Cottage Garden

I've been working on different phases at this Property for a couple years. Here is an update showing how things have been filling in and coming together.

Plants around new arbor are filling in nicely

Little Home Orchard is growing in

Before and After Echo Park Hills

Sometimes I'm called into an older yard that hasn't seen a lot of love in years. The soil is dry and dead. Watering system hasn't worked for a while, and no amendments have been brought in for many years. The plants are either long gone or overgrown. Yet there can be something charming and fun there that just needs a little encouragement.

BEFORE

AFTER Newly Planted

Silverlake Backyard Design

Updated!

This was a fun transformation!

The clients wanted a small patch of lawn so they could walk outside their bedroom bare foot. They love succulents and grasses.

The biggest challenge was the existing yard's long rectangular shape. It felt small and closed in, an afterthought running along the large expanse of concrete driveway.

I knew we had to change the shape, so I suggested cutting the driveway at a diagonal. This made it possible to enlarge the lawn area, and create a pleasing planting around the existing tree. We continued one of our diagonal lines into the patio area, and not only is it striking, it really changes the flow and feel of this space.

The block wall was cold and uninviting. We painted it to match the house trim, and placed drought-tolerant, easy-care succulents, grasses, and shrubs all along it. Within a year, the wall and fence will be softened by foliage.

BEFORE: Runway Shape, Tiny Lawn, No Plants

AFTER: New Sod, Patio, Painted Wall, Immature Plants

BEFORE

AFTER: Extended Lawn on a Diagonal

Sitting Area BEFORE

Sitting Area AFTER w/Mature Plants

A year later, plants have grown in, softening everything. And the homeowners are out in their garden all the time!

Before and After: From Lawn to Succulents and More

Here is another lawn conversion that gave this home a significant update. The client wanted room between plants. Plants were planted about 4 months ago, so they are just starting to fill in. There will be a lot more flowers as Spring goes on, and the plants will really fill out over the next few years.

Before (Google Maps)

The lawn was patchy and the shrubs were dated.
The client wanted a nice mix of succulents, especially Aloes, with some low-water, flowering perennials.

After

After Detail

We continued the boulder motif, inspired by a couple large boulders already on site. We brought them out of hiding, and added more. The small boulders help fill in space while the plants are small.

Natural Play Spaces

Young children need places to explore, climb, and interact with nature. Not all playgrounds need expensive play structures to be successful. If you happen to like a more rustic look, and you love the idea of recycling, you can re-use stumps and tree trunks to create a lovely natural play space.

Kids 2 to 5 years old love balancing on short walls, logs or stumps. In this Eagle Rock project, we had to cut down an unsightly tree, but happily, we were able to re-purpose these stumps into a little sitting wall that can also be used as a natural balance beam.

A client was just telling me that he used to play for hours on and around a large boulder in his back yard as a child. It served as a mountain, a ship, an island. Giving kids the opportunity to explore and pretend in natural spaces is so precious these days. Why not do a little bit of it in your own backyard?

From Front Lawn to Low-Maintenance Front Yard

On this project, I designed a new pathway to improve the flow from the driveway and sidewalk to the front door of the home. We opened up access to the beautiful front archway for a more direct path to the front door. We planted some wonderful drought-tolerant plants, and helped the homeowner get her lawn-removal rebate.

BEFORE: Front Lawn with no path to front door

AFTER: Pathway to Door and New Plantings

Access to the front door through the previously hidden archway makes the property more inviting, brings out the Spanish architecture, and improves access from the sidewalk and driveway. The plant material will fill in over the next 2 to 3 years, giving a lot of privacy from the sidewalk and street.

AFTER: CA Native, Carex Pansa in center of DG circle

We wanted to mix some tough tropicals with ornamental grasses and succulents. It's a fun combination that wouldn't work many places outside of SoCal! As the plants grow in, the homeowner will have a beautiful, yet private view from her front windows, and a nice buffer from the street.

Before and After: Tropical Spanish

After

This is a newly planted back patio and tiny yard space outside a 1920's Spanish bungalow in Los Angeles. We immediately talked about improving the fireplace because it was such a focal point for the space. Adding color and tiles seemed like a great idea, while completing necessary repairs.

Before

All the plants in the space had grown upward toward the sunlight, creating an unattractive mess of branches at eye level, while most of the foliage and flowers were high above.
One of my goals was to make sure there would be a lot of attractive foliage and flowers at eye level and below for years to come.

Right Side Before

Right Side After

Left Side After

We discussed a few different planting schemes. After the wall color was completed, we settled on a tropical theme with colored foliage and varied leaf textures. The clients are very fond of ferns, so we used sword ferns, asparagus ferns, and mother ferns.

There was a storage shed and water heater on the patio, making a small space even smaller. The patio was covered in tile and sheds were removed to create space for a sitting area.

Before

After

Still to come: some pictures at night. Tropical plants light up so nicely at night! The clients tell me it's just wonderful to enjoy a fire in the fireplace in the evening out here.