Space Shift

We recently completed the make-over of a small front yard in Waltham, MA.  The homeowners were looking to remove mowing from their chore list and replace the weedy grass with a low maintenance garden sanctuary.  We designed a courtyard-like layout in shades of lavender and white, all centered around a circular patio.

 

Before

In need of a makeover!

Step One

A larger crew came in to do the real heavy lifting: removing the lawn and shrubs, and installing a 9’ radial cobblestone patio.

Step Two 

We came in and installed the larger shrubs. First to go in was a staggered series of Arborvitaes the will grow into a privacy screen by the roadside.  A line of Lilacs (a favorite of the homeowners’) flanks the retaining wall that separates the neighbors’ lawn.  A large columnar Arborvitae grows up by the doorway and two lace-cap white Hydrangea mark the entrance from the driveway. The larger plants are rounded out with several Boxwoods, a large white Hydrangea, a Beautyberry Bush, a Cavatine Japanese Andromeda, and a fine-leafed Rhododendron.

Step Three

In the final step we added all the small perennials and groundcover: Blue Paradise Garden Phlox, Comb Speedwell, Grapeleaf Windflower, Lucerne Blue-Eyed Grass, May Night Sage, Montauk Daisy, Obsidian Coral Bells (Heuchera), Omega Skyrocket Stokes Aster, Palace Purple Coral Bells, Plumbago, Snowflake Moss Phlox, Varigated Japanese Iris, and Violet Dawson Peony.

As the plants fill out in the next few months and through the next growing season, these homeowners will have very little maintenance to deal with.  What was once a bothersome patch of grass is now the envy of the neighborhood!