No longer an afterthought, well-designed landscaping is high on the wish list for many home purchasers.
"I have sold homes to clients whose decision to purchase the home has been based more on the garden than on the house itself," says real estate agent Patrick Skillings.
Smart builders are spending close to 10 per cent of the cost of construction on landscaping these days. That figure includes all the hardscaping -- walkways, retaining walls, patios or terraces -- and turf, trees, plants and irrigation systems.
Steve Copp Construction just completed a modern home in the Victoria suburb of Gordon Head, that sits on a 15,000-square-foot waterfront lot with a northeast exposure. The task of landscape designer Rob Bond was to design a deer-proof, low-maintenance, low water-consumption garden that fit the site and the architecture of the house all within a set budget. Bond recommends that the sooner a landscape designer is brought into a project, the better he or she will be able to accomplish all those tasks.
Site, according to Bond, should always dictate what will happen. Although this property is waterfront, it is not a cold site since the prevailing winds come across the land and not the ocean. The site was basically flat with a steep drop to the beach.
The house sits approximately on the first third of the rectangular lot presenting a large, unadorned plane toward the street. Bond has softened this area with 12-year-old Cedrus libani (Cedar of Lebanon), an ornamental maple, phormium and Carex testacea- an evergreen grass. Woolly thyme clumps complete the neutral colour scheme, which in turn pulls out the colours in the rock face details of the house.
The cedars were chosen for their architectural shapes. They will grow taller than wide, casting narrow shadows -- important on a small lot. Conifers are underused, Bond says. As a group, they are more expensive than most deciduous trees used in residential landscaping but they are low-maintenance and are almost drought-tolerant once established.
The are no flowers and the garden has "empty" spaces where ground, aged fir bark mulch shows. Bond believes many new gardens are over-planted and will need plants removed within three years. This garden -- only one month old -- has great bones that can easily accommodate another layer of colour or texture if the homeowner chooses or it can easily mature naturally without anything else being added or subtracted. New owners need at least a year to assess how they want to live in the outdoor space.
The main door to the house is on the side of the building rather than on the street side. An exposed aggregate path leads to the door and then a more organic path of slate pavers continues toward the backyard. Bond purposely made this change to slow people down as they walk toward the views of the ocean.
Once in the backyard, a full 180-degree ocean view dominates. The challenge for a landscaper is to create enough drama to balance the huge backdrop of the ocean and sky.
Using different levels in a space is always more interesting than one flat plane. The house has a large slate terrace which steps down to a grassed yard in massive slate steps. A large round patio made of stamped concrete has been pulled away from the house toward the ocean. This has been purposely placed to receive as much sun as possible. The terrace next to the house is a shady space.
Bond chose to use weeping Blue Atlas cedars as focal points in this space. He cautions that, because weeping trees command so much attention, they should be used in a controlled fashion -- repeat the same plant rather than introduce other varieties. Repetition of a plant, colour or form -- this time Mexican feather grass, planted around the cedars and encircling the round patio -- is one of Bond's signature details to unite different areas of the garden.
The fact that all the trees on the shoreline were topped to reveal a full unobstructed view of the ocean was not Bond's decision. Selectively eliminating trees to frame views would have been his preference, making for a more interesting and intimate space. He also feels that the inclusion of lawn is "old school" and would have done the entire area in slate.
Each person will see this garden differently, of course, and there are lots of spaces to add personal touches of grand containers, fountains or statuary.
--Canwest News Service
