Rooted in Purpose, Designed for Beauty
We create regenerative landscapes that restore the earth and inspire lasting beauty. A woman-owned studio in Long Beach, California.
Christina Sergy
Owner and Landscape Designer, Root & Branch Landscapes
Christina founded Root & Branch in 2020, bringing a background in business and a love of the natural world to gardens that are as good for the ground as they are to live in. She designs for homeowners across Long Beach and Southern California, and advises the communities and crews who care for the rest.
Leadership and service
- Treasurer, APLD California
- Vice President, APLD Greater Los Angeles
- Commissioner, Climate Resilient and Sustainable City Commission, City of Long Beach
I came to this work late, and deliberately.
In 2015 I took a class at Long Beach State called Politics of the Future: climate change, the end of oil, overpopulation. It was bleak. On the last day I asked the professor what we could actually do about any of it. He said: develop skills you can trade. Learn to grow your own food.
I took that literally. I studied permaculture, kept chickens, and rebuilt my own suburban yard around what I was learning. Then I earned a nursery professional certification, because I wanted to know plants properly rather than just enthusiastically, and started Root & Branch in 2020.
I haven’t stopped studying since. I’m a certified Watershed Wise Landscape Professional, working toward my California Native Plant Landscaper Certification. Every project still teaches me something the last one didn’t.
What used to be decoration is closer to infrastructure
Rain that once ran off a driveway into a storm drain, carrying oil and fertilizer out to the ocean, can be caught and soaked into the ground instead: through permeable paving, rain catchment designed into the site, and soil built to absorb it. Living soil then does the work. It filters those toxins out of the water as it passes through, and holds what it has taken in as a reserve the plants draw on through the warm months.
Native plants feed the rest: the insects that evolved alongside them, and the birds that depend on those insects. Trees and planting put shade on ground that would otherwise throw heat back into the neighborhood. Species chosen for this climate survive the extremes that are now normal here, fire included.
None of this is fringe. It is where my profession is going. APLD California works on water-efficiency ordinances, fire-resilient design, and the plastic waste the nursery trade produces. I sit on its board because I would rather help decide that direction than follow it.
Let us create something extraordinary in your yard
From concept to completion, we are committed to crafting outdoor spaces that feel like an extension of your home, a place where you can relax, gather, and connect with nature.