Solace in their Surroundings

The homeowners planted arborvitae as a privacy screen, but the plants become gangly and visually weak. The yard sloped to the back corner, which limited what functionally could take place in the yard. Despite the lovely English-style home being in a historic subdivision, the owners found little solace in their surroundings.

The backyard of the Ruesch?EUR??,,????'???s house was like many yards we see, lacking a cohesive design concept to integrate the client?EUR??,,????'???s ever changing needs. With a newly renovated kitchen, they found themselves spending more time in the back of the house and looking out the kitchen window to the yard and the neighbors. They were not happy with how the yard functioned and became increasingly aware that they needed some professional assistance.

Variegated miscanthus, lamb?EUR??,,????'???s ears and limestone accents are luminous in the soft lighting. The garden?EUR??,,????'???s lushness and comfortable proportions are inviting.

The Rueschs had seen our work and gave us a call. Walking the site with them we could see why they wanted help. As we looked out into the backyard we could see the neighbor?EUR??,,????'???s garage and basketball hoop, utility poles, wires, an undersized patio, and some planting that needed help. They had planted arborvitae to screen their neighbor?EUR??,,????'???s yard, but the plants had become gangly and visually made a weak statement. Also the yard sloped to the back corner, which limited what could take place in the yard. Despite their lovely English-style home being in a historic subdivision, they found little solace in their surroundings. With the backyard shrinking, because of the overgrown weeds, trees and shrubs, the Rueschs were ready for a change.

The contractor included a raised planter wall for the client who also wanted privacy in a child-friendly yard, as the property is on a corner lot and the street to the east was higher than the grade of the yard.

The goals of the project were to expand and bring the patio closer to the back door; create a focal point out the kitchen window; screen the neighbor?EUR??,,????'???s garage, power pole and wires; and include a raised planter and masonry wall fountain. They also wanted to provide privacy in a child-friendly yard because they live on a corner lot, and the street to the east was higher than the grade of the yard. Other goals included enlarging the play area to keep adult supervision plausible without disturbing the design. They wanted us to design screening for some of the utilities on the house and their trash carts using plants that would not exceed the scale of the relatively small space (approximately 30 ft. x 90 ft.). They also wanted an area for a small herb and vegetable garden.

The main focus of the project was to expand the patio while screening the neighbor?EUR??,,????'???s garage, power pole and wires. See the results on page 50.

The project was challenging because the long narrow yard made equipment access and material storage cumbersome. The entire project had to be carefully sequenced. Small skid loaders and a mini-excavator were the only options for equipment. Because the yard sloped from east to west away from the road, our site analysis showed we needed a two or three foot retaining wall at the edge of the property to maximize the relatively small yard. This enabled us to extend the patio back away from the kitchen where it was impossible to sit before, because of the slope of the yard.

The site analysis showed we needed a two-three foot retaining wall at the edge of the property to maximize the relatively small yard. This enabled us to extend the patio back away from the kitchen where it was impossible to sit before because of the slope of the yard.

At the far end of the patio is the major focal point of the yard, the masonry fountain/planter. The Rueschs had seen a project of mine in one of the local magazines. It was a similar small space garden with a masonry wall and fountain. I did not want to replicate the exact fountain (we try to make every project unique), but this was a great application for a tall feature as a visual backdrop to the kitchen view line. In this particular subdivision we were not allowed to have a fence as a screening element, so we used the tall masonry fountain to block the major site line to the neighbor?EUR??,,????'???s garage and yard. The fountain is 8 ft. 6 in. high with lower wing walls. To provide privacy in other areas of the back yard we used evergreen plantings (Techny Arborvitae) and two wood trellises flanked by masonry piers to match the brick detailing in the fountain.

When we designed the paving areas, we paid careful attention to the grades and drainage as all external paving areas must be pitched to not hold water. In our climate here in Wisconsin, you cannot have puddling because it might lead to staining and/or icing conditions. The normal pitch on brick or stone paving is one inch for every five feet of paving. On this particular project we did not want the patio to slope from one end to the other across the line of site because that would make the patio and fountain look crooked. We did not want to slope the patio to the house or to the masonry wall, so we pitched the patio to the center, giving us the ability to keep all the outside edges of the patio level.

The project had to be carefully sequenced, as the long, narrow yard made equipment access and material storage cumbersome. A small New Holland Super Boom skid loader that can handle 600-700-pound operating loads, and a Kubota KX Series mini-excavator for trenching and dozering were used.

We had planned to have an underground drainage system for this project to collect the water from the downspouts and to exit west, the direction the surface water would normally flow. Grading the patio as we did, we designed several catch basins to collect the surface water. These catch basins were also sited on the long axis through the yard, and became a part of the overall design of the garden space. We wanted to have a traditional sunken lawn area, but we did not want problems with standing water. By installing one row of reclaimed street pavers as a curb, and one row flush with the lawn, we achieved our aesthetic detail, and the catch basin in the center of the lawn accommodated the drainage issues.

The yard?EUR??,,????'???s tight access demanded strict coordination between the implementation of lighting, footings, drainlite, masonry, carpentry, walls, and gravel backfill. Logistically, work had to start at the far end of the project and we had to back our way out. From there the landscape began to take shape with the trellises providing screening, a new cedar fence furnished screening for the air conditioner unit and the trash cart, while providing some badly needed storage area.

The private dining terrace, with a surface fashioned from flame-finished limestone, showcases the masonry fountain as the major focal point of the yard. It provides a visual backdrop to the kitchen view line.

Large evergreen plantings on the perimeter of the yard blended well with established neighborhood vegetation. Boxwood hedges, groundcover, perennials, and herbs are utilized throughout the back yard, giving the project a rich English garden look. Old world materials were incorporated into the design to match the architectural richness of the neighborhood, so we used a cast iron gate to give the project an old world appearance. Benches, trellises (and an urn) are placed throughout the space providing accents and focal points. The paving material was selected to create a hierarchy of spaces and dictate movement.

Since the project?EUR??,,????'???s completion, the Rueschs have spent numerous hours in the backyard, socializing, entertaining, watching their children play, gardening, and striking neighborly bonds from the pleasures of their newly designed and constructed backyard.

Michael Manke is a registered landscape architect with Lied?EUR??,,????'???s in Sussex, Wisconsin. Lied?EUR??,,????'???s is a landscape design and development, landscape maintenance, retail garden center and nursery. The company was founded in 1945 by Delmar Lied and has over 300 employees.