Grape Soda Garden
About four years ago, we embarked on a home landscaping project. Our retaining wall, the one holding up our front yard (and you know...the HOUSE!), had been in disrepair when we purchased the property. Over the following five years, the deterioration slowly progressed.
My husband, Mark, hunted high and low for a contractor to rebuild the wall for a reasonable price, with materials that didn't make us shudder with disgust. The process was arduous and time consuming, yet yielded little. When we finally thought we found "the guy," he bailed on us. Back to the drawing board.
A psychic friend told Mark, "Your guy is out there, you just haven't found him yet. When you do, he'll be happy for the work, will do a great job, and will charge you less than the others." Interesting, right? So, Mark kept his eyes peeled for our magic contractor.
In the meantime, we had a landscape designer visit the property, to get a bigger picture of what could be created.
He told us, until we took down at least 10 trees, he couldn't even envision what would be possible. He also asked derisively, "Why did you ever buy this place?" Charming, right? If we hadn't already seen his gorgeous work, we would have shown him back to his vehicle immediately, because we found his cranky attitude to be less than endearing. Instead, we cleared the trees he tagged (we still have lots of trees!), and ordered the labyrinth template he found for us (a feature I truly desired). Then, he mostly fell off the grid.
Weeks later, Mark drove through a nearby neighborhood, and caught sight of trucks labeled KJR Landscape Construction. Turns out the owner, Rudy, was the guy we'd been waiting for. He helped us with a vision and plan for the hardscaping, specifically noting we'd need to begin with the back and side yard, before we could tackle the front.
That first year, the back yard got stripped of all plantings - most found a location elsewhere in the yard. In the process of clearing and reforming, we perceived the land and it's possibilities differently. For example, we thought we'd need to build a short curved wall, to hug the boundary of the property, near the labyrinth. Instead, a collection of largish boulders were uncovered. Those rocks were repurposed to create a sense of natural container, rather than another manmade feature. Additionally, the KJR crew reimagined one of our long crumbling walls to be shorter, slightly taller, and with a set of natural stairs, adjacent to an enormous, private patio they created for us. These tweaks increased the functionality dramatically.
We didn't really know what to do about plantings yet. We did have one conversation with the cranky guy. That got us rolling, but mostly we recycled what we already had, in the new empty spaces.
This portion of the project absorbed all the money we had set aside for landscaping that year, and while not the original plan, it worked for us.
Our focus had always been on that wall in front, but with Rudy's expertise, we realized it would be a waste to start there, and then require large machinery to traverse any new lawn installed. Hence, the back and side moved to the front of the line. The pause meant we got to live with those changes for a year, and began to brainstorm what might be possible out front. Mark sells real estate, as I did, once upon a time. While we've seen countless houses, helping to provide ideas and scale for what we like inside a home, we were both clueless about landscape design. We loved our new patio and labyrinth, but we were still stuck with that stupid bulging retaining wall out front, and no clue how to tie all the pieces together.
Then Mark found Karen, of Garden Rhythms. Karen listened to what we sought to create. She provided lots of photos, for us to select plantings we found appealing, and helped to steer us in a direction that afforded flow, year-round color, points of specific interest, and gentle boundaries. While Rudy and Karen had never met before our project, they worked well together. In some cases, Rudy implemented Karen's design. In other situations, Rudy or his brother guided us, offering troubleshooting and creativity to hardscaping, while Karen focused on the harmonious placement of living things.
Ready for the wild and unexpected outcome?
We never had to rebuild the front wall. With all of the changes, including many truck loads of dirt carted away for better drainage, and a more even slope, we were able to maintain the lower portion of the wall (which was stable), and eliminate the upper portion, which had been too stressed to survive the old weight.
If we had pushed through, and committed to one of the early contractors, we'd have a new wall, but our yard would not be nearly as amazing. The lowering of the yard and wall, allowed our team of fab professionals to co-create an outstanding result, and it cost less! This experience provided me another reminder of why it matters to give space and time for things to unfold. We thought we knew what we needed; because we didn't stay attached to that belief, the magic of what we got was so much more!
During the quarantine portion of the pandemic, Rudy's guys came back (masked) to replace an old, failing, retaining wall behind our house.
It's the one big ticket item we didn't tackle in the back, that first year. Then, employing Karen's creativity and the manpower of Rudy's crew, our previously dismal back yard transformed into a lush series of gardens, retained by a fieldstone wall, and a chain of stone arches. Within one of these gardens, Karen convinced us to plant variegated leaf irises. We haven't loved them, but they work well enough with the mix of other plantings.
A few days ago, Mark queried, "Have you smelled the Irises?" I hadn't. "You have to! They smell like grape." Easily convinced he'd lost his mind, I nodded, and promised to check them out. You know what? They freaking smell like grape Nehi!!! It's just wild. Okay, full disclosure, I've never been near a grape Nehi in my life, but it's what I imagine the aroma of Radar's drink would have been at Rosie's Bar on M*A*S*H.
I have no idea how it's possible to make a flower's fragrance resemble grape soda, but it's totally cool. And, it's an interesting counterpoint to the stunning yellow peonies growing in our front garden. They sometimes smell like coffee, and other times whiff of chocolate...so, basically, mocha! It's all so yummy, and made possible by a combination of excellent professional help, and a willingness to set an intention for a beautiful yard, and then surrender control of the outcome (even welcoming flowers and greenery we weren't so fond of) - allowing us to manifest something far more stunning than we ever conceived.
For the remainder of the season, I hope to enjoy lots of time in my grape Nehi & mocha garden.
To this end, school's out for summer! I'll still be working with clients individually, and classes will be offered again in autumn. If you've noticed yourself clutching tightly to a desired outcome, rather than leaving space and time (because we actually don't control the timing either!) for something more delightful than you imagined to unfold, maybe this growing season is a great time to ask for help. If you would like support learning how to release that limiting agenda, and opening to an experience of unexpected magic - akin to my garden story - reach out for a private coaching session.
With love and encouragement,
Joanne