Flagstone Palace

By Paul Nordmark

For anchoring, as well as to add color, Exterior Imaginations Landscaping planted a host of landscaping material, including: Trailing Geranium, red salmon Sea lavender, society garlic, lily of the Nile, and iceberg rose. The contractor added bagged planters mix to amend the soil, and a drip-irrigation system was installed down the entire slope, snaking in and out of each terrace and to each plant. Photos courtesy of Exterior Imaginations Landscaping

When Exterior Imaginations Landscaping first saw this steep hillside, which measured 70 feet down and 100 feet across, they saw a haphazard, cobbled together mess. The ruins of the hill's past landscape attempts were dangerous and dilapidated. Old wooden walls with iron metal posts, a dangerous stairway, a hillside wasteland of weeds and stumps from a fruit tree orchard. Also present was old concrete slabs, bricks, concrete edgers and footings from past stairways and decks. In the company's words: ''An eyesore.''

Nothing went to waste in the rehabilitation of this hillside. Hundreds of pounds of gravel and broken chips of old concrete were recycled from the hill's previous footings, slabs and edgers, and were used in the construction of the new design. The contractor retained parts of the original structure, and then installed 12 inches of wall in front of it; this created double reinforcement in certain parts of the hillside, leaving the hill with a inner structure that was still good and a outer new artistic structure all tied together. 500 large tubes of concrete adhesive hold everything together. The X-factor technique was used to space the walls out properly; most of the walls rise to just under 2-feet high, with some at three feet tall and a few at a little more than four feet tall.

First Steps

Exterior Imaginations Landscaping began by remove the old structure and the existing wooden stairway - eight feet at a time. The only power tool used was a saws-all. After removing the old structures, the next challenge was how to get material down the steep slope.

The entire project was finished in 60 days using only two workers. The hill was ''terraced'' from the bottom up, and includes more than 8,500 retaining stones made by Angeles Block. The contractor purchased all the stones from Home Depot; the stones were cemented in place with polyurethane adhesive.

Next, the contractor formed the patio landings with the pickaxe and shovel to lower 100, 200 and 300-pound, two and 3-inch thick red and white flagstone down the hillside. For this transportation challenge, 2-inch thick plywood with metal fence posts were used as a net to catch the material.

The project was built from the bottom up, and as the terracing progressed up the hill, the old stairway began to disappear and the plywood walls were used in different locations to catch the stones rolled and tossed down the slope.

The steep slope measured 70 feet down and 100 feet across, and was a dilapidated mess. Wooden walls, metal posts, a rickety stairway, and tree stumps littered the hill. Before the contractor could begin, all the old material had to be removed by hand.

Every retaining stone and every flagstone had to be handled 3 to 4 times and splits numerous splits with the blacksmith hammer had to be made to put everything together. 9,000 stones were cemented together using a pancake bond with PL construction adhesive making the structure all one unit, squeezing the glue gun about 15,000 times.

No soil in, no soil out except some bagged rich soil for the annual beds brought in. The hillside was reformed using only a pick and shovel and two workers.

The purple plant shown is sea lavender. The custom stainless steal fire pit was placed at the base of the hill. Flagstone ranging from 50 to 300 pounds was used to cap the steps and landings, as well as the seating areas around the fire pit. The project also features no less than 360 pieces of red and white flagstone, which the contractor installed by hand to cap the steps, walkways and patio landings. Filter fabric was installed to support the backfill.

The contractor alternated the flagstone colors for safety, so walkers would see where the next step is in the 109 steps in the four stairways and patio terraced landings. The company spread 650 bags of wood chips on the hill around the 250 shrubs, numerous annuals and perennials to create an alternating counter balance plant design.

The contractor planted a wide variety of plants, including: Daisy shrubs, golden privet, arborvite to top the pyrimids, little princess, breath of heaven, heavenly bamboo, new zealand tea tree, red tip,cordaline, iceberg rose, sea lavender, society garlic, boxwood, moch orange, tiger lilly, lilly of the nile, nandina, lavender, trailing geranium, boganvilla, lilac vine,red apple, myoporum, clover, English ivy, sweet William, marigolds and lobelia.

Swimming pool-sized drainage tubes route rainwater throughout the entire structure, as well as down each fence line to a concrete culvert at the project's base. Every retaining stone was trenched in, and includes a pancake cement adhesive bond. This design allows water to seep slowly through the walls, allowing the terraces to catch and slow down run-off. This entire hill was reworked using only pick axes and shovels. The project features four stairways total, the main one features 60 flagstone steps in alternating colors. The stairway on the left is 27 steps.

Additional Elements

In addition to the walkways and seating areas, a custom column fountain was installed at the base of the hill, along with a custom fire pit, stainless steel custom lighting fixture, as well as a deck with a stainless steel railing that overhangs the top of the terrace featuring an overhead view of the Flagstone Palace.

More than 100 lights illuminate the hill and its stairways, patio landings and planting terraces.