Our clients had just begun building a hillside home in Richmond overlooking the Green Mountains when they called us in to design their landscape. The challenge was to integrate the new home into its hillside environment while creating beautiful perennial gardens and natural meadows and enhancing spectacular views.
Many plantings repopulated the meadows including existing ferns and groundcovers as well as new native annual and perennial plantings. As in many hillside settings, cuts into the steep slope had created drastic water drainage issues. We built meandering drainage swales with varying sizes of boulders and stones and planted them with water-loving native meadow plants. These plantings spread across the hillside, eventually morphing into native wildflower seeded meadows.
Within this setting, narrow lawn paths sweep around the house and lead to hikes in the woods. A natural stone terrace provides a spot for morning coffee and evening dining. Natural stone steps surrounded by mass plantings of groundcovers and perennials provide access to the front door. Boulders from the site accent plantings and pathways and retain slope along the steeper front entry.