Ever since we started landscaping the last month or so, I have gained enormous appreciation for the professionals. It is ugly labor that can produce beautiful results. The caveat, it helps if you know what you are doing, to do it right. Modern design is very rigid and more precise, especially when you are working with steel edgers. Ask my wife, because this guy suffered a broken arm playing softball a month ago, so I have been the foreman/money man, not a real sympathetic character. That said, my in-laws have been absolutely fabulous, while I have been mostly on the sidelines. I don't deserve them or my wonderful wife, who when she sets a deadline, it gets done with or without me.
Meanwhile back at the house, you can see the "courtyard" part of Colin Oglesbay's master design. After Shelter had designed the house, we asked Colin who is not only an architect with Shelter but also a landscape designer, to put a plan together for the outside, that would be green and coordinate seamlessly with the house. We asked for no-to-low maintenance native plants and minimal grass. We also asked that our rain barrels assist in maximizing storm water retention with a strategic placement of a rain garden, that would not only be functional but look beautiful as well. Right now it's a ditch, thanks to mother nature pouring down last fall, causing the ground around the garden to cave, due to the lot's upheaval during construction. After last night's rain, it's a pool of standing water far from the house. The garden is not functional nor beautiful. The good news is, help is on it's way. Professional help.
The picture shows the courtyard featuring blue 3/8" trap rock, stepping tiles, red flame grass and Degroot's Spire arborvitaes to create a little privacy and a sense of space. And in the foreground, you can see two new concolor fir trees that we had never heard of, until Colin suggested them as an evergreen option. They have a citrus like smell, and they are now my new favorite tree.
