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In February 2009 we created this vertical garden for the Bardessono Hotel in Yountville. This project had some tough requirements. We had about a month to design and install the project. The clients wanted a vertical garden, but there was not any drainage at the site. But the folks at the Bardessono were  fantastic to work with – and we were thrilled to be involved with this LEED Platinum-certified hotel.

I worked with Seth Boor on the design, and my honey Kevin Smith installed the project.

The tillandsias are thriving in the bright light of the lobby. I think they look like fireworks – or mass of sea creatures – or an invasion of aliens.

ABOVE: Flora and Baby Greyson enjoying the Bardessono Hotel lobby

My sweetie Kevin Smith and I worked with Architect  Seth Boor to remodel the little cottage behind our house. Flora worked with Seth to design the small but spectacular outdoor spaces.

ABOVE: This is the front of the cottage. The intention for this garden is that the Azara microphylla will grow up to about 20-feet and have a nice canopy that will be lovely from the street level as well as from the rooftop. The garden is designed to be ultra-low maintenance. The chartreuse shrubs are Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’, which are performing well. The Philodendron ‘Xanadu’ is a workhorse of a plant, looking lovely in all seasons. I just can’t seem to design a garden without Astelia nivicola ‘Red Gem’, the silver grass-like plant that you can see just peeking over the curb. The Ceanothus griseus ‘Diamond Heights’ will someday pop up  over the little curb and soften the line a bit.

ABOVE: The sign above the front door is left over from when the cottage was a dance studio, Betty May’s School of Tap, for many years, from the 1940s until the 1980s.