Plant Native Designs

Native Rain Garden Design

2010-11-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Follow Brian Bump's work to Portland Oregon!

go to: nativeraindesign.com

go to: nativerain.blogspot.com

Backyard Rock Water Feature : Sunnyvale, Ca.

2010-07-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

A natural rock water feature invites small birds while offering a contemplative human element to the native garden.

The conceptual rockwork sketch...

A closeup of the rock includes Napa wall rock, McGregor Lake ledger, Gold Rush cobbles, and the grain of a Big Springs slab end cut.

A ball valve is added to control and tune the water flow from the pump. The pump box is easily accessible by removing the fist sizel rocks under the slab.

Over two tons of rock went into the water feature and this little one ton Toyota work horse hauled it all.

The pump box and discharge unit made by Aquascape.

The area before...

Native Spring : Bay Area

2010-04-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

A Sunnyvale Native rain garden glows with contrasting Sage and Monkeyflower.

Carex pansa and Strawberry spread as groundcover.

White Sage growing amoung Santa Barbara and Seaside Daisy in a Mountain View cornerstrip.

The spring color of a San Jose Native garden.

Castilleja linariaefolia Indian Paint Brush growing wild in Los Altos Hills with Sage, Monkeyflower and Manzanita.

Gold Medal @ 2010 San Francisco Flower & Garden Show

2010-03-31T15:18:00.000-07:00

In 2009, I was happy to be asked by Dawn Engel of The Artist's Garden to construct Urbanite to be featured in her design for a juried garden at the 2010 S.F. Flower and Garden Show.

We took home a few awards... actually five, including a Gold Medal! Pictured below, is Dawn with The People's Choice Award. We also won: San Francisco Botanical Garden Society Award, American Horticultural Society Environmental Award, and the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers Award.

To view more of Dawn's work, visit her website at http://www.artistsgarden.net

Some highlights of the detail in Dawn's unique design included real alligator heads with succulent Strings of Pearls streaming from their snappers.

The dry fountain drew the most onlookers and many people danced through the courtyard to the New Orleans Jazz.

To add authenticity to the space, Salvaged Creole Jazz Courtyard fans caught a spontaneous performance by Foothill College Horticulture Instructor David Sauter of When The Saints Go Marching In.

Recycled concrete was rebuilt into all of the seating walls in the garden including here in the dry stack foundation to frame the meticulously handcrafted succulent fountain.

Because we are allowed only three days for a complete installation, nearly all the elements must be designed and constructed off site. Here, Mike Diefenbach, Brendan, and Adrian Vizcarra unload the wall pieces to be reconstructed for the show. These guys helped a ton, thanks so much!

A special thanks to Foothill College for the use of the facility yard and volunteer labor that counts as credit for the program. Pictured here is Corey pressure washing the finished pieces before being organized onto pallets for delivery.

Most photos courtesy of Mark and Dawn Engel

Oak Woodland Garden : Menlo Park, Ca.

2010-01-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

The new custom iron gate from the patio...

Designed to celebrate the branching pattern of a two-hundred year old Oak over the garden, the new iron gate offers a unique entrance to the private space.

Jesse and Gavin of Rustworks in San Carlos fabricated the custom ironwork, making it contour to the boulder with natural lines. Check out more of their awesome work @ http://www.rustworks.com/

A permeable stone patio is both a healthy hardscape under an Oak and a relaxing garden space.

Native plantings will include this young Ribes viburnifolium as a groundcover under the Oak.

The new doors are headed with aged wood lintels, once the door of an antique ship.

Both new doors are framed with hand cut stone.

The new door being added to the downstairs bedroom.

The homeowners' travels bring them many beautiful art pieces that become expressions in the garden. Here, hand painted tiles add color to the steps of a utility area while an Iguana sculpture from a trip to Mexico gives a personal touch to the custom patio bench.

Antonio artfully hand finishes each stone while the team mortars the new landings in place.

Antonio and Checko forming the new steps and door landings.

The old steps...

The finished boulder set.

Chico inspects the finished hole before the boulder arrives.

A mighty big hole is excavated for the new boulder to be set.

The rocks arrive and are ready to be set.

The overall health of the Oak is considered throughout the entire process. So storm water will not pool at the trunk of the old Oak, Frank and his team ran the downpipes across the property to a safe distance at the edge of the driveway.

The new stone patio is mortarless and permeable. Trino spreads and grade the baserock to the new level.

Frank Niccoli and his award winning company The Village Gardener meet to discuss the project. From left to right, Dawna, Frank, and Ricardo.

The old concrete is broken up and recycled and the bricks were donated.

The Oak canopy covers the entire site determining the plant community and overall Plan design.

The before picture facing the rear of the house with garage to the right.

This two-hundred year old Quercus agrifolia Coast Live Oak will be the centerpiece of the new garden. The new garden elements will celebrate and enhance it's natural beauty.

An illustrative perspective for the garage as a living wall with new fountain and fixtures including stonework around the door and an urbanite path leading thru a custom gate.

The garage facing the garden before...

Pictured here before, the window to the left will be a new door with stonework connecting to the patio landing.

The garden entrance before. The focus on this space was of openness and connection to the new garden elements and tying into the custom iron fixtures.

Many photos courtesy of Sylvia Rupilius. Thanks, Sylvi!

Native Winter : Bay Area

2010-01-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

Salvia apiana glows against the dried flowers of Eriogonum fasciculatum.

Most of the garden cut back makes room for fresh wildflowers.

The first blooms of Ceanothus.

Artemesia californica and Salvia apiana brighten the landscape during the much needed winter rains.

Native sages also offer seasonal structure in the garden such as this Salvia spathacea blooming late winter into fall.

Urbanite Path and Cut-Stone Patio Entrance : Cupertino, Ca.

2009-10-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Native plantings line this new Urbanite path leading to a custom stone patio with a recycled concrete bench. A new wood gate offers privacy and openness to the narrow but airy side garden.

The beautiful flowers of Chilopsis linearis Desert Willow add seasonal texture and paint summer color to a gray fence.

A small variegated form of reed grass, Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Overdam' flowers under the window sill of the kitchen. Ribes aureum and Ribes malvaceum are spreading as espaliers along the wall above Erigeron glaucus 'Cape Sebastian'.

A Myrica californica Pacific Wax Myrtle will quickly grow to screen the neighbors roof. (The Maple branches have since been pruned away from the new plant to give the space it will need)

Monardella villosa Coyote Mint grows with Ribes saguineum 'Claremont' in the morning sun along the new Urbanite path as Dymondia margaretae forms a mat to soften the edges of broken concrete.

The Urbanite path is ready for planting and the space is open for business.

Scraps of concrete salvaged after reconstruction to be water-jet-cut by Rustworks of San Carlos into this custom bench.

Pictured here ready for grout, a custom cut-stone patio will give the family a new experience to the front door. The path and grade leading up to the patio was lowered for a step up, slowing down the original axial passage through the space and framing the entrance to the house.

The stone ledger is mortared as a level coarse.

A baserock was compacted around the perimeter of the existing aggregate slab as the foundation for the new mortared cut stone ledger.

This grill area was reset tightly as a mortarless transition space. The new Urbanite path now flows more naturally to the families large existing mortared flagstone patio and private garden at the rear of the house.

An Urbanite path takes on a permeable "flagstone look". This path will be planted with a drought tolerant groundcover to soften the edges and add living beauty to what was once a sidewalk.

After the jackhammering, unused pieces are trucked to the Smart Station for recycling. The remaining slabs are then arranged and reset as the new path.

The entrance area before pictured here, opposite the front door to the house which lies along the concrete path. The existing aggregate will be the foundation for the new mortared cut stone patio entrance.

...plenty of material to hammer out a new path.

The path before was an axial "runway" type sidewalk. The client wished for something more natural and sustainable. Another goal became to slow down both visual and physical movement through the space so one may enjoy the garden path and the clients beautiful existing landscape.

Native Wildlife Garden : San Jose, Ca.

2009-08-24T11:23:00.001-07:00

A Spring walk through this garden strikes the senses with the buzz of pollinators and spice of sages and wildflowers.

This container and rock water fountain will soon be planted with bird loving Juncus and ground cover Fuschia offering seeds, nectar and a cool rinse to the neighborhood birds. The feature is placed to be viewed and heard in the house as the homeowner can relax in a cozy chair.

Patio view, April 2010.

A young Dark Star Ceanothus explodes with color late Winter through Spring.

In the rock planter Salvia spathacea blooms amoung native Verbena and Poppies.

Beginning of Spring 2010 brings the annual return of wildflowers.

The garden is cutback for the winter rains making way for annual wildflowers to sprout.

Salvia apiana against the dried flowers of Eriogonum fasciculatum

The winter buds of Verbena lilicina in a bed of fresh Poppies.

Look closely and you can see a small butterfly larva.

Eriogonum arborescens Santa Cruz Island Buckwheat flowers along the border of a southeast facing wall.

The creamy pink flowers of Eriogonum fasciculatum foliolosum offer late summer nectar to butterflies as Nassella pulchra Purple Needle Grass goes dormant.

Muhlenbergia rigens blooms in a circle of non-native Mulhenbergia capillaris Pink Muhly.

By Fall 09', Carex pansa Dune Sedge has really filled in around the base of a raised rock bed as a drought tolerant alternative to lawn.

Calamagrostis foliosa Leafy Reed Grass

Late August 09', Lilac Verbena, Buckwheat, and Matillija Poppy bloom with the hot reds of 'Silver Select' Fucshia and Fairy Duster.

The flower of Calliandra californica.

An island of Andropogon saccharoides Silver Beard Grass

All sorts of bees bumble in the native garden.

Mid summer 09' Zauschneria 'Silver Select' rises with the heat.

A mix of native wildflowers.

Clarkia unguiculata takes the show as the poppies begin to fade. Several types of native grasses including Carex pansa slowly spread.

Salvia 'Bee's Bliss'.

A new path of Gold fines gives passage where once was a lawn.

Poppies are the first seeds to sprout in the raised rock bed.

Spring 09'

Fall 08', the first bloom of a young Romneya coulteri Matillija Poppy.

Here, the backyard is ready for planting. The old lawn was sheet mulched over once the irrigation and rockwork were complete and the concrete sidewalk was reformed and set as a natural looking permeable "Urbanite" path and planted with non-native Dymondia margaretae to soften the edges.

The backyard before.

A Ceanothus lights up the driveway in the front.

This Connecticut Bluestone path is a gradually stepped entrance to the front door. The path is anchored with rock and native plantings including Yarrow and Monkey flower, with Blue and Yellow-eyed grass and non-native Wooly Blue Thyme.

Small Garden : San Jose, Ca.

2009-08-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

A backyard in east San Jose. Natives share the site with a few exotics including Bamboo and Chamomile. No before pics but a huge transformation, a car tire was even excavated from the dead lawn during the demolition! This is one my very first projects.

Pictured here at eight months after installation, the non native Chamomile ground cover had spread rapidly and is shown here freshly cut back. The Rhamnus californica Coffeeberry started as a one gallon is taking a beautiful form at the corner of the new patio.

Muhlenbergia rigens Deer Grass

A surprise several months after planting when the Lepechinia blooms and turns out to be of Mexican origin and really thriving. Love it.

Native Cornerstrip : Mountain View, Ca.

2009-08-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

A young Salvia apiana White Sage grows between Lepechinia fragrans and Salvia clevelandii.

Solidago Goldenrod coming into bloom

Clarkia amoena "Godetia"

The Mountain View corner strip pictured here at seven months mid August 09' and untouched since planting.

Heterotheca villosa Golden Aster spreads it's roots beneath a "Pozo BLue" Cleveland Sage.

Erigeron glaucus Seaside Daisy at the foot of a young Manzanita.

At the corner of the driveway among accents of rock grow mixed plantings of native aster, grass, sage, and Manzanita pictured here at the time of installation.

Iris douglasiana "Canyon Snow" in bloom.

The new border is seeded with wildflowers and plantings that include Yarrow and Iris douglasiana "Canyon Snow".

The path is set in sand and Connecticut blue flagstone. One step was added for for the slight grade.

After a little grading and setting some rock, this corner strip in Mountain View is waiting for native plantings and a small stone path.

Native Rain Garden : Sunnyvale, Ca.

2009-08-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

A private rock patio space allows the family to enjoy the neighborhood while in the garden.

Salvia apiana, Artemesia californica, Salvia Bee's Bliss, Mimulus auranticus Fragaria chiloensis

The creamy flowers of a young Elderberry Sambucus mexicana.

Sambucus and Myrica growing into a privacy hedge.

Spring brings an explosion of colors as Poppies frame a mix of sages.

Sambucus mexicana will grow to offer privacy for the new boulder bench and stone patio.

Myrica makes a great screen for privacy.

Myrica californica with Salvia Clevelandii, Calamagrostis foliosa and Pumpkin.

This Pumpkin volunteered from the corner of the new patio and grew to soften the hardscape while the new garden fills in. Thanks, nature!

Asclepias fascicularis Narrowleaf Milkweed is among the new plantings to invite Monarch butterflies.

With all the hardscape elements, irrigation, paths and sheet mulching finished this little garden is ready for native plantings.

A thick top layer of bark mulch completes the sheet mulching process.

Organic compost makes the second layer of the sheet-mulch lasagna.

Sheet mulching will act as a weed barrier and a soil builder once the compost and bark mulch are added.

Here is the beginning of the sheet-mulching process. The cardboard has been layered to catch water on the contours of the new landscape. Also, irrigation and a path of gold fines was completed before the sheet mulching began.

Low retaining walls elevate areas for drainage as part of the rock work. The grade is done by hand, taking care where possible to not disturb the remaining soil biology. As basins were dug to collect water from surrounding hardscape, the excavated soil is added and compacted into the low raised berms.

This boulder doubles as a natural bench for the family to feel more connection to the garden.

Once boulders were set, this blue stone patio was built to extend the front porch away from the house and offer an outdoor room to enjoy life in the new garden.

Small boulders and dry-stack work adds spacial interest along with small earthworks such as low berms and basins, a foundation for a rain garden is built.

A Sunnyvale residence overgrown with weeds and non-native grasses. The clients project goals were to transform this into a drought tolerant native garden.

Stone and Urbanite Native Garden : Portola Valley, Ca.

2009-07-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

Ribes, Douglas Iris, Canyon Prince Wild Rye, Snapdragon, and Penstemon

A rock patio compliments the Native plantings.

Fragrant Ribes sanguineum and Ribes aureum with Iris douglasiana.

Elymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince' offers stunning blue with Galvezia speciosa in the background.

Dymondia margaretae Silver Carpet grows to soften the edges of the Urbanite.

Cercis occidentalis Western Redbud grows in the shade of the fence.

The finished patio and new plantings. Summer 09'.

The homeowners found the best spot to relax with a new bench.

Verbena lilacina

In the shade grows Salvia spathacea, Acer cicinatum, and a mix of native ferns and bunch grass.

New blue fines and recycled gravel offer path around the fescue meadow.

Ribes speciosum, Manzanita, and Cercis.

This is the hillside after sheet mulching. Also pictured is the new path fines and recycled gravel connecting to the patio.

Wheeler Farms organic compost and a fine bark were used for the hillside sheet mulching process.

The hillside with cardboard and erosion mat. After sheet mulching, the hillside was seeded with native grasses for erosion control.

The "urbanite" transition to the front walkway before planting.

Once the patio is finished the other slab connecting to the gate entrance was worked into natural forms as a transition to the new raised patio.

Flagstone patio set and waiting for grout.

The stone was hand cut, placed, and numbered before masoning.

Screeding concrete into the reused brick web.

The masoned ledger coarse before backfill.

Just before pouring to level. The ledger has been set and is also ready for backfilling. Because the old slabs I built on were not proper level, a string line and level was used for setting all the brick and ledger... one by one.

Once both slabs and bricks are scrubbed clean, they are masoned into the web that was backfilled with concrete before the new stone was set. You can see here, the rocks and stone ledger being added as well as the first step to the house has been removed for the new level.

The before picture of the Portolla Valley residence. Showing the concrete slabs that were broken into the new form and used as urbanite for the patio and path project. Left alone, the slabs offer a foundation to build a new patio without having to remove them and pour a new slab. The goal was to use as little new concrete as possible. The surrounding brick path was pulled up and scrubbed to be used as a spacer between the slabs and the new stone patio.