October Project of the Month

The clients had taken landscaping seminars from Adams over the years, and decided to dig into a project with her when a nephew asked them to host his outdoor wedding in August. Because the 1950s house features long, low lines and a bit of an Asian motif around the front entry, Adams suggested a compatible Japanese influence for the front yard, using low-water native plants on berms with a dry creek, boulders, and grasses for focal points.

The clients were already keen on reducing the amount of lawn, as seen in this "before" picture of their back yard, but Adams got them interested in having a no-mow fescue blend sod that would take less water, chemicals, and labor than a traditional lawn.

Adams encouraged the clients to keep the large old concrete birdbath fountain seen in the photo above – a birdbath so large that big hawks come to bathe in it – but move it closer to the patio, where it could be better enjoyed. In the new location, it overhangs the dry creek dramatically, yet is in scale with the apple tree that shades it.

Petrified wood boulders and unusual white quartz boulders with lichens give a unique personality to the landscape. The clients extended the flagstone front walk across the front of the garage to integrate the front walk with the driveway visually, make the driveway feel less massive, and make the front walk feel more spacious.

Adams admits the landscaping took about seven months to put in and wasn’t finished by August, but contractor Jeff Sheehan, president of Confidence Landscaping in Campbell, CA, came to a good temporary stopping point just before the wedding. "Guests who came a few days early liked to watch the work," she says. "I know we had an attentive peanut gallery observing from the living room the day we placed the boulders."

Once the project was complete, Adams' clients were thrilled — and Confidence Landscaping garnered a Xeriscape award from the California Landscape Contractors Association for their work.

"The most valuable lesson I learned was that truly sharing design responsibility with an interested client and contractor has the benefit of increasing their investment," Adams concludes. "In this case, it led to a beautifully installed garden that is deeply appreciated and lovingly maintained."