Our home and gardens have undergone great transformations in the 18 years we have lived here. The yards were initially primarily lawn, and the house was white. The ranch style of the house creates the opportunity to interpret garden styles in many ways. We didn’t start out with a style in mind, but over time we have come to define it as “Wild Urban Modern.”
We built our gardens together. Mike removed the lawn by hand in the rain and built all the stone pathways, which were designed to look like riverbeds. Marina designed the layout in the front and back yards. Marina dreamed of the curvy steel vegetable beds one night, and the next day we installed them together. Rain gardens to manage storm water runoff, native hedgerow for privacy, water features for the birds, and sunny front yard planting beds indulge Marina’s desire to experiment with plants and indulge her fascination for the incredible variety of perennial flower structures. The backyard is Mike’s territory, and it illustrates his love of the natural world, plants, and gardening. Mike was inspired one day to build the boardwalk along the back property line: a shady walk and sitting place among nature. The backyard oasis is where we hang out, take naps, entertain and chase our dog around.