Tree Delivery

Tree Delivery today! Very exciting to see plans come to life.

Satsuma Mandarin and Pink Lemonade

Chinese Elm (on side because box broke)

Alexander Magnolia

Affordable Housing Project in Northern California

KMB Design recently completed construction drawings for an Affordable housing project in Northern California. The site is located in Pittsburg, California which is in the East Bay portion of the San Francisco Bay. We worked with Meridian Modular Homes of San Diego to create an affordable housing site within the City. The project is already under construction.

This was a great opportunity to design within the Northern California plant palette which will provide much more intense fall color than Southern California. The site included large Camphor Trees on the corner anchoring the site and also within the site for shade at the BBQ and Play Areas. The rest of the palette included Rotundiloba Sweetgum providing some bright red fall color, Maytens Tree and Natchez Crape Myrtle which will be a prolific white blooming tree with some amazing fall color as well.

Orange Residence

KMB Design recently completed a concept design for a residence in Orange. This was a renovation project for a home built in the 1950's that included a large tension-style Shade Structure with lounge seating area and bamboo backdrop, BBQ and dining area, fire pit with built in seating and a raised garden area with viewing patio and space for the Client's dogs to enjoy the yard. The design includes sand-set concrete pavers and tumbled concrete retaining walls. The use of this paving method will help with run-off and drainage issues in the yard, recharge the groundcover and the pavers also includes recycled materials. Sketchup was used to provide the Client with 3-D views of the soon to be completed yard.

Plan View

Perspective 1

Perspective 2

Perspective 3

Perspective 4

Concept Complete!

I just recently completed a concept design for a residential project in the Inland Empire. It was a blank slate and we had to work with an existing slope and very wide, but shallow lot. Lots of fun design elements including fire pit with seat wall, built in dining area, two small water features, a vine covered pergola with built in day bed, fruit trees, a vegetable garden and natural rock outcroppings.

Completed Concept Plan (unrendered)

Concept Image Board

Reusing Concrete

Many of you might remember this pile...our old concrete that we had sawcut into 24" x 36" pavers to reuse in our backyard renovation. The cost of sawcutting the concrete saved us money on hauling and dumping the old concrete and having to purchase new pavers for the pathways in our garden.

The pile is slowly disappearing, these weigh a lot and with the use of a dollie we are moving them around the yard.
We have trenched where the new pavers go about 3"-4" below finish grade so the pavers sit flat, fill in with compacted soil and then we will go back over the top 1"-2" with crushed rock gravel.

The start of the new garden pathway.

Natives to use in your Garden...Tree of Life Nursery Visit

A trip to Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano brought about so much needed inspiration. Take a look at some amazing California Natives in bloom. These all would look great in your garden and use little to no water once established.

Manzanita

Salvia

Dudleya

Penstemmon

Matilija Poppy

Old Grape Vine

Purple Three-Awn grass (a guess?!)

Revisiting a Past Project - Yorba Linda

Today I revisted a past project in Yorba Linda, California. I have included some photos of the project 3.5 years after construction was completed. This was a new construction home and we had a blank slate for the front and backyard. The design included new hardscape, planting, vegetable garden, pool, BBQ area, covered trellis, stone walls and pilasters.

Front yard

Pool with a view

Courtyard

Covered Trellis

View over pool toward Garden

Concept #1

Concept #2

Final concept was given to the Contractor and I never made a copy. Something I regret now, but didn't think about at the time.

Bob Perry and his new book

This past weekend I attended a lecture at Tree of Life Nursery in San Juan Capistrano, just off Ortega Highway. If you haven't been there yet I would check it out. The location is beautiful with large Oak and Sycamore trees...actually I will blog about it separate, cause it deserves its own post. On to Bob Perry and his amazing new book.

The lecture was set amongst the natural California landscape with a large Sycamore tree creeping overhead and within the shade of a Coast Live Oak. The gardens were blooming and wildlife was everywhere. Bob inspired me to really think about my designs in a whole different way. Right now sustainability is hot and heavy and most people think California natives and water wise gardening. These are components of a responsible garden, but he took it a step further. His concept is offsetting our impact on Mother Nature. This is creating well established plant communities within our garden spaces that are able to reduce our carbon load, create habitats, thrive, reduce the amount of water needing to survive, create memories and tell a story of a place or a region. So much more than picking out responsible plants and creating a garden that looks good. For every gallon of gas we use a day we unload 6.5 lbs of carbon into the atmosphere, but we can reduce that by planting significant landscapes that absorb this carbon and offset our impacts. Something to think about next time you drive, it really made me think as we left the lecture and headed on a 100+ mile trip up the California Coast.

I highly recommend his new book. So full of knowledge, images and inspiration!

Bob Perry signing my book

A quick photo with the author & landscape architect.

Inspiring Garden

A few photos from a Spring trip to the Central Coast. These photos were taken at Leaning Pine Arboretum at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. All was in full bloom!

Brooner Residence - Green Concrete Design

The Brooner Residence is an original 1960's Orange County home. The backyard was recently cleared, new fences in place, old landscaping removed and the option was chosen to be GREEN and recycle the old concrete in the design. For this reason we have selected a concrete cutting company to perform the demo work with a saw cutter in order to efficiently remove the concrete for reuse. We have also chosen local contractors to South Orange County. Check out Custom Concrete Cutting in Mission Viejo, family owned and operated for over 20 years. You can reach them at (949) 951-9071.

The shown CAD plan below is for the new concrete patio area. We are demoing the existing concrete patio today and reusing the old concrete in the yard for stepping stones and walking paths within the new garden. The new concrete patio has a Fire Pit area with seating and low stacked stone seat wall, a kids play area with seat wall and sand play table, a BBQ area for a new 70" BBQ and smoker, dining area with seat wall and a generous lounge area with couch, chairs and table.

Newport Beach Sidewalk Garden in Bloom

I went to check out the Newport Beach Sidewalk Garden in the Spring time and so much has changed! What a difference a season makes. Take a look at the Guara, the flowers are vibrant pink!

Corona del Mar Remodel

I completed the concept design for this project in September of 2009. The home is located in Corona del Mar and is a private residence. The home is being remodeled and the Home Owners Association has strict guidelines that trees and structures can't exceed 14'. This was a challenge as the homes are located close to each other and the need for privacy is a must. We also wanted to achieve a "California Friendly" (drought tolerant or low water use) garden and introduce new plant species for the owner.

Here are a few "Before Photos" of the backyard. The plan is to demo the exisitng pool and build a new pool, spa, BBQ area, outdoor living room with fireplace and trellis and a new garden. The front yard will be completely redone as well with a new walkway, pilasters with steps, lighting and planting.

Here is the final concept plan. This is the unrendered plan, so not as pretty as the final drawing that was given to the client, but you can see the layout and the space I was left to design with.

Organic Vegetable Garden at Home

We built Redwood planter boxes today for the Organic Vegetable Garden. These boxes cost about $125 each including soil and amendments. We used 2x6 redwood and 4x4 posts.

We posthole dug the corners so the planters would be set into the earth.


We reused an old wood crate for our trellis support for the Sugar Snap Peas.


I am now planting the garden with squash, eggplant and golden zucchini based on the appropriate spacing recommended.


A close up of the snap peas!

This took approx. 4 hours to complete not including the time to pick up the lumber, soil and plants. Let me know if you would like a vegetable or fruit garden in your yard!