Updating a backyard and patio

Here's a recently completed project, bringing in a lot of new plants -- mostly succulents -- and using a few existing plants to create a wonderful palette.

BEFORE/In Process

AFTER: Newly Planted/New Pavers

AFTER Detail Just Planted, Will Fill In

Mount Washington Transformation

The landscape at this corner house was not working. The hedge along the street decreased visibility at the corner stop sign. People often cut through the yard from back to front because there are no sidewalks. The lawn was struggling, there were old planters along the foundation filled with overgrown plants. The porch and steps were cracked and over sized.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

Totally New Landscape, New Paint, New Porch, New Front Door. New Fixtures.

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER DETAIL

Cactus with a Modern Twist in Mt Washington

AFTER DETAIL

On this project, my design plan included updates to the existing hardscape and new plantings in all areas of the property. It was an opportunity to make a wonderful house shine.

This was also a chance to work with cacti, which lend themselves to dramatic compositions.

Removing existing brick accents, especially brick caps on all the walls, and having a contractor replace with a simple coat of stucco, simplified the landscape and brought in a much cleaner, more modern look. Now the plantings will really pop as they grow in.

The Contractors did a beautiful job with all the aspects -- concrete work, preparation and planting, and DG installation.

The Front Yard:

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

The clients love Cactus and Succulents, so I relied heavily on varieties of those, with the addition of a few other flowering plants. I wanted to create areas of tall, vertical cactus among lower elements -- succulents, etc. to recreate some of the looks the clients were most drawn to. Some of the Cacti/Succulent combinations are in greens and yellows, others are in a blue/gray palette.

BEFORE

AFTER Newly Planted

The Patio:

BEFORE

AFTER
Newly Planted

With most of the brick accents gone, the whole property is more calm and soothing, especially in the patio. Plants are starting out a bit small here, but they will grow in over the next one to three years and soften the walls. The clients are actually enjoying the feeling of space and order that comes with new plantings.


The Back Yard:

BEFORE

AFTER

We updated the planter around the large existing tree to great effect.
The tree had problems due to the planter being too high. In my design, I lowered the planter to sitting height, and reconfigured it so that it continues along the length of the retaining wall behind it, making a more pleasing footprint.
We used DG everywhere, but only compacted it in the pathway and fire pit areas.
The contractors were able to bring my ideas to life beautifully.

Just Completed -- Ready for Some Comfy Chairs 
around that Fire Pit and some People!

Front Yards -- Cacti and Succulents

Here is a mixture of Front Yards and Parking strips that use Cacti and Succulents to varying degrees. The first two use them for their striking sculptural forms, mixed in with good, similarly drought-tolerant companions like Phormium (NZ Flax) and the more tropical Cannas and Giant Bird of Paradise.
This first Front Yard, with a distinctive Modernist feel, is very successful. The materials work well together. The warmth of the wood slats on the house balance the large spaced slabs of concrete with pebbles for the drive. The plants are beautifully balanced, and in scale with each other and the property. Textures and colors contrast and repeat.

The second Front Yard uses this row of Agaves underplanted with Senecio, two of the same succulents as used in the first yard, to add interest to the front lawn. It's simple and pretty.

Here we have the wild purple of the wall, and a lot of strong forms, including Agave once again. The Parking strips are planted with bold forms, even cactus. Tropical plants are mixed in.

The broken jug is a nice touch.













Here's an admirable effort to create a drought-resistant parking strip, but it just doesn't work from a design standpoint. I provide two views of the same strip.

Don't Do This!

Don't Do This!

Analyzing why this planting doesn't work, I've come up with a few reasons. There are too many different plants in a small space. They clearly do not all share the same texture, but somehow they have a similar value. Their size and growth habit is similar enough that they create a sort of mass. Nothing serves as a focal point. Nothing especially compliments or contrasts with anything else in the composition.

Here is a simple front yard which uses a limited number of Cacti and Agave to create a Southwestern feel. The prickly plants are set far enough in from the sidewalk and drive. It works, there's a nice balance between elements. It compliments the house, and is admirably low-maintenance and low-water.

The front yard of this turquoise house showcases a much more complicated composition, and one of the most beautifully designed drought-resistant front yards I've seen in Los Angeles. This is an expertly painted work of art. I include two more photos to showcase the details.

The tall cacti rise weightlessly from the ground, like kelp floating in the sea, rooted by the weight of the barrel cacti at their feet. The interplay between height and ground cover is optimal.

The boulders and rocks are placed seamlessly. There are so many varieties of cacti used in the composition, yet the groupings, the well-planned placement, and the contrast of high and low make everything work together beautifully.

I've heard people say while passing this yard that they "don't usually like cacti."
A well-designed and beautifully executed garden can make anyone take notice, and appreciate beauty in places they may have never expected to find it.

Fun

I love DIY's, cacti and robots, what more can you say?

Found these on:

http://paradisexpress.blogspot.com/2010/08/instructables.html

A Study in Impermanence, Cactus Flowers

Epipyllum

These are all flowering cacti in my patio. I haven't identified all of them yet because they were given to me by friends and neighbors. Some of these are "Epi-s," tropical cacti that often live in the nooks and crannies of trees or rocks in the forests of temperate climates. They like humidity and bright indirect light.

Same Flower Open

We've had an especially good year for the flowers. They only last a day or two, but they are breathtaking, unexpected and other-worldly.  They remind me of a flower you might see in the old Star Trek series. Isn't it funny when certain natural things appear made up?

Cereus?

A lot of clients I work with want plants that flower virtually all year long, and why not? We live in a climate where that is possible. Nothing wrong with enjoying our blessings. In fact, it makes good sense to plant things that have interest all year, and that flower over a long period. But (you knew there was a but!) I think cactus flowers remind me of that side of life that one is uniquely able to celebrate and process through gardening -- Impermanence. 

Name?? Big Bloomer!

Impermanence and beauty go hand in hand. The cactus flowers that last only a day or two -- some only opening fully that night -- are such treasures. Their impermanence makes them seem more valuable and ethereal than the Lavenders, Salvias, and even Roses that flower constantly in my garden.

Like the fleeting fruit-tree blossoms of Spring, or the falling leaves of Autumn, short-lived flowers mark the seasons and the passing of the years in a very comforting way.

All this reminds me of my powerlessness in the face of Nature. Sometimes remembering how small we are, and how big and varied the universe is, is very comforting.

Same cactus as above

Another "Epi"