SERVICES:

1. Design Consulting & Project Coordination

2. Landscape Design Consulting

 

Mary’s Garden is my grandmother’s garden which we started back in 2005. The original area where the garden is now was covered in a small alder grove. We were concerned with the tops of the trees falling down as we had already had a few come down during our first year in the new house. So we had all the trees brought down and then had all the stumps removed so we could begin anew. One evergreen tree was saved and this was my mother’s tree. This tree still remains and after ten years it needs a little pruning to find its shape.  

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At the time I was working for a local nursery and landscape contractor so when I had time, I would build the garden and grandma would till the soil of the new beds to get all the rocks out. We moved from the Sumner valley where there are no rocks in the soil to a place where there is no soil but only varying sizes of rock. We would dig dry wells along the walkways to collect and drain off the surface water. The soil was used to create planting mounds and the rocks my grandmother collected would be emptied into these pits to fill them in.

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We were grateful that Bret Ratfield (the owner of Alpine Nursery and Landscape) also my current boss at the time had a bunch of plant material that needed a home. Some of the plants had been in containers for years and were really root bound making getting the pots off a true test. I planted after work and Grandma would water the plants with milk jugs she carried out from the house as the house did not reach the entire garden and we wanted to not have an irrigation system, hence the evergreen planting.

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There have been many changes to the design and plants that have made it today. We have used this garden for weddings and memorial services as it offers stunning views of the mountain and a chance to walk and listen to the birds who have now claimed this little garden. There a few minor things to add but being as this garden is my home there will always be something to update and build.  

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