When Tina and her husband, two busy professionals, wanted to transform the previous homeowner’s very formal backyard into something more relaxed and enjoyable, her husband stepped in with a shovel. “My husband is very hands-on about everything he does,” explains Tina, “so when he was envisioning a pergola being placed where the previous owners had planted large rose bushes, he simply dug them all up and replanted them elsewhere in the garden.”
The next step was to hire professionals to realize their vision. Blessing Landscapes’ team was their choice. “Because they are efficient, easy to work with and have a designer whose work we trusted,” says Tina.
Blessing Landscapes designer Richell Chiu-Yap, together with Sales Associate Sarah Lowles soon discovered that the couple held very different design perspectives, with the husband preferring a more modern, linear clean look and Tina, who brought a lot of design experience to the project, desiring something with more personality.
“I’m an artist at heart,” says Tina, “as an eye doctor who works with award-winning designers of beautiful glasses, I’m accustomed to working with everything curved in my clinic, which, in turn, is echoed in my artwork.”
When the designer had the opportunity to sit with Tina at her kitchen table, smelling the sourdough bread she had just baked and seeing her paintings displayed on the walls, she understood as a fellow artist from where her ideas had sprung. Using that information, she turned those ideas into a design that honored Tina’s desire for numerous places of interest, free-standing planters, birdbaths, cozy seating spots and even a meditation bench.
Additionally, Chiu-Yap’s initial quick sketch that followed also illustrated how the husband’s desire for an angular pergola to provide shelter and shade could blend perfectly with Tina’s desire for undulating pathways that the designer suggested should be artfully done in Panorama Flag pavers.
Chiu-Yap nixed the idea of using simple concrete, feeling it would lack movement that the pavers provided, which additionally have the look of real flagstones but with a better price point. “They were also faster and easier to install with the soft curves Tina was seeking,” she says.
While they continued to work on the design, the husband discovered the perfect pergola as the crowning element of the seating area with input from Blessing Landscapes’ team as needed.
The designer, in turn, worked with Tina to choose plants she loved that would also complement the space. Whenever Blessing Landscapes suggests plants, they emphasize the importance of finding ones that work in harmony together visually. In this garden, it was planting Snowball Viburnum and Hibiscus Purple Pillar together with those that do not flower such as Nandina “Obsession” Heavenly Bamboo that are more suitable for winter months or that serve as a backdrop to make another plant pop.
The Blessing Landscapes installation team, led by project manager Richard Peterson, undertook the additional grading of the patio slope necessary to install the louvered luxury pergola the husband selected.
“The freestanding pergola turned out to be the perfect fit,” says Chiu-Yap, “because it gives the family flexibility to open or close the louvers depending on the sun’s angle, making the space comfortable year-round.”
The final touch and one of the most important elements of the landscape design, adds Tina, is the lighting. “It’s so beautiful and adds so much to the space at night. We couldn’t be happier.”
PROJECT SOURCES
LANDSCAPE DESIGN & CONTRACTOR
Blessing Landscapes
blessingland.com
