Don warned us that "drawing circles on paper" had limitations, and that once the work started, he was going to be "painting" with the plants to give the best effect. We were totally comfortable with the idea - one of the reasons we chose Don Engebretson, the Renegade Gardener, was because he had "opinions" on gardening. Moving here from California, we didn't know what was going to grow here or not, so we figured we couldn't go wrong hiring a creative guy with a good idea what works in Minnesota. The execution of the plan is fairly close to the drawing - the sculpture was placed on the opposite side of the path when work was completed.
The exterior the house showing the foundation plantings taken when we first took a look a the property. We made the first offer on the house the next day. Below the bottom edge of the photo is a grassy slope of about 4-5 feet down to the sidewalk (12 October 2012).
A view of the front of the house before the work started, now that the snow has melted. We got another 8 inches of snow one week after this photo was taken (26 April 2013)
The first terrace is just about complete. Note that the grass has greened up notably from the previous shot (29 May 2013).
Close up of the stonework showing the different colors of stone that Don used. The stone types are listed below.
This image is the background pattern for these pages and we used this image for the invitations to the 2013 August Party (29 May 2013).
A more distant view as the terraces as they near completion. Note that the grass is now dead, courtesy of an application of Round-Up (10 June 2013).
The perennials awaiting placement in the tiers - they went in once the shrubs and the drip irrigation system (25 June 2013).
The view from the top of the stairs with all work complete. The red truck on the street is Don's (28 June 2013).
The stone path leads around the side of the house - there is no access to the back yard on this side, but the water faucet and A/C unit are here (29 June 2013).
The completed view. We've gotten numerous complements from the neigbors across the street on Don's work. Of course they get to look at the landscape more than we do! (29 June 2013).
The craftsmanship that Don put into the wall is evident by tightly fitted stone and the even distribution of color throughout. There is no mortar, although the top course of each wall is glued to the course below it. The description of the stone used in the wall and listed it below:
A view two years after completion (04 July 2015).
We replaced the sod with ajuga in the boulevard, but without regular water (i.e. sprinkler system) it didn't take very well (neither did the grass). Don is contemplating what to try next, now that we've had the sprinkler system extended there (04 July 2015).
A view two years after completion (04 July 2015).
A view two years after completion (04 July 2015)