Tom and Heather Hartshorn were recommended to us by another client. Team Hartshorn, as I call them, live in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. During our first meeting, Heather told us that they have a house full of boys, and it would be nice to have "just a little" femininity for her. The exsiting garden was as they found it when they purchased the home, a few years ago. Usually we tend to always find ways to incorporate existing plantings into our designs, but in this case, none of the plants had any significant value and were not optimally placed to provide shade or visual interest. Our first task, was to design their new garden with California native plantings mixed with water wise plantings.... all with a purpose. For instance, we planted a grouping of Red Bud trees (Cercis occidentalis) to provide much needed shade in the summer, privacy, Fall color, AND that would be deciduous which would allow the sun to warm the house in the winter. The "Red Bud Tree" also has a heart-shaped leaf, which provides an interesting shadow pattern, but relates to the name of our client. We also removed the existing perimeter shrub because it was overgrown for its' location, in poor health and in addition was planted on the wrong side of the fence.

Other major design issues was that the front door seemed to be lost (not enough emphasis from the garden). The front door should always be the primary focal point in ANY front garden. The Hartshorns also had no rain protection while opening the front door.... on those few occasions when it rains in LA. Our solution was to design and have an awning made that would be an accent while referencing the classic use of awnings in Hollywood. We choose a black and white canvas material that is perfect with the application and garden. Another design issue is the massive engineered retaining wall recently constructed in the rear of the house, separating our clients home and the hill of their neighbor. Our bold design for this elephant, was to paint it our signature color "Black Iron". Black, when used purposefully is a magical color in the garden... it creates depth, and tends to just fade away.... we also used this "trick" on the garage which sits in the small front garden.

To address darling Heather's wish to have some relief from the masculine energy, we designed and built a trellis over their existing deck, and planted a vigorous fragrant and water wise Jasmine. We also strung "bumble bee" lights all over the new trellis for year round interest and to provide much needed ambient lighting for entertaining.

UPDATE: The Hartshorns invited us to a Sunday Supper last week.. and after a few months the garden has really taken hold and beginning to show our thoughtful design... they LOVE it! Below are photographs just after installation.