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Katey Mulligan, APLD
April - 2005
I call this garden ‘California Blue’ because it reminds me of being by the ocean. In sunlight, the silvery-teal-blue quartzite patio shimmers, echoing the nearby ocean; under a clear moon at night, it glows.
The owners of this typically urban, rectangle site - a middle-aged couple preparing for retirement - had no particular design preference but they had very specific requirements:
- Eliminate the huge dilapidated deck that consumed the usable space
- Provide access from the second floor sitting room down to the garden
- Install low maintenance plants; no lawn or small, tender, precious things
- Not too many plants of any kind, only large, hardy, mostly foliage plants
- No brown, yellow or geraniums!
- Create privacy from surrounding neighbors
Design Elements:
In keeping with the scale and layout of the house, I created three interconnected spaces that can be used individually or combined for different activities:
- A redwood ‘smoking deck’ leading down to the dining patio; the bottom steps provide extra seating; copper rails help to preserve light inside the house. The deck is large enough for two people to sit outside and enjoy a drink or smoke (yes, some people in California still smoke).
- A dining patio of 16” square China jade pavers that change color with the weather, deepening to rich blues as the fog rolls in;
- Vine-covered arbor to accommodate the clients’ hammock (for future installation).
The deck, patio and arbor all are angled at 20 degrees off the house, orienting people toward the center of the garden. This avoids looking directly into the neighbor’s property, while making the space seem larger. Each area is ringed with and defined by plants, blurring the hard edges.
Another way to visually enlarge small spaces is to use the same color for different hardscape elements. Here the boulders, grey fines decomposed granite (dg), China jade patio and bluestone path blend together for greater impact; the redwood deck will age to silver. Around the perimeter a curved planting area softens the straight lines of the fence. Alongside this perimeter planting, a strolling path of 
irregular bluestone set in the dg creates a journey around the garden, enticing people to investigate. The path weaves into and through each of the three areas of repose, linking all spaces and extending the journey. A cluster of boulders helps to negotiate the minor grade change and provides a sculptural focal point by the patio.
Palette:
The cool backdrop created by the hardscape-required plants that radiate. Moving from deep reds to magenta to purple, hot color plants include Bougainvillea vine, Maori variety Phormium, purple Pennisetum grass, Penstemon Garnet, purple Mexican sage, Tibouchina/ princess tree and Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood.’ These pop out against the Artemisia Powis Castle, Helictotrichon sempervirens/blue oat grass and variegated Miscanthus. These cool hues meld with the hardscape.
The design juxtaposes straight lines and angles with sweeping curves; designated planting areas are a foil to the informal plant groups that sprout through the dg. These oppositions are repeated in the plant palettes hot and cool colors, tying it all together.
Short:
Katey Mulligan, APLD, obtained a Higher National Certificate in Garden Design at the University of Greenwich’s Hadlow College in Kent, England, and a BA in literature from the University of California in Berkeley. She has designed gardens in Ireland and England and has furthered her education by extensive travel in Europe, Mexico, North and South America. Through her company, Liquidambar Garden Design, she provides design, consultation and project administration in the San Francisco Bay Area region. Reach Katey at 415.920.9625; www.liquidambar.biz; katey@liquidambar.biz.
Certified Members seeking to be profiled should send before and after photos with SHORT design intent statement to:
Bethany Dennis
APLD Communications Manager
Email: communications@apld.org
Phone: 717-238-9780
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