Cherie Foust
Landscape Designer
landscaperetreat@gmail.com
Designing beautiful and functional outdoor spaces
Projects
Designs installed by Homeowners
Curb Appeal & Function all in one!
Opportunity: big enclosed bed, want to add curb appeal and a place to sit in the evenings
Solution: a small paver patio, water feature to drown out sounds, plants & perennials galore to bring in the curb appeal
A Gabion Raised Garden Bed
Opportunity: sunny property with a lot of grade change, want to create an entire produce garden without the stooping and kneeling
Solution: gabion raised garden beds
Cozy Courtyard Hang-out
Opportunity: A wonderful private space but it’s a complete jungle of a mess and can only be used in the summer and warmer days in spring and fall because of this homes geographic location.
Solution: expand the concrete pad with pavers, build a pergola, add a relaxing glider, firepits (yes, more than 1!) and lighting
Relaxing Bird-watching Retreat
Opportunity: An almost large patio, huge oak tree perfect for birds, incomplete space to relax, cook, eat or entertain, ugly light, unneeded sandbox and a messed up threshold…no problem!
Solution: made the current patio larger with pavers, functional & good looking furniture, a warm firepit that can also act as a table top, and planters full of colorful perennials and solar ball jars. Now this is a space they can kick back and enjoy bird watching & hanging out! The final touches were a new patio light and a threshold capable of handling wear and tear.
Raised Garden Retreat
Opportunity: nice area for the garden but fragmented and without a plan, dislike the fencing and the constant battle with the weeds!
Solution: a thick aggregate ground covering with raised garden beds, a firepit and seating for the kids to come hang with mom and dad (until they can be recruited to help!!!)
Low Maintenance Plants Colorado Style
Opportunity: lacking definition to property lines, struggling to grow grass… wanting a low maintenance solution to grass.
Solution: incorporate natural aggregates as the ground cover, utilizing a flat paver style block to separate the lawn from the plants, corner fence line, and fill the bed with colorful trees, shrubs and perennials with low water & maintenance requirements
A Patio Expansion for Gardening & Relaxing!
Opportunity: great space to grade papers, work in the garden and finally relax with family but missing most the components to do these things
Solution: expand the patio with pavers, build a firepit & separate sitting area, build a potting table for future raised garden beds
A little lift here, a little lift there…
Opportunity: newly purchased home in need of love inside and out! This WA couple bought this corner lot for investment purposes but want to enjoy it for themselves as well!
Wanting to get the most bang for their buck, my design focused on curb appeal and a space to hang out in the backyard w/ friends!
Solution: simply adding a split rail fence and transplanting existing plants helped tremendously with the curb appeal. The backyard needed a little more help, with the replacement of old wood with retaining wall block.
Adding a pattern of larger pavers to a gravel patio space provides a cost effective way to create a stylish look.
Needing a little guidance with your outdoor spaces?
Contact me to get a plan pulled together fitting to
your space, your needs and your climate!
Gallery
Trees:
This flowering,
non-fruit bearing Purple Leaf Plum is now approximately 25 feet tall by 15 feet wide. It lives in full sun and
produces beautiful pink blooms in the Spring that quickly blow away and are replaced by the deep purple leafs until they drop in late fall.
I love the Eastern Red Bud because of it’s showy nature.
In the winter it boasts a deep dark brown bark that, in the spring, sprouts the most vibrant hot pink/purple buds all the way up each of it’s branches!
Definitely a sight to see!
The Red Bud completes the show by rolling out these wonderfully heart-shaped purple leafs until the fall late in the year.
A native to this area is the Dogwood, these are growing naturally in my woods. The Dogwood has a graceful, delicate feel and look to it. A great accent tree that generally only grows about 15′ tall and 10′ wide. The blooms come in the spring and hang around a little longer than the Plum and Cherry flowers.
Oak Tree: I was impressed by the shear size of this Oak tree…it was on a homestead in the Jamestown Settlement dating back to the 1700s
Shrubs:
The Camellia is an evergreen with a dark glossy leaf
…the japonica variety blooms in the fall, where as the sasanqua variety bloom in the spring. These shrubs can become quite large. This one is just over 5′ tall and 2 1/2 to 3′
wide, but the one in the front is about 12′ tall and 7′ wide! Great as an accent shrub or for screening.
Loropetalum: What a cool bloom…and hot pink! This evergreen shrub produces a burgundy leaf…some varieties of the Loropetalum remain this dark color, whereas others will turn green.
This “Iris shrub” was brought to me in a bag little over a year ago and is showing it’s quite happy in its new home!!! I haven’t seen any flowers yet but the evergreen leaf is a deep green with a soft look. I’m hoping to see some blooms this year now that it is settled…and I’m hoping to figure out what this might truly be!
Azaleas put on a great show and can go as a standalone or in groupings…always remember to plant in odd numbers…it’s more aesthetically pleasing! Also, try combining several colors into a grouping for greater “pop.”
Weigelia: I’m not a big fan of deciduous shrubs but this is one I would recommend to add to your landscape. This spring bloomer has a vase-like shape in a brilliant pink. The leaf has a unique look with a darker green running along the outside and fading lighter going inward.
Ground Cover:
Variegated Liriope: New growth popping through the weary winter beaten “leaves.” I’ll post another shot once the purple flowers shoot up…and the longevity of the bloom time…spring thru summer is a wonderful bonus!
Ajuga (Carpet Bugleweed) reptans “Bronze Improved”: I’ve got this creeping evergreen perennial in the shade and it’s happy! Lilac flower spikes display early spring. Unusual purple-bronze leaves provide contrast to shrub backdrops!
Creeping Phlox has a “wow” factor about it! Great looking in rock gardens…I love how it cascades over edges…really softens paths too.
Vinca Major: Great evergreen ground cover for the natural area…easy to transplant the trailing growth to cover more area. This variety is variegated and gives the illusion of light in these shady areas.
Winter Jasmine: Not as many plants bloom in the winter so it’s nice to see these bright yellow blooms in January/February…depending on how cold/warm a winter we have.
