Design Notebook: Nov. 2000

When new Cedar Creek homeowners made a substantial investment in their Ambassador Home in an upscale, Olathe, Kan., subdivision, they wanted the exterior of the property to match the splendor of their Mediterranean-style home. They already had solicited landscape plans from two companies, but neither company was able to deliver a workable landscape plan involving lighting, irrigation and design.

"They came back with plans that were disappointingly bland, featuring evergreens in buckets planted in mulch," the Olathe, Kan.-based homeowners said. "These weren’t cheap proposals but they weren’t what we wanted."

The couple was forced to take their quest back to the drawing board, and they contacted Johnson County, Kan.-based Hermes Landscaping.

DESIGN CHALLENGES. Tom Hall, residential landscaping designer at Hermes, recognized the project would pose some significant challenges. Creativity would be needed to develop a front-yard plan that would complement the home’s facade. Another challenge was the backyard, which fell away from the home at a 45-degree angle.

Armed with those general guidelines, as well as some specific ideas about the types of plants that the homeowners wanted, Hall developed a comprehensive landscaping plan for the ½-acre property that also addressed additional challenges like hiding power boxes in front of the house and working with a $20,000 retaining wall mistake made by the builder.

DESIGN SOLUTIONS. From the beginning, Hall established a positive working relationship with the homeowners. "I never told them ‘No,’" he said. "I just explained all my decisions and concepts to them in full and if something they wanted wouldn’t work, I would tell them my honest opinion and come up with an alternate suggestion."

This time spent with the clients proved invaluable throughout the project because the homeowners wouldn’t let builders or subcontractors install anything without calling Hall first to make sure the addition worked with his design.

Hall’s plan dealt with the front yard by converting much of it into a courtyard, which he softened and blended with several varieties of plants and shrubs.

An elegant fountain, that was wholly Hall’s creation, became the center of the courtyard. "A Mediterranean look like the one I was trying to create typically has a water element, and this piece was missing from the design," Hall said. "So, I suggested the idea, described the look to the homeowners and then helped them pick out a fountain to fulfill this design."

The plant material for the design was chosen to provide color all four seasons. Hall placed aspens and maples on each side of the home’s entryway to give a burst of yellow and red in the fall. Sages and perennials that bloom throughout the season were placed in the design for an arid feel that complements the home’s Mediterranean design. Evergreens, such as pine and spruce, were also added into the design so green was visible and the landscape wasn’t entirely dead in the winter.

Power boxes that would have cost $15,000 to move because of the fiber optic cables were hidden with native boulders and plants.

Hall emphasized flow throughout the design by removing the driveway so that the extra half lot of property the owners bought alongside their home didn’t look like a separate piece of property.

Elements like the driveway and the fountain weren’t established as stand-alone pieces, however. "I didn’t make the house and fountain obvious," Hall said. "I tried to create the feeling of seclusion and at the same time make sure the landscape flowed."

The original plan for the backyard called for a retaining wall built on the edge of the property with a huge deck extending from the house onto a solid foundation to satisfy the fact that the homeowner suffered from vertigo and the back of the home overlooked a large valley and a golf course.

Unfortunately, builders installed this wall too close to the home, making the creation of a deck impossible.

Hall devised a solution to this problem and created a stone patio with two steps down to an open area that overlooked the valley and golf course and was protected with a rod iron railing.

Another area of the backyard that Hall got creative with was a native space with some stone steps that he turned into a forgotten patio. The forgotten patio, defined by a natural boulder wall, is accessed by a meandering path of natural limestone steps and stepping-stones. Interspersed and blended among the existing trees were 8-foot blue spruces that added to the patio’s solitude. Numerous stone stairs curve around the wall and onto a limestone stepping stone terrace that descends into the patio, which was accented with benches and birdbaths.

"I tried to create a look that showed a path going somewhere, but no one is quite sure where," Hall explained. "The patio isn’t visible until you arrive there and a bird bath and aged or fallen pillars and urns are there to provide that forgotten look. The homeowners wanted a place they could come home to and enjoy. This forgotten path illusion, where ivy, Hosta and ferns will grow over the steps slightly and make the area look truly forgotten, created this environment."

Lighting the property was the final touch and made for a complete job. "They wanted to highlight focal points, but they didn’t want the place to look like a neon beacon," Hall said. "So, we put bullets of light here and there, such as in the cobble creekbed so the water is illuminated and ripples with light. I wouldn’t add more light until the clients requested it, which they eventually did, because I knew they were concerned about having too much."