Formal Italian Garden with Pergola
The Brief
The beauty of imperfection in antiquity drove the aesthetic of this project. My client travels extensively in Europe -specifically Italy and France and had architectural antiques they wished to incorporate into the fabric of the garden. My brief was to create a lush, Italian-influenced garden capable of providing a year-round venue for my client's legendary parties, as well as a private garden, to relax and enjoy from the adjacent carriage house.
Apothecary Garden Design & Install
Tropical Garden (Noe Valley)
The Brief
In a windswept part of Noe Valley. The clients of this ultra-modern, newly renovated property had inherited a ‘hastily landscaped for sale’ astro turf-riddled garden. Naturally, they wanted a radical redesign departing from the 'realtor beige' aesthetic.
Having grown up in Poland with residual memories of cold winters, bleak landscapes, and post-iron curtain brutalist grey, they desired the aesthetic diametric opposite-. They wanted a year-round lush Tropical garden to nourish the senses. Expecting their first child, the clients also required a soft, safe, non-toxic place for the baby to play in addition to spaces for adults to relax and socialize. Dividing the garden into separate functional areas allowed us to create a flexible, multifunctional garden for this sociable, evolving family.
Can you plant a Tropical Garden in San Francisco?
Yes, you can! We designed a garden with cold-tolerant tropical palms and perennials such as Strelitzia and Canna. The central lawn area (previously astroturf) was planted with chamomile to create a chamomile lawn.
cottage Garden -Forest Hills Design and Install
Iconic Ickler House with Terraced Garden
Design constraints of the Garden.
A unique Eichler home perched on an awkward, steep lot in Twin Peaks. Not only was the site protected as a historical building. This garden had also been neglected for approximately 20 years and self-sown non-native invasive trees and weeds had the garden in a chokehold. The garden was so overgrown we had to hire specialist contractors to clear the steep site save for a handful of salvageable plants. Once we removed the invasive plants it created an immediate lack of privacy. We solved this by planting fast-growing screening shrubs later to be succeeded by twenty seven Japanese maple trees.
Disused paved area to Sensory Destination Garden.
All small spaces have the potential to be a garden.
This project located in the Potrero Hill neighborhood of San Francisco was a prime example of unused garden potential. The small space metamorphosed from an awkward, triangular overlooked concrete pad - to a private scented courtyard.