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Recently we've done a few client check-ins for maintenance and boy are things looking good! Fall is a wonderful time for raingardens. They certainly do flourish with all the wet. Here is a little peak at one of our long-time clients' garden spaces. The place looks great! Interested in seeing what the space looked like before? Check out here, here, and 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! It's time! Let the plant deliveries and planting begin!   Washington State University and Stewardship Partners are spearheading a campaign to install 12,000 rain gardens in the Seattle/Puget Sound Region by 2016!
Visit www.12000raingardens.org to register your rain garden today and be a part of the water pollution solution! Rain gardens are a proven way to prevent flooding, reduce water pollution and beautify your yard. Every year, heavy rains lead to massive flooding across Seattle and Puget Sound, wiping out roads, flooding homes and waterways with sewage. Rain gardens are very affordable options for homeowners compared with traditional pipe and drain systems, and require minimal time or skill to maintain each year. When planted with native plant species, the gardens attract birds, bees, and butterflies. And, new education and incentive programs through Seattle RainWise Program help homeowners with rain garden installations at little to no cost. Contact us today to see if you qualify! 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! |
This is how Stone Soup Gardens rolls - check out our blog for current, upcoming, and past projects, events, and other super cool stuff worth mentioning.
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