Iconic Ickler House with Terraced Garden
The Brief
The owner asked me to create a colorful entry garden reminiscent of the landscaped gardens of their native India. They wanted a garden that they could enjoy viewing when using the many stairs leading from the carport and street to the front door.
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 that 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.
The importance of your Gardens color palette
The challenge with this garden was how to create a beautiful view garden that was colorful but not overpowering for the historically significant architecture of the building. We achieved this by limiting our color palette to only two strong flower colors. Then, we relied upon multiple green and colored foliage, such as red blood grass, to provide additional seasonal and textural interest whilst grounding the brighter flower colors.
Good Landscapers will incorporate existing beautiful mature plants.
An existing overgrown ‘Barbara Karst’ Bougainvillea was tamed and espaliered to create a backdrop for the bold; pink, blue, chartreuse, and red color scheme. At the exterior of the house, a matching Bouganvillea was added to the original Eichler carport, thus creating continuity as you walked from car port to garden, tying the whole aesthetic together. The addition of uplights for the maple trees created a more welcoming and safer passage to the house from the carport.
In the rear of the property, we added custom containers planted with colorful succulents, culinary herbs, and Queen palms for privacy. Standard Meyer lemon trees and fragrant star jasmine were planted throughout the garden to add scent to the equation.
What to do with ugly but functional retaining walls
Existing structurally sound, but rather ugly retaining walls were restored with stucco and then clothed with vines and trailing Lysimachia to conceal them.
Even a few feet can make a difference.
In addition, a small seating area was created by cutting into the slope, and the construction of a new concrete retaining wall allowed for a spectacular view of downtown San Francisco. The effect was stunning, a modern architectural marvel now perfectly framed by a fragrant and luscious garden.
