Western Views
Glen Ellen, CAWe have been working with this client on and off since they first purchased this amazing property in 2006. Twenty-two acres with a four-bedroom home and a barn, the property includes a 12-acre-foot pond fed by a seasonal stream, oak woodland, broad meadows, and western views of neighboring vineyards and Sonoma Mountain. While they designed a remodel and addition to the existing home and transformed the existing wood barn into a party barn with Marks & Marks Design, we remodeled the existing pond. We increased capacity, addressed leaks, allowed the seasonal stream to recirculate, and improved the year-round appearance and wildlife habitat through boulder placement, repurposing of dead tree snags from the property, and careful selection of aquatic, marginal, and dry location plant material, including many California natives. A perimeter walking path, a gravel terrace with hammocks under mature oaks and boulder steps to allow swimming and kayak access to the pond helped to make the pond a destination for active and passive use.
Shortly after, we designed an outdoor living area associated with the party barn that includes a shade fabric-covered gravel outdoor dining terrace set in a bosque of Japanese Zelkova trees, a bocce court, a horseshoe pitch, an outdoor shower, and gravel paths with stone steps leading to a destination fire pit with views of the pond. The rustic wood barn is surrounded with Agave x. ‘Blue Glow’ and ‘Howard McMinn’ Manzanita, a Sonoma county native, set in a meadow of ‘Blonde Ambition’ Grama Grass.
The main residence construction was nearly complete when the 2017 Tubbs Fire swept through the area. Sadly, the residence was a complete loss, and many mature oaks were badly damaged. Luckily, furniture and art had not yet been moved in, and the swimming pool shell and concrete landscape walls survived the fire. After satisfying insurance, structural and permit requirements, reconstruction began, and eventually the landscape was ready to be completed.
The two-story stone residence sits on a slope, with the main entry at the upper level. A broad, gently curving gravel entry path with stone steps leads from the guest parking area through a grove of existing and transplanted olives, and meadows of Pink Muhly Grass combined with Coprosma ‘Vista Verde’ and the succulent Blue Chalksticks to the front door. The vaulted room guests enter into is both foyer and gallery, displaying a rotating collection of contemporary art from the owner’s galleries. Just west of the entry, a gravel terrace featuring two antique limestone troughs and ancient olive trees and surrounded by a lavender field, reaches out from the courtyard, to accommodate occasional gallery openings and small parties.
To capture the western views, we designed a terraced garden space with three primary levels: a covered dining terrace and master terrace at the upper floor level, a fire pit terrace and planters mid-slope, and at the lower floor level, the swimming pool, outdoor kitchen and an outdoor dining and seating pergola. Simple, earthy materials of integral color concrete, plaster, stone and wood were used throughout, brightened up by an effusive plant palette combining the colorful and the culinary: Purple Mexican Sage and Bougainvillea, Citrus trees, yellow flowering Kangaroo Paws, Daylilies & Coreopsis, and scented Gardenia. The infinity edge pool is set at 90 degrees to the terraces to draw the eye out to the view. Interior finishes were selected to match the pool water color to the pond beyond, and visually link the two. The spa sits in its own intimate garden space just below pool level, screened from the residence by a planting of Cape Plumbago, and looking over a low planting of Manzanita ‘Pacific Mist’ to the pond below.
Architecture: Marks & Marks Design
Construction: Greg Nelson Builder, Inc.
Landscape Installation: Dibble Landscaping
Photography: Eileen Roche Photography