Landscape Before and After

When this St. Paul homeowner decided to upgrade her landscape, she reached out to schedule a consultation. After meeting with Minnehaha Falls Landscape’s president and head designer, Russ Henry, she was ready to start making plans. This St. Paul landscape had a few major challenges to overcome with the design.

• The sunlight on the backyard patio was too strong and hot in the afternoon leaving the patio useless for much of the summer.
• The walkways, patio, and both front and back stairs were crumbling, faded, and out of date.
• Water rushed down from the walkway into the garage, causing flooding in the garage.
• The electric service to the garage wasn’t sufficient for a potential electric car.
• The client did not want any new overhead power lines in her yard.
• The lawn was overgrown and difficult to care for given this client’s full-time professional schedule.
• Native plants were needed to bring pollinators around to this St. Paul backyard that was already planted with raspberries and grape vines. Additionally, the grapes needed to be managed in a way that would lead to easier harvest and more enjoyment of the landscape plantings.

Landscape Design Process

We proposed a whole landscape redesign to handle all the issues in the landscape and to bring a new cohesive aesthetic to the entire property. The backyard design is now centered on a new pergola feature to provide shade and allow more use of the landscape during the day. This also provides structure for her grapes to grow on. New walkways all around the house took out all the old tripping hazards.  This livens up the entire landscape with a paver combination offering charm and character. We designed new sets of stairs for the front and back doors. We planned the stairs to match the new walkways. In place of her existing concrete patio, this client opted for a flagstone patio under the new pergola. During the design process we discovered that in order to level out her patio area we’d need to construct a small retaining wall near the garage.

The walkway to the garage is planned with a channel drain and connected to a new rain garden we installed to absorb all the run-off that was previously flooding the garage. Another rain garden is designed for the front to handle all the water from the downspouts. Both rain gardens are designed with deep rooted native plants to absorb and channel water while attracting pollinators for her fruits. Installing underground electric service to the garage is important to incorporate into the landscape design to accommodate safe passage for electrical conduit under the new walkways.

Bee Lawn and Landscape Installation

To replace her former lawn, we planned for a new no-mow bee lawn so her lawn would naturally be a haven for pollinators. After a couple design meetings, the design parameters were set and it was time to break ground.

We began the installation as we always do with site preparations. Removing old concrete, excavating for new features, stripping sod, and cutting back overgrown plants. We installed the walkway and stairs to the backdoor first to open her main point of access. Then we dug in the rain gardens to handle water runoff. We worked with a certified electrical contractor to install the new garage electric service. Simultaneously we constructed the new retaining wall near the garage. Next the front walk and steps were installed. After all the hardscape was installed, we dug in post holes and poured new concrete footings for the pergola. For the bee lawn installation we aerated, seeded, composted, seeded again, and covered with a bio-degradable seed blanket. We returned in the early winter to build the backyard pergola. At this time we also installed custom manufactured wrought iron railings along the back stairs.

In the spring we’ll install native plants in the rain gardens and help nurture her grape vines as they grow up the new pergola. With the snow melt in the spring, the watering directions we provided for the establishment of the new bee lawn will be easy to follow. We can’t wait to check back in with this client through the growing season to watch her bee lawn and rain gardens bring her new landscape to life.

To get started with your own landscape transformation, fill out the contact form below!