The Prado at Balboa Park: custom mobile hedges that replaced an expensive rental cycle

The Prado at Balboa Park was paying rental fees every time they needed hedges for their outdoor dining area. CalifauxScapes built custom hedges on locking casters that the restaurant owns outright. Staff can rearrange them for any event, and the monthly rental expense is gone.

Overview

The Prado is a well-known restaurant at Balboa Park in San Diego with a busy outdoor patio. The patio needs greenery and privacy screening, but the restaurant had been renting artificial boxwood hedges for years. CalifauxScapes was brought in to replace that rental cycle with long-lasting, custom-built hedges designed specifically for the restaurant's space and workflow.

The challenge

The rental setup had been draining money for a long time. Every season meant another invoice for hedges the restaurant didn't own and couldn't customize. And the rented units were bulky. Staff couldn't easily move or reconfigure them, which limited how the patio could be used for private events, large parties, or different seating arrangements. When your hedges are too heavy to move, the space stays static.

Our solution

We designed freestanding hedge panels mounted on heavy-duty, locking casters. Each panel is built to The Prado's specific dimensions so they fit the patio properly, and the casters let staff roll them wherever they're needed. Need a private dining section? Roll the hedges in. Opening the full patio for a large event? Roll them aside. It's the flexibility the rental hedges rarely offered.

We used UV-resistant artificial boxwood that holds its color through San Diego's year-round sun. The foliage is dense enough to provide real privacy from the walkway, and the panels look the same after months of outdoor use as they did on delivery day.

Implementation

The project took three weeks from initial site consultation to delivery and setup. We measured the patio, finalized dimensions and layout, then fabricated the hedge frames with integrated casters and UV-resistant foliage in our shop. Delivery was scheduled around the restaurant's operating hours so we didn't interrupt service.

On-site, we positioned the hedges according to the agreed layout, demonstrated the locking and mobility features to the staff, and walked through care guidelines (there's not much to them since artificial hedges don't need watering or trimming). The restaurant started using the new hedges the same week.

Results

The Prado drastically reduced a recurring rental expense and replaced it with a one-time purchase that paid for itself within a few months. The financial case was straightforward, but the operational improvement mattered just as much. Staff can now reconfigure the patio in minutes instead of working around immovable rental units.

The hedges look better than what the rental company was delivering. The foliage is denser, the color is more consistent, and the units are actually sized for the space. Diners get a nicer backdrop, the restaurant gets a more versatile patio, and nobody's writing a check to a rental company every month.

"It has been a pleasure collaborating with Alex Tarnowski and the CalifauxScapes team. The product's quality and appearance have exceeded our expectations, further enhancing our already beautiful venue. I enthusiastically recommend CalifauxScapes as a preferred partner." — Marcy Melley, Venue Manager, The Prado At Balboa Park

Project details

Image suggestions

• Hero: Wide-angle shot of the patio with diners and the new hedges creating green boundaries during a sunny day.
• Before: Photo of generic or faded rental hedges in a similar setting, showing the contrast.
• After: Clean shot of the CalifauxScapes hedge panels lining a patio section, showing the dense, uniform foliage.
• Detail: Close-up showing two features: the UV-resistant foliage texture and the locking caster wheel at the base.
• Wide: Corner shot of the patio showing how the mobile hedges define the space and create dining areas.