A view into our South Park Urban Garden
Seven years ago I was asked to design a subtropical urban oasis for a very special client. The site had been completely demolished and reduced to a gentle dirt slope that required a detailed landscape architectural solution to include privacy, parking, terrace and garden.
Already located in a sunny warm micro climate of San Francisco, the site was literally a micro climate within a micro climate, as it was flanked by tall buildings, reducing the wind factor significantly.
We decided to incorporate a linear fish pond that would run the entire length of the garden, with a state of the art filtration system. Raised beds would provide honed and bull nosed marble sit walls, while affording the opportunity to import vast quantities of rich organic soil, to ensure that the plant material would thrive.
The overstory of the plantscape design is rare palm/cycad themed, with a lush understory of cold hardy sobralia, masdevallia, and specialty cymbidium orchids. Subtropical vireya rhododendrons, native to the mountainous regions of Southeast Asia, complete the horticultural storyline.
- Davis
