Location: Windsor, CA
Design Goals:
Break up a large, overwhelming yard into more manageable nooks and (kid-friendly) play spaces
Replace existing water-sucking sod with drought-tolerant, low-maintenance plants
Reuse existing onsite materials
Create edible + cut flower gardens with lots of colors
Whimsical Meadow + Edible Farm Garden
Over 8,000 square feet of front, side, + back yards grow into whimsical, multi-functional havens with lots of colors, diversity, and year-round blooms. This garden includes drought-tolerant, native habitats and spaces for all who call the land home: meadows to enjoy and explore; multiple culinary gardens to fuel kitchen adventures; playful fairy gardens to inspire creativity; and native habitats for the garden’s creatures to thrive. The front yard was created to be budget-conscious and easy to maintain with a minimal design. The client’s own art, a dry creek + local boulders are surrounded by strategically placed plant bouquets created with native chaparral plants, including deer grasses, salvias, yarrow, desert mallow, and agaves with mulch + drip irrigation.
In the backyard, a carex and fescue meadow replaces the existing traditional sod lawn to conserve water and eliminate the need to mow. Around the meadow, native shrubs, grasses, and flowers create sanctuaries for songbirds, bees, butterflies, and other woodland creatures. Multiple pollinator mounds, created with buried concrete, add dimensionality around the meadows and surrounding flower beds. Repurposed brick-laid patios and pathways offer a way to discover and explore all the hidden details, including whimsical fairy fountains, a perennial cut flower + herb garden, and a kid-friendly stump playground. Along the way, pops of yellow, pink, and purple wildflowers stand out against the deep green and chartreuse of the grasses. In the back corner, a fully fenced garden provides ample space for raised beds to grow food and medicine year-round.
Project Ecological Benefits:
Native + pollinator plants
Culinary garden for homegrown food + medicine
Drought-friendly lawn alternatives
Repurposed materials
Butterfly + songbird habitats
A backyard garden with blooming flowers and low water grassy meadow, house with sliding glass door, patio, and various outdoor equipment.
A backyard garden with a small shed, flower beds, a brick pathway, and da hogwire fence to protect backyard chickens
Purple flowering plants and succulents surrounded by rocks and arbor mulch.
A sign on a wooden and wire fence that says "Trespassers will be composted" outside a health backyard garden
Backyard garden with brick pathway, part of the lawn is being worked on with plants and soil, and two people are working in the background planting or tending to the garden, surrounded by trees and a wooden fence.
Colorful flowering plants in a garden, including pink and peach flowers, along with silver-gray foliage plants.
Person working on planting in a backyard garden with new plants, a brick pathway, and a new fence surrounding the yard.
Backyard garden with a stone pathway, potted plants, garden beds, trees, and a wooden fence.
Lush garden with various flowering plants and shrubs in front of a house, bright sunny day.
A garden sculpture of a girl with long hair sitting on a crescent moon, holding a book, located in a freshly landscaped yard with rocks, mulch, and plants.
A backyard garden with yellow flowers, pink flowering plants, and a wooden wagon wheel leaning against a wooden fence.
A backyard garden with various flowering plants, shrubs, and a grassy lawn. There is a house with a covered patio on the right, with outdoor furniture and a barbecue grill. A wooden fence surrounds the yard, and trees are visible in the background.
