The site:
This Santa Cruz area backyard was ready for a transformation, and the owner wanted to have it designed and installed in a couple of months, in time for her 60th birthday celebration. The list was not small. The owner wanted privacy for her hot tub, one or more “garden rooms,” a new deck with pergola for shade, a retaining wall, and a planting plan that could be installed over a longer period. The site had sandy soil and received blistering heat in the summer. Moreover, aside from a couple of mature fruit trees, most of the existing plantings were overgrown or overtaken by weeds. Finally, the owner had a limited budget, so solutions needed to be as economical as possible.
The design:
I developed a design that the owner could install in phases, starting with the entertaining areas nearest the house—the deck and a small patio. Simple but elegant carpentry provided a deck, a wraparound for the hot tub, and a framed piece of glass found in the yard as a “door” to the upper patio. I chose inexpensive materials — decomposed granite for the paths and mulch for areas that would be planted intensively later. The client requested fragrant and colorful plants, so I chose a palette of purples, blues, and yellows that included lavenders, sage, and other heat-loving, aromatic plants. And yes, with the dedicated work of the carpenters, landscape crew, and a lot of work by the client and a friend, the yard was finished in time for the party.
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