A Spanish architecture residence was recently built amidst the upper Napa Valley vineyards, with the first floor of the house and sheds up in the air to meet flood standards with a young Napa River running down the back of the property, and a basically dirt vineyard road separating the front of the property from a big vineyard.

The client wanted a Water Wise Landscape that complemented the architecture, began to provide shade in the yard, and screened some onsite tanks and structures as well as the raised entry terrace at the front door.

Entry stucco walls and wrought iron gates open to a wide walkway that splits around a dry fountain planted with fragrant Parma Violet.

A multi-layered hedge for visibility from front and back runs across the front of the site with plants selected for dust tolerance and reduction, then color. Behind it run large areas of Myoporum and other ground covers over a septic field. Between these areas and the house, one of several lawns of artificial turf, which were designed to be curvilinear or oval in shape for scattered planting around the edges.

The side and rear design include a home vineyard, a small fenced Kitchen Garden, then thru a wire mesh fence and gate to large turf areas framed by medium and large Evergreen shade and flowering trees. A Centrally located Bocce Court, with small shade trees and a bench at each end, is complemented by a free-standing, pondless stone waterfall opposite the bedroom windows that can be lit up at night, framed with a striking variegated grass.