This was a short, 2 day, installation to rejuvenate the front yard of a bungalow in an older, up-and-coming section of Charlotte. Major issues to be addressed were the very flat yard, very straight lines of the driveway and sidewalk which interrupted any kind of flow, and drainage issues. To address these issues, we raised certain areas with small berms and boulders to add visual interest and to channel water, and used mass plantings of ferns, ajuga and hostas in a cross-over serpentine pattern to de-emphasize the current lines of the hardscape and to widen the area visually.

The wife is from Indonesia and provided the Asian lantern. I felt it was important to incorporate part of her heritage into the design while keeping with the general feel of the house and neighborhood. To do this, we installed a gravel pad that carried the lines of the serpentine paver sidewalk (from front steps to driveway) across the main sidewalk, installed her lantern and raised the back of the pad with boulders and a small berm to accommodate a Japanese maple, ajuga and club moss. I used a lot of chartreuse foliage to lighten the light to medium shaded area and to draw the eye to certain focal points in the garden.