Gia and Austin recently bought a really charming 50’s modern home in Tujunga, CA. While the house has great bones, they did have some work cut out for them repairing and refinishing things around their new home. With their budget focused mostly on the actual house, they wanted to do something with the forgotten side yard that runs the length of the house - it was an eye sore no doubt about it! Just a long stretch of old broken asphalt and a cinderblock wall with piles of rocks against it. You can see the “before” state in the last photo here.

Gia loves to cook and she began to daydream about the space being used for a culinary garden, so she contacted me to help bring that into reality. I loved the idea! It seemed like a great use for the space.

From there we began to share some style cues with each other and I began to design the space based off of those cues - with a tidy, tight budget in mind. It took some creativity and resourcefulness - both things I enjoy!

I often refer to myself as a “resource rearranger” - if there are resources on a site that can be moved and reutilized I will use them. This quality came in handy on this site!

The new garden - photographed in January 2034 was installed in November 2023.

The first thing to determine was how to handle the asphalt. I had some quotes delivered on removing it - and the quotes for removal came in more than the budget for the entire project - that obviously wasn’t an option! So that became a starting place for informing the whole design as it dictated some necessities - like raised beds. There wouldn’t be enough soil depth to grow food without raised beds in this scenario. We knew we wanted a clean feeling for the space that would be in keeping with the modern lines and colors of the house so I took inspiration from Cycladic design ( I find it endlessly inspiring) and decided to build the beds from cinder block (affordable) and finish the raised beds and cinder block wall in a naturally water proof and non toxic lime plaster, giving the wall and beds a monolithic feel. I always use natural finishes whenever possible. The white lime really freshened everything up and gave the garden a grounded, permanent feeling.

The asphalt was very old, cracked and weather exposed so it posed no toxicity issues at this point and I knew I wanted to add in-ground vegetation around the beds to soften and fill out the space over time. My first step was having many (many!) tons of fill dirt delivered. I contacted a construction crew that was going to have to move tons of fill dirt off their site anyway - and they delivered 10 tons to our site for free. Major score for the budget! We got all that dirt on top of the asphalt about 8 inches deep, creating a level site for the beds to be built upon and some space for shallow rooting plants to go in the ground.

From there, we built and finished the raised beds, I added some of my homemade compost and soil mix to the beds and topped some of the ground fill dirt with it too. I planted native flowers, shrubs, herbs and grasses in the ground and filled the beds with food! Then we topped the walking path with a few inches of clean pebble.

All of the big cobblestone river rocks that had been piled uselessly against the cinderblock wall were moved and repositioned against the house. I didn’t want to put dirt against the house so this was a perfect solution - gravel at the bottom with the rocks on top to catch and slow any water that might go near the house and to hold the soil in place from that side of the garden. Although frankly, with that much fill dirt, the root systems of in-ground plants and a good topping of finishing pebbles, water should not be an issue in any regard- there is plenty of slowing and absorption happening but the gravel and rocks add an extra layer of protection for the house along with some more texture aesthetically.

Rearranged rocks that were already on site and in-ground native plants that will grow to fill out and soften the space over time while attracting beneficial pollinators and a natural balance of insect predator and prey to the garden overall. Blueberries, raspberries and thornless blackberry are planted in the ground and in the closest raised bed in this photo - accompanied by CA native wild lupine which is a natural growing companion for the berries.

BEFORE - the side yard was an expanse of old broken asphalt

As always, I’m so excited to see the garden mature and blossom. Time is an important element of landscape design and it’s always fun to check back in to see things growing into what my mind’s eye envisioned. It’s always better than I imagined though - nature being the most brilliant co-designer one could ask for.

Carrie and Rick contacted me wanting a drought tolerant native pollinator and habitat garden for their front yard. Living in a highly urban area, one of their main priorities was creating a sense of privacy so they could relax and enjoy their space without feeling on display - yet they didn’t want to simply ‘fence themselves off’ from everyone either. The four foot picket fencing around the yard was already charming and lends a homey cottage feel in keeping with the house. It was clear that a diverse, living, native habitat privacy screening was the way to go.

Other priorities were incorporating foraging edibles, attracting birds and pollinators and loads of plants! Rick said he wanted people to walk by on the street and say “I know there’s a house back there somewhere”. I wanted to give them that without the yard feeling cluttered in the long term, so I created a park like feel with movement and spaces to wander and sit, bringing structure and flow to all the bountiful life.

The photos below are from just 2.5 month’s of growth, so they are well on their way!

2.5 month’s of growth. The plants are growing exceptionally well and the yard is already filled with butterflies!

About a year prior, they had already done a solid layer of cardboard sheet mulching and topped it with a thick layer of mulch, so that set the soil up really well for planting by the time I entered the scene. I started by designing and installing the privacy hedge that runs all along the fence line of the yard. Most of these I planted on the larger side and the rest of the interior plants were installed small and strong for good root development, rapid growth and healthy plants long term.

For the privacy hedge, I wanted different heights, shapes and textures to create an undulating natural feel that would create privacy and habitat and play off the long-range tree views in the neighborhood. I always go with a certain amount of repetition in all of my plantings to create calmness for the eye - you almost never see just one of any plant in nature right?

The privacy hedge I created has multiple California Bay Laurel trees (great bird habitat and an abundant forageable cooking plant that can be shared across the fence with all the neighbors), native Blue Elderberry (also an edible plant), native Ceanouthus/California Lilac, native Tecate Cypress to bring in a needled woodsy feel, native Davis Gold Toyon. native Coyote Bush and native Lemonade Berry.

Next I created flow and divided the yard into zones/garden beds to break up the monolith of space by putting in meandering paths and establishing a space for a flagstone patio under their big shady laurel tree.

The interior plant islands are filled with native California grasses, shrubs, perennial flowers, herbs and ground covers and a handful of Mediterranean varietals mixed in.

installing paths and a shady patio.

Organically shaped flagstone patio. A trellis with fast growing shade vines along the fence behind the patio will enclose the space from behind creating a really private, calm feel.

BEFORE - just empty space waiting for life!

BEFORE

A native Desert Willow centered in the front island here. It’s in it’s winter dormancy but about to explode into blossoms come Spring.

Repeating coastal rosemary, seaside daisy and blue fescue anchor the pathways. Native Roger’s Red grape vines (edible) are planted on either side of the front porch and will trellis gracefully over the peak there. Saint Catherine’s lace, white sage, chalk dudleya, wild flowers and a small manzanita tree are planted in the bed under the big front window. Plants that are big enough to fill out and watch hummingbirds zipping about from inside but not so tall and big that they obscure views of the whole yard. The privacy comes from the long range/fence line hedging.

Carrie and Rick were so fun to work with and I’m loving how excited and engaged they are with their yard. Carrie has been keeping a photo and written garden journal, documenting all of the birds and butterflies that have been visiting, noticing the tiny self-seeding yarrow starts popping up already…and measuring plant growth after the rains! Ha! I love that. They’ve met some neighbors they didn’t know before too. Gardens have a way of bringing people together.

Fresh flagstone and plant installation in Highland Park.

Roger’s Red Native California Grape