When this client offered to pay me in full before the plan was even drawn, I knew she was ready to go and a little desperate for help!

We couldn’t have had a better time of year to develop the new site, which would include 4 retaining walls, a recirculating fountain, a stone ‘sofa’ and plantings of 16 trees, 12 large shrubs, and a load of perennials.

Cleaning out the unwanted plants and regrading the steep slope came first. We next installed an extensive draining system for the huge volume of water, which ran off a golf course down their back slope. Then came moving and heeling in a number of shrubs and perennials that she had bought over the years.

We created a large garden ‘room’. The long row of hornbeams on the upper tier provides a tall, stable backdrop. Twelve evergreen Nellie Steven hollies edge the other side of the garden shield her from golfers. The garden features of the millstone fountain, stone ‘sofa”, and stone steppers are placed far enough apart so they are not competing.

Luckily the cool weather and lost of rain allowed her perennials to leaf out and her sod to take hold quickly. What a garden creation.. just in the nick of time!

Early this month my stalwart husband, Kevin joined our son Colin for an adventure hike in the Andes near Choquequirao.

Here are a few pictures, which tell just some of the adventures.

First – Heading toward the Colca canyon beyond

Second- Traversing the Apurmac River in a metal pull cart (The swinging rope bridge had washed away in last year’s flood.)

Third- A view of the switch back paths they would hike in the Choquequiero Region

Lastly- Kevin resting on day 4 , of the 5-day hike.

One of Kevin’s fondest memory was seeing a shooting star on the 2nd night of the trip and whispering the prayer, “Please God, let me get out of this canyon alive.”

This yard is where I dutifully arrive each Friday morning to turn my utilitarian Spanish from “horrible” to  “mejor”.

It was clear that my teacher longed for the flowers that she remembered from her home far away.  I thought it would fun to create a lovely American garden for her, and get an on-the-job Spanish tutorial at the same time.  I was a little embarassed that she could see how bad my Spanish really was!

Her front slope was the first feature seen from the street.  Building a retaining wall helped prevent difficult mowing and erosion, while creating a stunning “first-look” feature.

She and I chose a very different pale lavender colonial thin stone, and a travertine tread for the wall cap. The travertine stone is amazing.  It has remnants of plant fossils scattered throughout the surface. We were lucky enough to find them in a discount pile at a local stone yard.

Next we installed a black aluminum railing for two different sets of stairs leading to the front door. Notice how the railing is utilitarian and handsome. It will be critical for safe walking down the stairs for weather like we had this past March!

Next, we cut out a curving half-moon bed line from the front of the house to one end of the wall.  We anchored that same corner near the street with a multi- trunked crape myrtle to give a visual break between the street and front porch. Along the curve of the bed, we planted limelight hydrangeas, amsonia, Shasta daisies and dianthus.

In the shady part of the front of the house we planted semi -evergreen moonbeam encore azaleas, tassel ferns, and her inventory of hostas.  This garden bed has drastic light variations of hot sun to deep shade so we got to work the whole gamut of plant types.

We left plant space empty for her to play with, because it is a small space that will fill up quickly with about 7 good choices. I don’t want to take away all the fun! Correcto?

Do you have a patch of dirt on your property you want to play with?  Try a packet of wildflowers. Remember, they are  ”natural” landscape plants that are sometimes viewed as pretty weeds.

The important thing is to have direct soil contact when planting.  You can dig out any weeds and tufts of grass, or just aerate and seed an area 4 or 5 times.  Roughing up a bare patch of ground is also effective.

Wildflower seeds are tiny.  It is best to mix the seeds with sand or organic fertilizer so you don’t get patches of thick wildflowers in one spot. A little bit of seed goes a long way.

Wait for the rains or water every few days if you have the time and nearby water source.

For quick and long lasting color this summer, you may want to try a perennial and annual seed blend.  We buy on-line from American Meadows in western Vermont.

This new house had its final grade completed around Thanksgiving.  However, with cooler temperatures, it was too late for fescue to germinate. We came up with a good plan and a good price.

First, we used a power rake to scrape and rough up the soil where the contractor’s ten-ton trucks had driven for a months.  Then we top-dressed the soil with two inches of good topsoil.  We could have used 6 inches at least, but that was cost prohibitive.

Then we used a power seeder.  Power seeders handle like a fire hose gone wild.  The machine blends the rye seed with a paper mache base.  The grass seed sticks to the steep slopes within this solution.  We crossed our fingers for light, steady rains throughout the winter.

Here is what we got by February 5^th!  Not bad right?  We will fertilize this lawn in March but will not overseed with fescue until the fall.  Fescue will not have time to establish deep enough roots in this harsh country setting before the hot weather hits.  We did not want to throw her money away.

In early September we will aerate, seed and fertilize the entire space so a good stand of fescue can get established before the autumn leaves fall.

My new theory on vegetable gardens is to grow what is easy and what you will use, that will not interfere with pretty parts of a landscaped and yard.

• Use a manageable pot or build a raised bed easy to get to, preferable near your kitchen door (This picture is a large veggie garden we made this fall.)

• Use a blend of 70% topsoil and 30% compost and slow release organic osmocote for a soil mix.

• Plant kale, spinach, lettuces and chard (now is fine if you can find them).

• Put under a porch or carport where it gets sun.

• Cover with a sheet (not plastic) on cold nights.

Pick these greens for your smoothie in the morning!

In my ever-continuing quest for improved health, this is what works for my family and me.

I have created converts with my 21-year-old son, who usually heads out the door in the morning with nothing in his stomach, and my husband, who knows he has to eat more greens.

I hope to influence anyone to create this green smoothie for parents in their twilight years, all the way down to the the meticulous 2 year old.  Just get organic greens into their body at some point in the day and you are good for the day!

Here is the layering

… all you taste it the fruit!

• A handful of organic greens- spinach, kale, chard, Zen blend greens
• ¾ cup of frozen organic fruit (and some unfrozen organic fruit if you want)
• ½ cup or so of coconut water or almond milk or water.
• A handful of almonds, sunflower seed or some other nut (optional)
• 1 tbsp. of flax or chia seeds (optional)

Put it in the vitamix, blender, or food processor and mix well.

That is it!

It’s fun to break away from the norm in design, but it is important not to “miss” when you do that.  When I drove up to this client’s bright yellow house with orange trim, and saw the 12-foot banana tree in the back, I knew we were going to have fun.

The stone accents we wanted to incorporate were a terrace, walkway, seat wall and fire pit.  A larger pull- in area for vehicles and the incorporation of red “terra” gravel in her driveway were also important to the client.  She loved chalet river stone and had leftover brick from ages past that she asked us to use.

 If anyone could come up with ideas to do all these things and make them work, it was us!

So, we created a fun and functional space with a mélange of materials.  All terraces are dry laid with a dark purple lilac variegated thin stone.  Seat walls are made of Pennsylvania Fieldstone, river chalet and bricks.  The simple and inexpensive fire pit has ample airflow with a grate we created from rebar.  As a safety feature, the edge of the fire pit is a raised row of brick.

Plantings included using her inventory of butterfly bushes, roses, and crape myrtles.  For this portion of the bed work, we did lots of pruning and pulling of ivy in preparation for more plantings in the spring.

The raised berm around the terrace allows a great root reservoir for plantings.  It also conveniently used up her driveway dirt that we dug out when extending the driveway.

Her objects of art included 2 four-footed bathtubs, broken tile mosaics, shells, and other artistic goodies.  I decided to make a platform for each tub rather than try to incorporate them in the berm.  It is sometimes better to give a sense of presentation to an unorthodox feature, rather than try to disguise it in the landscape. Because the tubs are raised, her energetic dogs will not destroy the plantings.

We filled the tubs with vermiculite, potting soil and topsoil and treated them like large pots.  This is a great idea for a bevy of exotic annuals in the spring and contrasting conifers, snapdragons and red twigged dogwoods in the winter.

At the intersection of 3 walkways, we designed and created a circular medallion with her bits of tile from Mexico.  These we lay in mortar.

Our talented carpenter on staff made 4’ high bamboo bird perches for her beautiful macaw.  We placed them in the berm underneath some overhanging branches.

As we worked, we saw the need for both back stoops to be raised and leveled as well as her drainage off the back of the house re-worked.

All of the work for this yard and garden was done with wheel barrels since a narrow porch cachere on the side of the house blocked the driveway access to small trucks.

So many aspects to this small space in the Museum District were fun.  The first, which I found exciting, was the privacy screening we created for her back porch stoop.  The latticework was made on site with cedar to prevent twisting.  The top arch mirrors the arc over the back door, and the sunrays are a lovely motif repeated in the fountain below.  You can unscrew the whole trellis for easy painting.

We relay this bluestone terrace on the diagonal to make the area look bigger and give it more ‘movement”.  We surrounded this millstone fountain with a variegated bluestone circle instead of our usual rough stone.  It is a clean tight look- very precise.  The pie shape stones hide the basin and pump below, but are easily lifted up and moved for cleaning the filter.

We had put in this stacked stonewall in October.  Happily for us all the client was ready to move on in December with plants!

For this installation, we met the clients at Colesville nursery to pull specific conifers.  We had looked on line, but there are so many new hybrids and variations of color, texture, and growth habit that it is best to actually see the plant up close and personal for a good architectural blend.

Their space on the side of their house is narrow and hot.  While the front hs a bit of shade.  We used conifers, some hollies, and large pots to create a stunning look. The blue conifers in the pots will be pruned each spring like a large bonsai.

Drive by and see what you think.  You can’t miss it.