Saddle Peak View Garden

Location: Topanga Canyon, California        /        Completed: 2008        /        Scope: Design, Hardscape, Planting, Irrigation, Maintenance

How do you make a garden modern, yet soft? With clients whose tastes and preferences were like night and day; our goal was to create spaces for both of them. The main challenge of the design was how to make an intimate, meaningful space while incorporating the expansive, ever-changing views.

To soften the transition between the remote house with a large driveway and turn-around for parking, we broke up the expansive light-colored concrete with bands of stone and an earth-toned stain. While still retaining a small grassy area, the existing lawn transformed into a meadow of Carex pregracilis. In the upper garden, a small patio and fountain sits sheltered from the whipping winds. The west-facing side yard garden incorporated existing beautiful fruit trees with a plant palette that evokes the vibrant colors of the setting sun. 

Separated from the house, we carved out an area farther down the hillside for a space to retreat to as well as entertain.  Olive trees were planted above the patio to conceal the pool area from the house and road above. As one descends the stone steps, the expansive canyon view is revealed at the pool’s horizon. The angular pool emerges from the slope to extend to the edge of the bluff, blanketed with native plants that blend with the chaparral.