Over the last month, Stone Soup Gardens has been immersed in a new construction job on the west side of Seattle. We came to the project when the new house was 90% complete, and began working with the owner and designer to create a gorgeous garden and outdoor retreat. The design was done by Jenny Pell, a well known and respected founding member of Permaculture Now! When we began, the landscape was a giant dirt pile. Our first week on the job involved grading and prepping the area around the house for the Desert Stone Patio installation. We prepped and installed a flagstone pathway from the driveway to the front door, and we began the process of grading and prepping the different areas of the garden, including a rockery, raingarden, and raised beds. Next up is laying the Desert Stone patio, completing the rockery and log accents for the beds, as well as building the cedar raised beds for the side of the house.
There are more pictures to come as we progress on this awesome project. Stay tuned! One of our designers, Aaron Buchholz, had a great idea for this contemporary space. The backyard was simply a patch of grass, but our clients wanted something that spoke more to the design of the home. By adding a brick patio, we created a more useful area for year round entertaining, while the addition of the raised planting beds will give an accessible way to incorporate different levels of planting space. Taking the boxy shape of the house, Aaron created the patio using hexagons and gently curving paths to create a more eye-catching landscape. To mimic this, he included a couple of seating areas in the hexagon shape, while also creating rectangular beds with a similar hexagon point. Now that we've completed the patio and beds, we'll plant out the space to enhance the curves and angles which will create a dynamic new backyard oasis. The development of a landscape happens year round. Yet, the times we take notice are usually in the spring and fall when the color and smell demand our attention. Recently we revisited a project from 2013 in the View Ridge neighborhood. It was a lovely circular space from the front yard to the backyard, and our clients wanted a functional patio rather than the mushy northwest lawn of winter. Here is the peak at the lawn as we started ripping it out in early spring: Raingarden installation soon to follow: Flagstone patio installation, heading into summer: The completed garden in mid-summer: And finally, the winter garden. It has a muted color palette with lots of different textures to consider, yet still possesses small bursts of color to draw your eye.
Ahhh, it feels good to complete a project. Particularly one that involves a lot of demo. There is something so satisfying about the end result. I can't wait to see how this new space flourishes and develops. We've completed the small swale and raingarden, installed a tiered raised bed out of the recycled concrete we removed, installed a bit of grass, took down the collapsing fenceline, and planted a few trees and plants that will love this warm wet winter. I must say, Stone Soup Gardens has great clients, and I have an excellent team. For more photos from this project, go here.
Stone Soup Gardens has truly awesome clients. Every so often we like to check back in and see how their gardens are growing. One of our clients, who also happens to be a neighbor, has been consistently adding improvements to their garden year after year. We still have a few projects to go, including adding a couple of railings, finishing up the stairs, and planting out a few more areas. The improvements have been enormous, and it is wonderful to see the place taking shape. For a look back at the project over the last year, check out the blog posts HERE and HERE. Stone work is something we find ourselves doing more and more often here at Stone Soup Gardens. From retaining walls, to rockeries, to patios, we do our best to fit our client's needs with something beautiful, long lasting, and creative. One such project is in the Mt. Baker neighborhood. Our client was in the process of putting on a new deck, and wanted to create a more useable space in their backyard. While the yard is fairly small and rectangular, it had a good deal of space for a couple of raised beds, a nice area for a hummingbird habitat, and the perfect spot under the stairs for a mushroom patch. We installed two beautiful raised beds with extended planks for outdoor seating. Once those were completed we started on the patio. Since the backyard is generally in shade, the client's wanted something permeable but walkable during our long wet winters. The client had a decent pile of used bricks from a previous project, so we rounded up a selection of used brick from our local salvage store to complement the design. The client also asked that we make room for a lovely Buddha statue and fountain, which we also installed, to create a quiet meditative place that will flower and bloom during the year. We are still putting the finishing touches on the place now, but I think it will be a wonderful garden retreat for our clients in the years to come! At the end of last year, Stone Soup Gardens had the pleasure of being chosen to create new urbanite retaining walls at the Judkins Park P-Patch. The walls were part of a larger vision the community and the Department of Neighborhoods had for the P-Patch, and they wanted someone skilled with using recycled materials for the job. (See previous post HERE.) This year, the Department of Neighborhoods and the folks at the P-Patch came back and asked us to install a community patio space, as well as a space for ADA accessible raised garden beds at the Norman St entrance to the P-Patch. We've been busy for the last week working on this project, and we are excited to share with you how things are shaping up! Take a look below to see the newly laid patio space, and the finishing of our retaining walls. Next up, ground cover installation and a hand-made inlay welcoming you to Judkins P-Patch. Check back, there are more photos to come! Sometimes we get to work on a really great project that includes a multi-diversity of purposes. Recently, we've been working in Columbia City on a backyard that was screaming for a make-over. The client for this project is legally blind, and asked that we provide a design that incorporated a scent garden, edible natives, as well as plants that attract hummingbirds and other wildlife to the backyard. In order to realize her ideas, as well as making the yard accessible to her, we had to completely regrade the slope of the yard to provide better access points, as well as pathways through the space. Once the patio was complete, we began planting out the garden spaces. We chose a number of specific native and edible plants to attract hummingbirds for year round foraging, including Weiglia, Red Flowering Currant, and Sarcococca. As a personal favorite, we included a number of human edibles too, including Blueberry, Huckleberry, Salal, and many herb varieties. This will not only provide foraging for our client, but delicious smells from the herbs, and a great burst of color during the fall! Another important factor for our client was being able to differentiate between all of the different spaces in the garden. For this we incorporated gravel, moss, and woodchip areas underfoot for the walking experience. We used several different plants that have a nice texture such as lambs ear and Juncus Spiralis. To help our client locate specific regions in the garden, we put up different garden chimes around that will help her locate not only by sound, but also by touch, what can be found in that area. Currently, we are installing a number of railings to help our client navigate with ease through each space. Check back soon for more photos as we complete the backyard and start on a rain garden for the front yard! Every so often we get to do a really awesome project that benefits the community at large, rather than just a single home in the neighborhood. Recently we completed a new set of stairs and a short wall for the Judkins Park P-patch. It was a great project, and will be a nice feature as they continue to invigorate the existing space. From the Judkins Park Website: "Judkins has a lot of natural habitat, including as all natives planting in the parking strip. There's a small pond, wetland habitat as well. The borders are planted richly with additional northwest natives and beneficial flowers and herbs. Judkins is rare, it's permanently preserved for community gardening! |
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