why do things have to grow so much in socal?

So, Jay and I finally bit the bullet and hired landscapers to come and do some massive yard clean-up. Everything was getting way overgrown (which doesn't take too long to happen here). They basically did a ton of weeding and trimming (or hacking, more like it) of all the bushes/shrubs/wall cover and edged the lawns. Then Jay re-shaped the borders while I filled with bark so hopefully the weeds don't grow back so easily. Jay also hacked back some tree branches and moved the little bird house that was hidden in the front to a nice spot in the back where, as he put it, "awww, looks sooo cute!" (think of Jay's semi-sarcastic tone of voice). I also fixed the bent and dented solar lights that somehow got all messed up (it couldn't possibly be from Jay running into them with the lawnmower, now, could it?...) I also tried to cut back/prune the sickly flowers in the back planter, hopefully they come back ok. The last thing we want to do is plant some little flowers in the front walkway border, where there is just bark now. Then lastly there is the picture of the yard waste that has been piled up in the side yard. Now, why didn't we do the tree trimming before the landscapers came, since they could have hauled away our mess as well as thiers?! I only wish we would have taken some before pictures so you could really see the difference. I'd say it looks darn good now, darn good!