This home in Southlands had a fairly large back and front yard. The owner rents the home out and wanted to make some major changes to the outdoor space in order to make it more attractive to renters and increase the practical uses of the outdoor spaces
Over the years, the front border has been pruned too roughly. The client decided to remove everything and start again. We replaced the tired shrubs with new ones, we raised the soil level considerably to give the plants more chance to thrive. The area was then treated with a 4 inch layer of composted bark to suppress weed growth.
Before
The client wanted to continue dispensing of existing plants in the corner border and decided on a planting scheme of Japanese Maple underplanted with pink, evergreen Azaleas and evergreen Pachysandra terminalis. As before, the soil levels needed to be addressed before the composted bark mulch could be added.
In the backyard, there is a raised sloping border. This area was chosen to have a stone wall border installed. The existing, rotten 'organ pipe' timber wall was removed to make way for the stone retaining wall. The locally sourced stone was layered on a compacted base, back filled with road base and gravel, then pounded with mortar for extra stability. Two cubic yards of sub soil was removed from the border and 3 yards added before planting could begin. The client chose low growing plants with warm colours for this space. We used a dwarf silver-leafed potentilla with yellow flowers planted in a v-shape. This was flanked by an orange flowered crocosmia. On either side of the crocosmia, we planted dwarf azaleas in red and yellow-flowered perennial Rudebekia to the left and the yellow-flowered perennial Achillia to the right. Again, 4 inches of composted bark mulch was added.
Staying in the backyard, next to the raised beds, the client proposed the addition of a new border. However, due to the location of the basement window the planting had be low growing. The client chose dwarf azaleas and pachysandra to replace the large gravel chippings. Soil levels were again raised and a generous amount of bark mulch was added.
Next, we worked on the fenced border. This narrow, neglected border was widened to accentuate the new shape of the back lawn. The widened border was gutted and a considerable amount of top-soil was added to take the place of the stony sub-soil. We planted Mahonia varieties, we chose these for their architectural shape and winter berries which the client liked. We underplanted with lavender as it was thought that the scent would make an inviting entrance to the basement suite. We continued the planting on the fenced border with choisyas, an evergreen plant with white flowers.
The far section of the fenced border proved extremely difficult to plant due to the large number and size of cedar roots. Once the area was weeded, we planted a group of five Hydrangeas behind a row of Ceanothus. The whole border was finished with composted bark mulch.
The client also wanted to create a new border under the hedgerow. A curvy border was cut out of the lawn. Top soil was added prior to planting 2 rows of Festucas following the curves of the new lawn shape.
In the backyard, a small paved patio had been badly affected by the large root systems of nearby conifers. We decided to lift the existing pavers, clean them and set them aside to re-lay. Before re-creating the terrace, the level of the terrace had to be raised. This was done by recycling left over or used stone from the stone retaining wall. The recycled stone was laid on mortar for stability and then road base and sand was compacted over top to create a firm area over which the pavers were laid. We then used silica sand, which was brushed into the gaps between the pavers to ensure stability.
