location:
Minnetonka, Minnesota
 
project characteristics:
Our clients couldn’t decide on a “look” for their front yard and turnaround driveway area.  We helped them by preparing a design concept for the front of their warm, New England style home.  We developed a “skirt” of farm-style cottage gardens around the foundation of the house, which we continued right over to the facade of their attached garage -- their architect had the skill and foresight to turn the garage doors to the side, making for a much more appealing front elevation of this traditional home.  The cottage gardens seem very much in synch with the architecture.

 

Next, we created a centerpiece for the owners in their turnaround driveway.  Here, we designed a raised cut-stone garden planter wall, then filled it with tough plantings -- including some of the same cottage garden plantings -- for a unified appearance.  Cascading out of the upper level of the planter, we designed a simple waterfall, spilling into a perfect-circle pool, rimmed with a stone coping.  The subtle splashing of the cascade and pool can be heard in the house, through open windows and it greets arriving guests, even before they make their way to the front door.