Landscape Architect Articles

Starting from Scratch06-04-15 | News

Starting from Scratch

An untouched backyard in the northern San Diego County town of San Marcos was given an impressive transformation by Backyard Vacations, including a pool with grotto, waterfall, slide and spa, a fireplace, outdoor kitchen and several shade structures. The coping around the pool is Cameron natural stone. An Iso Kern fireplace kit was veneered with Autumn Flame ledger stone, capped with Cameron stone and had its chimney finished with smooth stucco, all of which was used in the seating/retaining wall on either side of the fireplace. A second retaining wall of Allan Block from Orco was installed above it. Two "eyebrow" trellises help to shade the area.

The slide is lined with 1" tiles from National Pool Tile Group. In the planter on the left is a "Marina' strawberry tree and a Mediterranean fan palm. Pygmy palms are planted along the pool's edge. The concrete deck has a top-cast #3 finish and was tinted with mesa buff coloring. Cameron stone was used as a bordering accent.

The pool's finish is QuartzScapes. The lights inside the pool are Globrite LED lights from Pentair. Kichler LED mushrooms and spots illuminate the landscape. The homeowner provided the string lights.

A patio cover made of Alumawood shelters the outdoor kitchen with its bar and cooking island made of poured-in-place concrete. Their tops were hard troweled, sealed and tinted with a double measure of mesa buff coloring. Cameron flagstone was used to veneer the base of the bar. The island features a pizza oven, and a barbecue, both supplied by the homeowner, two Blaze refrigerators and a roll-out trash bin, a Uline ice maker, a garnish center, a food prep center and a drop-in deep sink with faucet. The icicle lights were provided by the homeowner.

There is a side entrance to the grotto, which is a combination of real boulders and faux boulders from KRC Rock. Pentair Whisperflo pumps circulate the water for waterfall as well as the slide. Along the waterline are 6"x6" quartz tiles.

At a new housing development in the San Elijo Hills of San Marcos, Calif., which lies 35 miles north of San Diego, Backyard Vacations of nearby Carlsbad got an opportunity to create a first-rate custom residential installation out of a blank landscape.

The homeowners, East Coast transplants, requested a fun and inviting backyard for the enjoyment their three children, ages 14, 11 and seven, and for entertaining both the kids' and their own newfound friends.

At the same time, they wanted their outdoor environment to be aesthetically appealing and to be something their kids could grow up with and enjoy for years to come. The award-winning pool and landscape contractor was an ideal choice to deliver on these desires.

After designing the space, which included a pool with a slide and spa, and an outdoor kitchen, fireplace, grotto, plantings and shade structures, Backyard Vacations dug right in. One of the first tasks was scraping the barren yard with the tooth bucket of a rented Cat skid steer to remove a glut of cobble. Another tool that got a good workout was the company's jackhammer as the ground was rocky, hard and dense.

The 7.5'-deep pool was one of the first features tackled. A rented excavator was used to dig it out. It is lined with quartz tiles and surrounded with Cameron stone coping. The trough of the faux rock slide was covered with 1" tiles from National Pool Tiles. A mixture of custom-made boulders from KRC Rocks and real boulders make up the grotto itself.

Next to it is the fireplace, which is an Iso Kern kit whose chimney was given a smooth stucco finish to match the poured-in-place concrete backrest of the seating wall that extends out on either side. Both are veneered with Autumn Flame ledger stone and capped with Cameron stone.

The seating wall was actually a retaining wall that was necessary because of the slope in the rear of the yard. Above the wall the landscape team built two "eyebrow" trellises out of resawn lumber. A second retaining wall of Orco's Allan Block was installed higher up.

The outdoor kitchen has a bar and a cooking island made from poured-in-place concrete. The tops of both were hard troweled, sealed and tinted with mesa buff coloring. Alumawood was used to build the shade structure overhead. The island includes two refrigerators and a roll-out trash bin from Blaze, an ice maker from Uline, a pizza oven, barbecue, garnish center, food prep center and drop-in deep sink with faucet.

An estimated 24 yards of dirt had to be trucked in to serve as a base for the concrete decking, which had a top-cast #3 finish and was tinted with the same coloring as the countertops, but with only half the amount. Cameron stone was used to accent the edges of the deck.

Ten more yards of dirt were trucked in for the landscape plantings, which included pygmy date palms, Mediterranean fan palms, "Green Showers' mayten trees, dwarf citrus trees, a "Marina' strawberry tree, a Crape myrtle tree, yellow African irises, star jasmines and pink jasmines. Underground irrigation was installed, as were outdoor lights from Kichler.

From barren to abundant took four months with 15 workers involved at one stage or another. And equally impressive as the results is that besides hauling in the necessary dirt, which was done by Armas Trucking, all the other details were handled by Backyard Vacations.