A tale of two city gardens

Why not add a bridge? This recycled city curb is an undeniable focal point and provides easy access to the elevated portion of the garden.

adds even more of a wow-factor to the space. The stonework shines year-round and looks good even when this New England garden is buried in snow. The hardscaping does take up a lot of real estate, but it provides invaluable bones to the garden.

ADD SOME ELEVATION Like most city lots, this backyard was very flat. Adding some sort of contour to the land seemed like an admirable goal to Christie and her team. Elevation would also help with another challenge: making the garden look good from several vantage points (the first floor of the

Containers pull double duty. The deep planters along the property line provide extra planting space and help soften the fence line. home, the roof-deck on the second floor, and a new patio at ground garden. Yes, the paths could have been small and narrow like level). “I brainstormed on the idea of creating a raised middle the space itself, but this, argues Christie, would have made the area, using a hidden block wall along the fence and a seating garden feel claustrophobic. Instead, she opted for generous wall on the other side, with boulders at both ends,” Christie says peastone walkways. The same approach of “no downsizing (see top photo, this page). With an elevated planting area, any needed” was taken with the rest of the hardscaping. trees, shrubs, and perennials sited there would be higher in the

Stonework abounds in this backyard, from two bluestone air and offer more screening from the back property line. And patios to the various irregular boulders scattered about as the faux berm would break up the flatness of the space. four-season focal points. There is even a stone bridge (built Building this raised bed allowed for more plantable space from a recycled curb) connecting two parts of the garden, a as well. Christie’s client is an avid gardener who wanted a stone wall for visual height variation, and a dry streambed that malleable and changeable garden, not just a static landscape.

A truly unique railing. The skinny containers along the deck edge add color to the front yard and a subtle bit of screening from the road.

Turn a problem into a perk. This foundation area was frequently flooded, but now the rainwater is diverted into an attractive planter. concrete pads rimmed with 2-inch river rock. These landing pads were arranged in a zigzag around a 4-foot-tall-and-wide steel planter, which was installed slightly askew from the front door (photo p. 46, top).

Crushed granite paths break off on either side of the concrete entry path (photo p. 47, bottom), resembling something you might hike along while in the forests outside Seattle. One path meanders through the preexisting hemlocks (Tsuga mertensiana, Zones 5–7) and the newly planted black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida, Zones 5–9) to the driveway. The other descends down natural granite steps under a canopy of vine maples (Acer circinatum, Zones 6–9). The winding nature of the paths forces users to slow down and thereby gives the impression that the space being traveled through is bigger. “I wanted the front entry to involve a ‘journey’ around the planters and through the hemlocks. Removing the straight shot to the door from the street was key,” says Courtney.

PROVIDE INVALUABLE SCREENING WITH PLANTERS It’s hard to miss the large, square planter surrounded by the zigzag concrete walkway. This is more than just an eye-catching feature, however. Once the large ‘Red Emperor’ Japanese maple (Acer palmatum ‘Red Emperor’, Zones 5–9) was planted in it, the container provided screening for the deck as well as a welcome diversion from the once-direct path to the front door.

Drainage was an issue in this small garden, so the design had to include ways to capture and divert rain. The area that collects water to the right of the entry during heavy rains was transformed into a focal point by the installation of a second steel planter that captures water from a new rain chain and diverts it through a spout into a dry streambed and rain garden. ‘Blue Arrows’ rush (Juncus inflexus ‘Blue Arrows’, Zones 5–9),