OLD OAK SERENITY — EAST UKIAH HILLS

On this oak-shaded hillside the owners wanted to have a lawn for their great grandchildren to play on in the backyard that would wrap around the side of the house to offer sitting areas for taking in the view of the valley. They also wanted a simple easy-to-care-for landscape surrounding the lawns and, because one of the owners is a brilliant water color artist, it had to be full of color.

We designed a plan for a naturally shaped shady lawn in the back area of the house to flow into a slowly undulated strolling lawn along the valley side. There are two sitting areas for visiting and vista-ing, continuing around to the front of the house after changing into a gravel walk at a steel gate made with design accents from the owner.

After stripping the tired landscape we brought in many loads of topsoil and amendments, changing the slope to allow a narrow but comfortable terrace for the lawns. Before, during and after the lawn installation, we integrated boulders for a natural feel to the retainment, brought the rain gutter drainage up-to-date and carefully adjusted the lawn sprays to not over water the oaks and drought tolerant areas.

The plant material we brought in was all colored and we pushed the envelope as far as drought and heat tolerance. The garden installation was a great success and is a work-in-progress. One of the owners says he now finds reasons to visit the side porch and look at the new landscape, and the artist is tickled pink and loves to invite friends over to show it off.

Towards the end of the installation, the artist commented on the other roses we were checking out for accents; they didn’t think they needed many flowers, that the foliage was more colorful than they could have dreamed. I told them this was actually a huge compliment and we only installed two special roses for her.