We are in the conceptual design development phase for this project in Mill Valley. The project is a master plan to integrate a new entrance and driveway, improved access and usability of the front and side yards, and retaining walls and plantings for a lower slope area.
Conceptual layout plan with section view of lower retaining walls
We have started the planting phase of this large project in Kentfield. Pictured are planting layouts of some of the shade garden areas featuring Rhodys, Hydrangeas, Liriope, and Geranium groundcover.
This entry gate in Tiburon combines a modern horizontally clad gate a side panels with a privet hedge to create a private entry. The new gate will be equipped with a call box and lock for remote entry access.
Google Maps is the process of updating it’s Street View service with even higher resolution images, making a neat tool even more useful. Google also recently added a birds eye aerial view allowing a 45 degree angle when viewing properties from above. Both of the tools make it easier to view streetscapes, and to find good local examples of plantings, fences, gates and entryways for landscape projects.
Example of a property with driveway a client liked in their neighborhood, viewed from the comfort of street view
The Chronicle had an article today about the continued virulence of Sudden Oak Death in the Bay Area’s Oak Woodlands. In Marin, 53% of samples taken tested positive for the pathogen, a spike attributed to high rainfall the past couple years that helps SOD spread.
“We found that the number of positives were double and in some cases triple what they were last year,” said Matteo Garbelotto, the UC Berkeley forest pathologist who organizes the annual surveys. “We were surprised. That was a big jump.”
The findings are part of a major effort over the past four years to involve citizens in the battle against the mysterious pathogen, which has killed hundreds of thousands of oak trees from Big Sur to southern Oregon.
– Remove bay trees near oaks; this increases the survival rate of oaks tenfold.
– Use phosphonate spray, which has proved to be effective against the disease.
– Avoid doing large-scale projects such as grading, soil removal or tree pruning in infected areas during the rainy season.
The design for the project in Mill Valley focuses on create more usable spaces in the front and back yards, while integrating a natural feel to the project. Features include:
-New entry arbor and deck
-Dry Laid Stone Walls
-New Front Entrance
-Stone Patio
-Terraced Seating Area
-California and Mediterranean plantings
We are working on a large home renovation in Kent Woodlands, which includes a beautiful new garden installation to compliment the new home. Project elements include lawns with sub-surface irrigation, bluestone slab paths, and a large synthetic turf putting green.
This project in Corte Madera had the advantage that many lots in Marin lack, flat usable space. We took the existing back yard, which had only a small old patio and had been cut up with fencing and old landscaping, and transformed it with a new redwood deck, bluestone patio with integrated firepit, and large lawn with subsurface irrigation.
From the moment we selected O’Connell Landscape this was a worry free project. We especially appreciated being able to collaborate with our project team face to face and via email (with pictures!). And, the end result is gorgeous!
-Laura and Rusty Von Waldburg, Corte Madera
After a recent ongoing customer service headache with AT&T, the website Dial a Human, featured on Channel 7 on Your Side, jumped out as a good resource. It gives the numbers to press to shortcut the interminable phone trees that are the hallmarks of most customer support.
Your call is very important to us, that is why we have optimized our system to delay you getting to speak to a real person. That real person will be in India and won’t have the training or ability to help you anyway, please continue to hold, while holding please enter your account number, so that when the agent comes to the line, we will ask you to restate your account number…
We are doing work for a larger client for some landscape work that was installed by another contractor. The other contractor was cheaper than we are, but as we put in this benderboard along a crooked lawn edge, you can see what the installed product of the cheapest bid.
We are working on this large and flat back yard project in Corte Madera. The project will incorporate a new patio seat wall and large deck to transform the formerly unused yard.
This project took an existing hillside and transformed into a natural extension of the existing more formal. We used several tons of boulders and a dry stream bed along with ornamental grass and a native bent grass meadow to create a garden that blends with the open space around it.
My wife and I would be delighted to refer O’Connell Landscape to anyone and know they would have as good an experience and outcome as we did. We’re proud of the finished project, especially in the sense that what Michael has created for us incorporates all the elements we had in mind but had difficulty visualizing without his help and complete conceptual plan.
For the bid or proposal process in particular, I especially liked Michael’s approach of packaging the proposal so that we could pick and choose those features we had prioritized. It made the decisions much easier.
My wife and I agree the design and outcome was even better than our expectations. We’re very pleased.
-Mike and Sharon Morgan, Petaluma
My wife and I would be delighted to refer O’Connell Landscape to anyone and know they would have as good an experience and outcome as we did. We’re proud of the finished project, especially in the sense that what Michael has created for us incorporates all the elements we had in mind but had difficulty visualizing without his help and complete conceptual plan.
For the bid or proposal process in particular, I especially liked Michael’s approach of packaging the proposal so that we could pick and choose those features we had prioritized. It made the decisions much easier.
My wife and I agree the design and outcome was even better than our expectations. We’re very pleased.
With storm water regulations getting more and more strict, keeping drainage and storm water on-site has become more and more important. The best way to handle storm water on a site is grade the side to maximize natural infiltration into the soil.
Sometimes a site is too small, or the grades are too restrictive to allow for infiltration without some assistance. Typically this is done with a dry well. But the traditional dry well has its limitations. A dry well (dispersion field, dissipater field) is an excavated area constructed to allow for the infiltration of water, typically filled with 3/4″ crushed gravel. The main problem with dry wells is that half the volume of the well is filled with gravel, thereby limiting the amount of water that can enter the system and infiltrate into the soil. Take this example:
If you have a dry well that is 8′ long x 4′ wide x 2′ deep filled with gravel its capacity is only about 240 gallons of water at any one time. Let’s say you were trying to drain a 1,000 sq.ft. roof into the dry well. In a 1″ storm the roof would discharge about 550 gallons of water.
Fortunately, with the increased focus on stormwater management, there are some newer products that help with this problem.
Cudo Cube, based out of Sonoma County, offers a great customizable modular product that is 2′x2′x2′ and can store about 50 gallons of water as well. The Cudo system can also be customized for maintenance access, discharge point, and filtration. The units can be combined to create large drainage fields.
NDS has a couple of products that allow for easier drainage installations. The Flo-Well is a customizable plastic drum that holds about 50 gallons of water and can be plumbed into a drainage system or off a downspout. These units can also be connected together.
NDS also makes the new EZFlow french drainage pipe, that incorporates a traditional black corrugated pipe with a synthetic drainage medium that looks like a packing peanut. A 10″ EZFlow (4″ pipe with 6″ of drainage peanuts) can store about 2 gallons of water per linear foot.
ADS also has a number of products designed for stormwater and leachfields on a larger scale. Their AdvanEdge product is another useful alternative to French drains to help drain against retaining walls, into dry fields or under wet areas.
We see all kinds of interesting existing irrigation configurations in the field. There a lot of ways to configure irrigation valves and lines terribly wrong that would make Rube Goldberg proud. Here is a good example from a project in Mill Valley.
As a general rule of thumb, burying your irrigation lines is a good idea
This project took a difficult hillside property in Petaluma and transformed it with a new entrance, dry stream bed, access path and low water use garden.
O’Connell Landscaping completed a wonderful project for us. The finished design exceeded our expectations. Construction went as planned in spite of the weather and the difficult terrain! Every detail was attended to whether it was specifically stated in the contract or not. The crew was meticulous in their work, pleasant to be around and were not at all imposing. Communication was consistent and all questions were addressed immediately. We are pleased with the outcome, pleased with the service we received and pleased with the ease of construction. -Maureen & Frank, Petaluma
We completed this project last fall, transforming an unused small back yard into something special with a new stone patio, plantings, and water feature as a focal point.
O’Connell Landscaping helped make the project a satisfying experience by providing a timely estimate, submitting a clear explanation of work items in the agreement, and flexible times to meet and discuss changes/additions during the project. Their work crew were on time and completed stages of the job efficiently. I am very happy with the quality of the products they installed. -Lorrie, Petaluma
Our blog and Facebook pages have now been linked. Making it even easier to follow the latest on our blog Turned Earth.
This conceptual design for a back yard project in Novato focused on removing an existing pool and redeveloping deck and patio space. Of main concern was providing shade from hot sun and winds on this westward facing property, so fencing, screening trees and arbors were incorporated into the patio and deck to make the yard more usable year round.
This conceptual design for a back yard project in Corte Madera took a boring and underdeveloped existing yard and created new living and entertaining areas. Focal points are a new composite deck, patio seating area with arbor centered around a firepit, and large lawn play space with sustainable sub-surface irrigation.
We have uploaded and reorganized our design portfolio examples. Take a look at construction drawings, installation details, elevations and conceptual and master layout plans at our design portfolio.
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This project in Petaluma’s Boulevard Heights neighborhood transformed a neglected formal garden and infused it with new life. We are just completed the second phase of the project, seeding a large meadow lawn and planting screening trees and shrubs for a new garage building. Last spring we installed new plantings, irrigation, and retrofitted existing garden pathways. A large 48″ box tree was installed to balance existing trees on the property and compliment a new driveway installation. In phase two 24″ box Arizona Cypress were installed to help screen the new garage building. Even though they have been in less than 6 months, the first phase plantings are maturing nicely. Plantings are installed with a weather adaptive Hunter Solar Sync Controller for optimal water savings on the large lot.
This project in Petaluma took a back yard with a small existing concrete patio and developed a large paver patio with more usable area for entertaining and better access for the owner’s dogs. Planter beds were used to soften existing fencing and as foundation plantings. We used Sonoma Blend McNear Pavers and matching Versa-lok and integrated this with a large compacted gravel alleyway area with brown pathway fines that coordinated well.
Installation details were important here. Gopher wire was installed underneath the compacted gravel and driveway Turf Block to prevent disturbance, and all perimeters of the patio were set in mortared solider courses for good long term stability.
O’Connell Landscape did a great job of designing a yard that is both dog friendly and beautiful. Our requirements were rather unique with 4 dogs. The crew showed up early and worked hard 5 days a week for 5 weeks. There was a minimum of disruption during the process and we are very happy with the results. – Mike and Cherri Scannell, Petaluma
There was a great topic in a recent article of Ask the Builder by Tim Carter about some common problems with Trex and other composite decking. These composite decks are typically less maintenance than a wood deck, but aren’t no maintenance.
Some common problems profiled were:
Tim points out that Trex has a good cleaning guide on their website. He has had the best luck cleaning trex with oxygen bleach applied with a stiff broom.
For more:
- Ask the Builder Trex Article
From the Drawing Board- Petaluma Layout and Paving Plan
The hardscape for this project in Petaluma needed to be completely redeveloped. This plan helps establish a new more modern design aesthetic for the residence. Large floating concrete slabs are utilized for the front entry; while a new back concrete patio and connected small barbeque area integrate the same layout and theme.
Layout and paving plan for front and back yard project
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