Stone Terrace Garden

These clients already enjoyed spending time in a double swing that rocked precariously on the edge of the slope. But they wanted to add a cozy entertaining area beneath a towering oak that sheltered the space.

We terraced into the hillside and constructed new retaining walls and a beautiful, curved stone bench to hold the slope. Each dimension of the bench and firepit was customized to our clients’ lounging preferences – from the height of the seat to the tilt of the back to the distance to the firepit, which is topped with a single, massive slab of Cherokee flagstone.

The exceptional stone work continues on the flagstone patio, where ordinary drainage channels are meticulously inlaid with stones collected from the Santa Ynez River bed in an eye-popping range of color, from deepest blacks to grainy grays to vivid turquoise. Inspired by the native oak overhead, the hand-polished stones mimic the tree’s sturdy, gnarled roots, stout trunk and skyward-reaching branches, twirled into whimsical spirals at their outermost tips.

We planted mostly natives on the slope, while aloes, agaves, succulents and bright-blooming perennials thrive in sunnier planting pockets and along the lower edge of the terrace.