In this Woodstock neighborhood without sidewalks, gardens spill onto the gravel roads like an interactive park. Pete worked side by side with me to transform his once unremarkable grass lawn into a space for walking, sitting, and inviting both neighbors and wildlife to feel at home. As Pete travels a lot, we focused on drought tolerant plantings on berms and moisture retentive swales.

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Pete really learned his garden style and brought it to the table through our collaborative process shopping at nurseries together, picking out unique rocks, and digging in the dirt. Working on a tighter budget, he cut costs by doing much of the work himself and fell in love with gardening in the process. He had already killed the grass by using burlap bags and mulch before we started. We built up garden berms with organic materials like branches, straw, and wood chips, carved out a rain garden/bioswale with rocks and moisture loving plants like Camas, and added a simple, easy to install curving gravel pathway, along with lots of wildlife friendly and drought tolerant plants!

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Sometimes it takes time for a client to realize what they like and want for their space, and a slower process allows the garden to unfold organically in just the right way. There's never a rush in gardening!