Walls

When I first visited this home there were two long railroad tie walls that took up twice as much space as the wall in this picture. In between the two walls were some seriously failing plants; no doubt toxic from all the chemicals in the creosote soaked wood.

The urban landscape always poses challenges from small sites, to pollution, to critters using the space in ways we'd rather they didn't. 

This new garage built in Medfield, Mass. had a very steep transition from the garage doors to an upper story woodshop in the building. The earth slopes were too abrupt and were a perfect erosion problem just waiting to happen.

This Lexington, Mass. propery has about a 20 grade variation from the street to the garage doors. It is all hill. When we were called in, there were little knee walls all through the landscape. We consolidated two shorter walls in this small space and engineered a longer more substantial wall to open up the landscape. We widened the driveway and created a functional lawn space (the only flat surface other than the deck and play set area on the whole property).

Living on sloped land means needing to be creative about garden design. This retaining wall in Millis, Mass takes advantage of a two and half foot grade change from the driveway to the front yard by adding a stone retaining wall with granite steps going right through it. The planters filled with spring annuals along with trees, shrubs and perennials makes this transitional area a beautiful focal point in the landscape.

Gardening in layers makes the landscape interesting to view and to interact with. This modest cape style home in Franklin, Mass sits above the main lawn area and is fenced in with a traditional picket fence.
The New England style fieldstone wall with rock face granite steps set through the center make the transition through the terrace inviting. The wall just feels timeless in this landscape setting.