Challenge:

This landscape is on a hillside that slopes towards the house with surface and subsurface year round water runoff that was causing erosion and damaging the foundation of the house.

Solutions:

LandArc Landscaping & Design decided to bring attention and celebrate the water by installing a large water feature system that integrates the existing spring flow and redirects the flow along a constructed creek bed.  LandArc Landscaping & Design first produced a landscape design as a site map for the proposed installation. Then, the area was excavated and graded to direct the flow of water in a channel. Above the pond a french drain was installed to capture the runoff and direct it to a catch basin.  As the catch basin fills up, the water overflows to cascade into the pond and is directed through a constructed creekbed. Finally, the water exists through a culvert and into another drainage channel to be deposited into an existing lower natural pond below the house.

The plants that LandArc Landscaping & Design installed were designed to be drought tolerant, deer resistant, and low maintenance.  Many of these plants that were installed are native to Oregon, attract pollinators and create habitat for the local wildlife. Large boulders were set into the hillside to add slope stability and natural interest in the landscape.  This landscape is also intended for recreational use by the homeowners. The residents like bird watching and observing the wildlife in their own backyard. On hot, summer days, the pond may become a place to cool off and to enjoy the natural beauty of the waterfall and the wildflowers.  This multi-use landscape now provides habitat for both wildlife and humans. The flow of water has been redirected away from the house, the hillside has been stabilized, and the ecology of this landscape has been restored.

Our Design: