Valley View Garden

This steep hillside garden needed a major uplift. An old retaining wall, wooden deck, patio, steps and path were failing, unsafe, and unattractive. The homeowners brought in Mariposa Gardening & Design Cooperative to create a habitat garden that would give them more outdoor living space and give their young daughter opportunities to interact with butterflies and birds at home.

To meet these goals, the Mariposa team designed and installed a series of leaning flagstone and flat dry-laid stone walls, creating a work of art in the process. The unique building technique of the leaning flagstone wall, combined with the artistry of the stone masons, allowed Mariposa to “paint with stone” as they carved birds in flight into the largest of the four stone walls. This long and undulating wall, dubbed the Sunrise Wall, uses the variations in the colors of the stone, as well as a specially carved piece of orange calcite, which adorns the top face, to represent the sun rising. The slopes were planted with a combination of flowering perennials and ornamental and native grasses to create a rolling meadow effect, complete with walkable paths. The plantings were chosen to hold the soil in place and offer food and shelter to bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and other beneficial creatures.

DIGGING DEEPER program: June 12,  4 p.m.  to 6 p.m.
Fusing Art and Ecology: Dry-Stacked Stone Walls