The homeowners had just purchased a new condo and desired to improve their privacy and their views from their windows.

 

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The condo builder had evenly spaced about two dozen plants in the 120' long x 4' wide raised bed, with little regard for each plant's mature size or horticultural requirements. Because of the poor soil and the lack of irrigation, many of the shrubs had died within months of being planted. 

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Shoplick Landscape Architecture completely redesigned the bed, salvaging the surviving plant material to be reused in the raised bed or elsewhere in the property.  By familiarizing herself with the view from each room, Shoplick developed a planting design that blocked the most egregious prospects and added a variety of color and texture that could be enjoyed for most of the year. Since most of the plant bed lay on the north side of a fence, shade-tolerant shrubs and perennials mostly comprise the plant palette. Shrubs include Sweetspire, Oakleaf Hydrangea, and summer-blooming Azaleas; Perennials include Hosta, Astilbe, Bleeding Heart, Barrenwort, Turtlehead, Ligularia, Actaea, and Brunnera. 

 

To add a tall element in the narrow bed that would screen the fence, the homeowner found three bright orange trellises, which she asked Shoplick to incorporate into the design. Shoplick positioned them opposite each of three windows in the home's facade and planted a different shade-tolerant vine at each trellis. The vines planted include Kiwi Vine, Sweet Autumn Clematis, and Moonlight Hydrangea Vine.