With today’s architectural trends bending ever more towards ‘fast, cheap, and easy’, it’s rare to find a property built in the last 30 years made with the same craftsmanship as those made in the century prior. One of these rare finds can be found near the rugged coastlines of La Jolla, a posh community located at the northwestern tip of San Diego.
Modeled in the style of a Cape Cod vacation home, no detail was spared in the design and construction during the remodeling. Once the dust had settled and the final contractor had packed up his tools and left for good, the only thing missing was a landscape that matched the home’s handsome new facelift.
To help create a consistent level of quality between building and landscaping, the homeowner turned to a company she had worked with before with great success – Torrey Pines Landscape Company. After discussing options and drawing up a landscape design, Torrey Pines was off to the races.
The first area to receive their attention was the front planters lining the street to the front of the house. A series of young strawberry trees were planted along the stone and latticed street wall to provide a sense of depth when looking towards the home, carefully interspersed with marbled boulder rocks that would melt into the lower level foliage. The front of the planter was then filled in with a variety of flowering shrubbery and bushes that painted the area in vibrant reds, purples, oranges, and yellows.
The east-west orientation of the home required careful attention be paid to the plantings – the southern side of the wall would have near-constant sun, while the north side would have a similar amount of shade. Trellis-bound camellias that thrive on shade were therefore planted along the north face of the street wall to provide a lush backdrop for the new strawberry trees.
The next item on the list was the inner courtyard created by the privacy wall. Stone lawn bands – matching the material of the border walls of the property – were added for the dual purpose of framing a newly installed synthetic lawn and creating a natural planter that lined the property.
With the inner face of the courtyard wall facing southward, hardier plants that quaff sunlight like fine wine were needed to withstand the added heat. Lavender, dwarf Indian Hawthorne, and Santa Barbara daisies were used to fill the newly created planters with an earthy bouquet of purples, whites, yellows, and oranges.
Two final details stood out during the final phase of the renovation. First, the addition of carefully positioned bronze statues, perfectly situated in the areas of the planters where growth was especially heavy. This created a sensation of wildness – as if they had been placed there long ago and had long been forgotten, with nature beginning to once again reclaim them.
The second was a tiny planter that split the driveway and walkway, filled to the brim with flowering shrubbery. The shock of greenery and vivid purple and red flowers in the midst of an otherwise drab, functional area consisting of sandy-colored stone and gravel creates a welcome break for the eyes.
Despite the trickiness of the variable temperature plantings, Torrey Pines had created a garden fit for the stateliness of the home. Both inside and out, the home was now, in a word, picturesque.
If you have grand plans for your property’s landscaping and are just waiting to find the right help, it’s likely Torrey Pines Landscape Company is what you’ve been looking for. Take a look at our portfolio and dare to start dreaming a little bigger!