Creating A Dream Portland Front Yard with Drought Tolerant Plants
Bold Front Garden with Exciting Plants
Jazz up the Entry of this Modern Style Home
Ashley and family had just taken down two huge trees in the front yard. As they stared at the piles of mulch from grinding the stumps, they thought “now what”? They didn’t like their front walk, in fact they didn’t like hardly anything in the front yard except the front porch and a Japanese maple. Ashley had ideas and favorite plants, but needed some direction and a design. They hired Landscape Design in a Day to make their dream front yard a reality.
BEFORE: two large trees had just been removed
BEFORE: Two trees wreck havoc on city sidewalk and must be removed.
The Japanese Maple was the only plant to keep in the front yard. It was poorly shaped and looking sad due to the big trees that had been crowding it, but we knew it could be an asset. (Update) The clients have restored the tree with professional pruning and appropriate watering and 2 years later it is now the focal point of the entry.
Modern Style Hardscape Landscaping – Widen the Entry
The first objective is to create a better looking entry to the home. We worked with the existing porch but changed the entry area dramatically. Next we took a look at how to create more room for the family to get out of the car in the driveway. Getting a car seat out of a skinny Portland driveway is no treat, and creating a generous entry to the front door feels wonderful to use. Dry-set Architectural slab with no gap creates an open level entry with fabulous curb appeal. Brian of Mortar and Petal installed the design expertly. We were able to achieve this transformation without replacing the existing driveway which would have been prohibitively expensive for a family who had just paid to remove 2 huge trees and replace their city sidewalk.
DURING: Hardscape includes architectural slab, basalt boulders and steel raised beds
Raised Beds for Drought Tolerant Special Plants
Ashley wanted some special needs plants like Agave, which require extremely good drainage in order to survive our wet winters. Sometimes this can be accomplished by creating a berm, or tucking the desert plants under a deep eve. A third strategy, and the one that we employed here, is to create raised beds with a special soil/rock mix for drainage. The steel beds add to the modern landscape style and will look even more beautiful over time as the patina of the steel changes. The warm rust reds echo the orangish tone of the cedar deck and front door.
AFTER: With the right design elements and enough evergreen, a front garden can look great even in winter, seen here on a sunny late-winter day.
Winter Wet, Summer Dry Plants
It surprises some people that you can use some classic rain garden plants, such as Juncus grass, in normal conditions. This Juncus creates a perfect vertical element that goes well with the dwarf mugo Pine in the background. It’s a low water tolerant plant and a classic rain garden plant.
March Garden: Juncus grass, basalt boulder, Mugo Pine, architectural slab
Other plants in this garden include:
Yucca filamentosa ‘Bright Edge’
Ice plant, Delosperma
Heathers, Calluna and Erica
Several Agave’s, picked out by Ashley and doing great in the raised beds
Blue Fescue, Festuca idahoensis ‘Siskiyou Blue’
California Fuchsia, Epilobium ‘Bowman’ (a fabulous hummingbird plant)
Several sedums, including Sedum ‘Fulda Glow’
August Garden: California Fuchsia (Epilobium ‘Bowman’) Blue Fescue (Festuca idahoensis ‘Siskiyou Blue’), and Sedum ‘Fulda Glow’ below the boulders
Drought Tolerant Landscape Design
Creating a drought tolerant garden can be achieved in many different styles – Mid-Century Modern, Curvy, Native. There is a bit more soil prep and hand watering to set it all up, but the long term garden is very low-maintenance and saves money on your water bill!
Ready for a drought-tolerant garden makeover? Contact us today!
The Front Door Entry Was Disappointing
Laurie wanted a fully drought tolerant garden on the south side that could defend itself against neighborhood foot traffic and dogs. Since this was the south side it was a perfect place to explore the more Arid and New Mexico style plantings. It was well over 100’ long and narrow.
Designer contractor collaboration (
“I want to thank you again for your incredible design sense and plant recommendations. We are so happy with our south and front yard – we walk around it every evening, we sit on the new front porch and find so much solace and peace in it. Our neighbors also love it and frequently comment. The world needs more beauty and joy right now!! And how about my beautiful prickly pear (Nopales). It’s grown exponentially from two pads to many!!!”
They wanted a place to BBQ and sit outside in cool shade. Their small porch radiated heat and baked in the summer. They wanted shade and plantings that would bring birds and life into the landscape, plants for low water and oh did I mention SHADE? They wanted to use their south side yard for something but it had no easy access to the kitchen and had an extensive french drain to work around. They wanted absolutely no lawn and any new plantings to be low maintenance.
The Side Yard Comes to Life
Mossy rock for the raised planting bed -It has a rustic feel to it that I like and it will moss up nicely. It also has the advantage of being lighter than basalt so easier for the contractors to bring in and use.
