Muddy Boots Garden Design Portfolio

A Family Home

This residence is set in a lovely community in Haw Creek. I was hired to develop a plan for the property which this young family plans to keep as their home for many years.

We began with the front yard. The house sits on a sloping lot which offers wonderful mountain views. However, the slope presented a design challenge. The east side of the house is at ground level, but the west side is quite steeply sloped and the house looked as though it were hanging off the hill. In addition, the front view of the house was dominated by one large tree, a Bradford Pear which was used pervasively throughout the neighborhood. Another Bradford Pear was in a narrow bed that runs along the driveway. The Bradford Pear, known for its weak wood, begins to break apart at around 15 years of age. This neighborhood is about the same age and all of the Pears were beginning to fall apart.

The Bradford Pears were removed, as well as the aging foundation hollies, and we started from scratch. The small kidney-shaped bed in the middle of the slope was expanded and now curves around the hill. The bed was planted with two beautiful Trident Maples which frame the house, as well as a stand of Virginia Sweetspire and some easy care perennials for summer color.

The foundation on the west side of the house was planted with Shasta Viburnum, which has a horizontal branching affect to mitigate the sloping lot. The Shasta also offers lovely white bloom in May and good red-wine fall color. The rest of the foundation was planted with a variety of evergreen and fruiting shrubs.

The strong angles at the corner of the front walk and drive were softened with a sweeping curved bed planted with azaleas, lavender, and annuals for color.

In addition to the Bradford Pear, the narrow bed along the driveway held a random variety of shrubs without much rhyme or reason. We remade this bed by transplanting some of the nice evergreen Japanese hollies in a sweep around a handsome Bloodgood Japanese Maple. This created a focal point in the middle of the long bed and broke up the long straight line. Both ends of the bed were planted with a variety of evergreen and summer-blooming shrubs, and were finished with a border of lavender and annuals for color.

The backyard plan is in progress. The first element added was an extension of the deck with a shape that mirrors the bay window off the kitchen. The extension offers additional space for entertaining. An herb and flower garden was installed along the border of the deck with the foundation lattice service as a backdrop and trellis for a climbing rose. A perimeter border was planted with three Kousa Dogwoods as anchors and filled with hydrangeas, lilac, and other ornamental shrubs. A stone knee wall is planned in a sweep along one corner to offer casual seating near the children’s play area and to create a corner niche for to lounging chairs to take in the spectacular view.