This large property has a small front yard and much of it is a slope. The homeowners hired Sada Uchiyama to design the space and we did the installation, creating a pretty entry garden with a traditional Japanese garden style.
This garden is compact, but contains most of the key elements and materials we use in Japanese garden design in Portland. Stone is used in rustic ways in the batter wall and gravel set pad. The flagstone entry and masonry wall are more refined in their use of stone. Boulders are carefully set where there was room. A bamboo fence runs along the top of the wall. The key plantings are a specimen Japanese maple and some artfully pruned pines from Iseli.
Small gardens are fun because they look full and finished as soon as the project is complete. We hope to expand the garden to the sizable backyard as well.