things: age, and ground.
A yard from the 1960s or 1970s was built when water was cheap and nobody planned for drought. Heads throw water on the sidewalk, valves weep, and the controller has no idea whether it rained.
Ground matters too. Eastern Municipal Water District writes its watering schedule around the heavy clay soils common to the Inland valleys of Riverside County. Clay takes water slowly and holds it, so a long run mostly runs off. The fix is shorter cycles and the right heads, not more water.
Sun City sits north of Salt Creek, one of three areas the city names for soil movement, which is a reason to grade a yard on purpose, not to panic. It is USDA zone 9b, average annual low 25 to 30 degrees, with a July average high of 96.5 degrees, so plants have to survive both ends of that.
Working Around Sun City
The opening weekend in June 1962 drew 100,000 visitors and 272 homes sold in three days. Del Webb and Presley Co. built it out over the next twenty years, and it is still laid out that way, west of the 215 and north of Salt Creek. It is not gated, so we can get to a job without a guard house.
We are a Menifee company. Sun City is a short drive, so a free estimate is easy to schedule.
Where we work
Working across Sun City
We cover the whole Sun City core west of Interstate 215 and north of Salt Creek, and we work the rest of Menifee with it: Menifee Lakes, Quail Valley, Romoland, The Oasis, Heritage Lake, Audie Murphy Ranch and Canyon Heights. In Paul's own words, we service the Inland Valley Region, the areas along the 15 and 215 freeways, and we are located in the City of Menifee, California. Residential and commercial, free estimates.
Ask the contractor
Straight answers to landscaping questions
Can the Sun City Civic Association stop me putting in artificial turf?
No. California Civil Code 4735 says any rule in an association's governing documents that bans artificial turf, or has the effect of banning it, is void and unenforceable. The same goes for low water plants. An association can still have rules about how the finished yard looks, as long as those rules do not add up to a ban, which is why it pays to use a contractor who knows what a committee will pass.
My Sun City sprinklers are original. Repair or replace?
We will tell you straight after we look. If the mainline is sound and a few valves and heads are shot, a repair is the cheaper fix. If it is leaking in several places and the coverage was never right, you are better off putting in a system that matches the yard you actually have now. We do both.
Does artificial turf get hot in Sun City?
Yes. In full sun any synthetic surface gets hotter than live grass, because real grass cools itself by giving off water and synthetic turf cannot. That is the truth and we would rather you heard it from us. It matters most on a wide open south facing front yard, and it matters less under a patio cover or in shade.
Do I have to keep any live plants if I go with turf?
Yes, and it is in the Menifee code. Areas of living plant material, things like flower beds and tree wells, have to be included in the overall landscape design in the front, side and rear yards when you install artificial turf. The turf also has to be separated from planters by a mow strip, bender board or another barrier.
Can I get the water rebate if I put in turf?
Not on the turf. The program will not pay for synthetic grass or anything that looks like live turf. What it pays for is real drought tolerant planting, at $5 per square foot here in Eastern Municipal territory. A lot of Sun City yards end up half and half, and that is usually the smartest way to do it.
Are you licensed?
Yes. California contractor license 840163, issued 06/07/2004, with C-27 Landscaping plus C-61/D06 and C-61/D12. Bonded with Western Surety for $25,000 and workers comp is active. You can look the number up yourself at cslb.ca.gov.