This Petaluma featured garden is especially meaningful to us because it is our own home landscape. Built on a property with no pre-existing landscaping, it provided an opportunity for Details Landscape Art to showcase the many elements that come together to create beautiful and functional custom landscaping.
Blank slate ripe for custom landscaping
Situated on a corner lot on the east side of Petaluma, the property wraps around from north to west, creating multiple exposures and unique planting opportunities.
Custom Landscaping Begins with Understanding the Site
The north-facing front garden receives morning sun and afternoon shade, making it an ideal setting for Japanese maples, pieris, azaleas, camellias, and moss-covered placement boulders arranged in a natural woodland setting.
Custom landscaping – north side shade garden
As the landscape wraps around to the west side of the property, the exposure shifts to full afternoon sun, requiring a different palette of plants and landscape features.
Two Napa cobble chip stone walls were constructed to create planting areas at different elevations.
The corner planter features a beautiful mayten tree, loropetalum ‘Purple Majesty’, white carpet roses, and fieldstone boulders.
Custom landscaping corner planter
A second stone wall frames a small lawn area and encloses a planter near the house containing choisyas, rosemary, and seasonal freesia bulbs.
Napa Cobble Chip stone wall frames the lawn and encloses a planter
Hardscape Adds Structure to Custom Landscaping
The lawn is bordered by a six-inch flagstone mowing strip that creates a clean transition between turf and planting areas.
Below the lawn are perennial plantings, phormiums, a weeping cherry, and a tapestry of color, texture, and seasonal interest.
Custom landscaping sun plantings
The southern exposure of the front garden features both a green ‘Viridis’ Japanese maple and a red ‘Red Dragon’ Japanese maple, providing year-round beauty and stunning fall color.
‘Viridis’ and ‘Red Dragon’ japanese maples in this custom landscaping
Outdoor Living in the Backyard
The smaller backyard was designed for outdoor entertaining and relaxation.
An Ashlar Cut stamped concrete patio with a smooth border creates an attractive and functional gathering space. The extra-wide steps serve double duty, providing seating for guests during buffet-style gatherings.
Backyard custom landscaping features stamped concrete in an Ashlar Cut pattern
At the center of the patio sits a stone planter box containing a Japanese maple and seasonal flowers while also providing additional seating.
Stone planter box
A sturdy redwood fence was constructed along the east property line. Built with sandwiched fence boards and capped with a 2×6 redwood cap, the design conceals all nails and screws, creating a clean and refined appearance.
In front of the fence stands a white-painted two-post, three-tier arbor. The routered posts and scrolled beam ends demonstrate the craftsmanship that distinguishes custom landscaping from ordinary construction.
Beautiful white painted two-posted arbor
Water Features Bring a Garden to Life
The highlight of the backyard is a natural stone waterfall cascading through two upper ponds into a koi pond that projects into the patio area.
Custom landscaping with stone waterfall cascading into a koi pond
A biological filtration system maintains water quality for the koi while the sound of moving water adds a constant sense of tranquility to the garden.
Koi pond
Water features engage not only the eye but also the ear, creating a peaceful outdoor environment.
Backyard trees include a grouping of redwoods, a ‘Seiryu’ Japanese maple, a mayten tree, and a ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple.
Shade plantings include loropetalum, camellias, sarcococca, azaleas, hellebores, and ‘Enchantress’ hydrangeas, while sunny areas feature lomandra ‘Breeze’, lavender, and nandina compacta.
Lighting Extends the Enjoyment
A low-voltage lighting system illuminates key areas of the landscape after dark.
Path lights guide movement through the garden while floodlights and a down light highlight specimen trees and the white arbor.
Evening lighting transforms the garden into an entirely different experience after sunset.
This Petaluma featured garden incorporates many of the elements that define custom landscaping: masonry, water features, fencing, arbors, lighting, and thoughtfully selected plantings.
At Details Landscape Art, we believe the finest landscapes are those that reflect the site, the homeowner, and the way people truly live outdoors.