This really special little garden was designed by Toru Tanaka. Back in 2003 (if I remember correctly) the home was just built and owned by Art Iwasaki- a wonderful man who also happened to be in the nursery business.

Our job was to bring back to life this old garden, while adding in some new elements. Paths gave access to the garden without having to walk in the mud. A masonry firepit was to become a destination. The enclosed garden keeps the deer and rabbits away. And dozens of little choices were made to gradually limit the maintenance and water required for the sizeable property.

This home, and the family that lives in it, are thoroughly modern. The landscape, on the other hand, was dated and a bit formless. We use rustic juniper timbers and weathering steel to create a garden that is functional, fun for kids, and that complements the lines of the home.

Lynn Wolfstone designed this unique garden. The client is an artist and wanted to play with colors and textures. The house is built on a slope, with the front yard sloping up from the house and the backyard sloping down. This means the front yard garden is lifted up so you can see all of it from the front windows. But when you look out at the backyard you have essentially the same view that you do when you look down at a design.

This was a very collaborative project, with the homeowners providing a vision and feedback. One is a bonsai enthusiast and so we tried the pull from that world. The focal point pine tree was selected by the homeowner at Bentwood Tree Farm. The basalt squares were sourced from a now defunct stone yard in Washington. They stand in for the boulders we would normally set, while bringing to mind the stands used to display bonsai.

The client hired us to do a modern Japanese-inspired design for the front yard. After reviewing the initial design he said: “Let’s do the huge back slope too”. When I presented a design for that he said: “It’s good but let’s go bigger”. Call me now if that’s the kind of person you are.

This was the first project where we used a mix of large format pavers, steel, and beach pebbles. It has proven to be a flexible mix of materials and we use them often.

In 2009, Sada Uchiyama was hired to design this garden. It had a couple of mature trees but everything else was to be new. The front walkway and porch are natural stone. Some sizeable boulders anchor planting beds.

This is the most challenging and fun water feature Ross NW Watergardens has ever tackled. The pond and stream sit inside and over the footprint of a massive swimming pool that had been abandoned in the 1980’s. We had to partially demo the walls (concrete 18” thick) so the pond could have some natural contours. To build the stream we first had to block off and fill a section of the pool, compacting every couple of inches so we wouldn’t have settling.

In SW Portland is a neighborhood full of Midcentury modern homes designed by Robert Rummer. Over the years we have worked on quite a few of these homes- but this was the first.