This newly planted garden all started because the southern portion of the yard (near the driveway) was such an eyesore! It was unruly and separate from the main lawn so it didn't even look like it was part of the yard. Lucky for them that they knew that friend and neighbor Katie Spitz is a wonderful landscape architect.
All of the broken concrete is reclaimed from an old demo of a garage floor/foundation and was piled in the backyard, so it was put to excellent use! Now they arrive at the house via their wonderful pathway instead of taking the side walk.
They wanted to water less, so 70% of the grass was removed, giving them a greener footprint and taking advantage of native plants. Although they love color, they felt that keeping with hues of colors and some variegated were a nice contrast to the house as it has bold, deeper craftsman colors. The look of the front is clean without looking too sterile and now everything is pulled together. All of the plantings are only a few weeks old - we can't wait to see how wonderful this will look in another year.
This Craftsman house was built in 1914 and is one of the oldest houses on the block. The same builder did the two houses to the south of them the following year, both in brick. This is an original lot with a 116 foot frontage. This front garden was designed by landscape architect Katherine Spitz, AIA, ASLA, LEED AP. This is one of three gardens on this block designed by Katie (one of them her own!)
Learn a little about the history of this house here.
