I have been waiting all summer to share our latest home project with you. Our front lawn needed to be down-sized, and we were fortunate to have the help of our friends Randy and Kara of Dreamscapes Garden Design. Randy did the design and oversaw the project, while Kara took the lead on the planting portion of the job. Now that I am retired I could be more involved than I have been with past projects, so I have lots of photos and stories to share.
I'll share a few photos as I go, and include a slideshow of many more at the end for those who are interested. I'll start with the inspiration for this patio, which was the last project we did, a patio on the OTHER side of our front yard.
Several years ago we decided to replace that lawn with a new patio, and we've been very happy with the result. Randy installed a fountain from Stone Forest (https://stoneforest.com/collections/outdoor-garden-fountains) and we love the sound. The birds also LOVE this fountain and bathe in it every day in this hot summer heat.
We were also very happy with the pavers used, so decided to use a similar style for the new patio on the other side of the yard.
The birds were part of the inspiration for our new design. I have been greatly enjoying watching the birds on our front patio, so I decided to incorporate plants that would attract more birds, as well as butterflies and bees in our new patio design.
The main goal was to reduce the size of our lawn. It had served us well with many years of use, but was too big, took too much water, and was stricken with gophers and drought. It seemed like we spent more time weeding and reseeding the lawn than enjoying it!
This time we decided to underwire the lawn to prevent gophers, and the latest technology allowed sprinklers that would give us better coverage.
As I talked to the kids about this project, they requested that we still allow room for them to play soccer, which often results in balls kicked into the driveway. So we needed to leave that side of the lawn "open", and install "indestructible" plants nearby that could handle ball traffic.
My goal was to regain a space for the hammock in the shade of the tree that was growing nearby. My absolutely favorite thing to do as the day cools is to enjoy a good book and beverage in the hammock, and I hope to do even more of that now that I'm retired.
The project started with a rough design, using PVC pipe to visualize the new patio, lawn, and planting borders. Once the dimensions were determined, the old lawn was torn out. A tractor was rented, and made short work of the old lawn.
Rock was brought in and compacted in the area where the new patio would be. To add some interest and help in the afore-mentioned bird attractants, we decided to add a "bird habitat" planter. Randy suggested a round stock tank be used for the planter, so we left space for that.
Next, the paving stone needed to be ordered. I had not even noticed that the detail of the prior patio included stones of a trapezoidal shape around the fountain, so similar stones were needed to go around the new stock tank. Unfortunately, they were no longer available, but Randy came up with the idea of cutting rectangular stones in the desired shape. There was a delay while the stones were ordered and produced. In the meantime, sprinkler lines were dug and sprinklers were laid for the new lawn and planting border, the stock tank was installed and compost was dug into the planting border.
The stock tank turned out to be more complex than originally planned because Randy had the great idea of installing a cement "sitting wall" around the metal tank. Not only would the sitting space be welcome when we had people over, but the cement provided a different look than the plain metal of the tank alone. Randy installed rebar, a wooden form was built, and plastic bender board was used on the inside.
What a complicated process that turned out to be, but with Randy's expert guidance it turned out great! We filled the tank with raised bed soil and waited for the stone to be delivered and installed.
The patio only took a few days to lay once the stone arrived. Most of this work, as well as many other aspects of the project, was done by Jaime, who helps Randy and Kara on many projects. After fanning the stones around the stock tank planter and cutting some, he used rectangular stones to make up the rest of the patio, and laid a border to separate it from the lawn. We decided to use the extra stones to border the rest of the lawn too, which created a really "clean" look and should help when mowing.
In the meantime, I had been in discussions with Kara about plants for the bird habitat and the rest of the planting border. I had drawn up a list of ideas, and she reminded me that in addition to bird attractants, we needed to find plants that were deer repellant since this part of the yard is not fenced. This photo shows how the deer feel at home in this part of the garden, I swear they were just waiting to me to plant so they could start dining!
I started researching online and put my Excel skills to use in summarizing my findings. Then I went to the local nurseries with Kara and on my own, refined the list based on what was available and with her further expertise, and we bought our first batch of plants for the bird habitat.
In addition to butterflies, birds, and deer, we also need to worry about gophers in the rest of the border, especially since we were driving them out of the lawn. Luckily Kara knows which plants need to be caged so that shortened the research time I needed to spend. We caged those that are needed, but minimized the selection of those plants (because making and planting in gopher cages is a royal PAIN!).
She reminded me that we also needed to worry about sun requirements. I would have said that the whole border was sunny most of the day, but once I started paying attention I realized the tree had grown large and the area around the picket fence was actually shady most of the time. No wonder the plants I kept using there didn't do so well! There were also mature shrubs at the back of the side border, so we needed shade-loving plants there too.
I had potted up nepeta and sedum "autumn joy" from the prior border, so those plants were waiting in pots ready to be replanted. That would save me a bit of money in new plants. Then I uncovered that sedum is actually not deer repellent, but I figured since they hadn't bothered the plant I had we were okay. Mistake!
About this time Rick and I took a short trip to Mendocino, which has absolutely beautiful gardens. We also visited the Botanical Gardens in Ft. Bragg, and were further inspired. And of course since we visited the nursery I came back with a few plants, which luckily ended up fitting into the bird habitat planting scheme. They are not deer repellent, but we planted them and crossed our fingers!
The next week we shopped again and bought the majority of plants for the border. I didn't realize what an iterative process planting is. I thought you chose your plants, counted the number you needed based on your space, bought them, planted them, and done! Nope, we planted some, took a look, bought more and planted them, etc. Of course, "twist my arm" to get me to go to a nursery. I was like a kid in a candy store! The only challenge was limiting the number of plants to what would fit and do well in our space. I wanted them all!!!
Once done, we mulched the entire area to conserve water and cut down on weeds. I began watering regularly to give them a good start in this summer heat.
Next the top soil was delivered. It needed to be spread in the new lawn area, then leveled and packed down with a roller. To save money, our entire family helped with that job. Good thing as those young people are a lot more limber than us old folks!
In the meantime, another part of the project that I worked with Randy on was the mosaic Compass Rose. Randy had laid out the stones and installed the first section, then let me work on the mosaic to finish it up. He found a craftswoman in Penngrove who would cut the N-S-E-W direction tiles, after he laid them I realized how nice it is to be able to tell "true north"!
This mosaic is not only a way to add some functional art to the patio, but helped soften the border between old and new patios. I found or cut pieces of tile to fit the 16 triangles on the border, then under Randy's guidance I filled them with mortar and misted it with water. When I was all done I added polymer sand and watered it in to hold it in place and fill the gaps. It was a fun project, greatly aided by the patio umbrella Randy provided to protect me from the sun.
Now all that was left was the lawn. We waited several weeks to order the sod because we had a heatwave in late August and I wanted to spare those of us planting it, as well as reduce the amount of water we would need to keep it moist. Turns out it was still pretty hot the day we planted it, plus the smoke from all the fires in California was polluting the air, but you can never plan these things perfectly. Just before planting we fertilized it, then the sod was laid in just a few hours (again, the family helped). We watered it in and have been keeping it well watered.
The whole project is only about 10 days old, but already the plants are growing in and everything is doing well. The hummingbirds are enjoying the salvia and other flowers, and a few butterflies have been spotted on the lantana and zinnias. The baby deer have decided that they LIKE sedum, so they have been nibbling that regularly. Good thing it was free! They also like the petunias I bought in Mendocino for the edge of the bird habitat. I guess they didn't eat the petunias in the bed next door because they were at ground level, vs. here I planted them right at their height!
I have high hopes that in the next year this space will grow into a lush, bird-filled paradise. My hammock will do for now but I hope to find some functional patio furniture and enjoy visits with friends and family on our new patio in the coming year.
Feel free to click through the slideshow below to see the progression of this project. Thanks again to Randy and Kara for their expertise and for leading this project to completion. We will enjoy it for years to come!
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