Unifying New And Old

At times, I am called into a site that has a great landscape, but the client still wants to add onto it. This is the case with this particular client. Years previous a very interesting landscape was installed to compliment the client’s craftsmen style home. The installation had great artistic features so I took the opportunity to play off of them and unify the new addition.

The client wanted me to develop a staircase for them and a walkway leading from the front of the residence to the back-screen door entry. The previous landscape designer used red clay pavers that accented the house, so I repeated red clay pavers, but then contrasted them with a dark gray border. We also used dark gray fractured rock steps to coordinate with the banding. Additional interest was developed when both gray and red granite boulders were used as placement feature rocks and retaining.

A combination of both gray landscape rock, and dark brown shredded wood mulch, were used to fill the newly planted shrubs, evergreens, and perennials keeping in mind their need for low maintenance. Plant materials were used sparely giving just enough softening and color to the newly landscaped walkway.