WARD

BERKELEY, CA

2018

This was one of the first full designs I ever put in the ground. The clients found me on Instagram, a lesbian couple expecting their first child, and wanted to shape their garden into a place that could grow with their family. By the time we started, the baby had arrived.

The site was pretty straightforward. A patchy lawn, an old concrete patio, and two enormous trees anchoring the yard. A redwood with a split trunk, scarred by lightning but still standing strong, and a towering acacia in the back that cast more shade than the garden could really use. Once they had the acacia pruned back, the yard opened up. You could finally feel the sky.

The design was simple and joyful. A new patio replaced the old one in roughly the same spot. We left room for a future play structure, carved out a lawn for crawling, tumbling, and running in circles, and tucked in three big pots of strawberries near the kitchen door. Blueberries, a lemon, and a persimmon tree added to the edible mix, a fabulous way to introduce the kiddos into the bounty nature can provide.

One of the clients is of Mexican heritage, so we incorporated marigolds and rue, both for their cultural and spiritual significance. It felt right to have those living symbols of protection and remembrance growing alongside the yarrow and yerba buena. As always, I let California flora lead the way, with a few resilient flowering exotics woven in to stretch the bloom season and keep things humming.

There was one unexpected twist when their tenant, who they had hired to install the patio midway through the project, added his own design flourish. An extra bend in the path gave the layout more whimsy than I had planned. Not wrong, just unexpected. Eye roll included.

Since this was one of my first builds, I brought in my friend Noah from Rockridge Gardens to help with the install. The Bay Area landscaping scene is full of people like that. Generous, talented, collaborative. That part of the process was a joy.

The project turned out beautifully. The clients were happy. So happy, in fact, that they later added another little one to the family. The garden has become a backdrop for play, exploration, and everyday wonder. I feel incredibly lucky to have helped shape the space where their children are forming some of their earliest memories. It is such a privilege to know your work is being lived in like that.