2015 Landscape Award: Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association

This design creates a quiet, elegant connection with the unique cottage architecture of the home.  The result is a sophisticated, beautiful and highly functional new landscape. The home’s curb appeal is boosted by limestone steps and columns, which reflects the limestone embedded in the home’s stucco exterior. A sunken courtyard in the backyard addresses drainage issues and provides the patio and play-space the homeowners craved. Special landscape elements include:

• Contrasting Lilacstone stoop, step treads and walkways
• Curved steps that wrap the patio
• A new built-in gas grill counter
• Plantings that complement the home’s architecture
• New exterior sconces and LED lighting

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These homeowners have a unique mid-century modern home in Edina with an outdoor courtyard situated in the center of the home. Double front doors at the front of the home lead to the inner courtyard. Once inside this inner (exterior) courtyard there are four different entrances into the home. An important functional design element was replacing an aging wood stoop with a new bluestone stoop that has under tread lighting. This stoop is the main entrance into the home. The scope of the project explored ways to create a relaxing and functional space that continued the design aesthetic of their home because it’s viewable connection to so many rooms in their home. They loved natural stone and wanted to have a recirculating water feature that would provide a serene ambiance. The design solution involved using bluestone for the main patio spaces with polymeric sand in the joints to aid in long term maintenance. The bluestone presented as a nice neutral element which works well visually from inside and outside the home. A recirculating drilled boulder surrounded by beach pebbles and a stone Japanese lantern lend themselves to a relaxed Asian theme. Lush plantings including a Japanese Maple, boxwoods, grasses and groundcovers were balanced with the stonework and landscape lighting provided the finishing touch by increasing safety, ambiance and extending the hours of enjoyment throughout the year.

Highlights of this project include:

• Mid-Century Modern design aesthetic
• Bluestone courtyard
• Recirculating “bubbling boulder” water feature
• Low voltage lighting
• Lush plantings with balanced seasonal interest
• Drainage correction

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2017 Award Winner: Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association

This project includes a dining space, sitting area, fire feature and dry creekbed, all built to respect the neighborhood’s drainage pattern. The landscape design allows for entertaining in different configurations: pre-dinner cocktails around the fire, a roaring flame as backdrop during dinner, kids roasting marshmallows while the adults linger within sight at the dining table, or the gang huddled around a bonfire. Special features include:

• A rustic campfire surrounded by bluestone
• Large boulders repurposed in the retaining wall
• Bluestone as a unifying natural element throughout
• A visually-compelling creekbed

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2012 Landscape Award: Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association

After the homeowners completed a significant interior remodel, they turned their attention outdoors. Ground One reimagined their outdoor living space to complement the elegant craftsmanship of their reinvigorated home. The new landscape design fulfills all their wishes: a firepit, grilling area, flexible patio space, a water feature, new fencing, landscape lighting, irrigation and low-maintenance plantings. Highlights include:

• Custom stonework terrace walls
• Bluestone for rich color and architectural integrity
• Gas fire sits atop a stone wall
• Bubbling “walk through” water feature for summer fun

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2010 Landscape Award: Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association

This landscape design + build project represents a dramatic change from ordinary to extraordinary. The homeowners are avid gardeners who wished for a front yard that reflected their home and lifestyle. The new design embraces a steeply-sloped front lawn typical to South Minneapolis. The new design features a diversity of trees, shrubs and perennials along with a series of deconstructed terraces and a new staircase. The highlight of the design is the reveal of a perfect circle of lawn as you ascend the staircase.  Other special elements include:

• Natural stone retaining walls
• Reserved spaces for planting annuals
• Lighting highlights focal points and illuminates pathways

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2019 Landscape Award: Minnesota Nursery & Landscape Association

Our client contracted us to reinvigorate their wooded suburban property. From their swimming pool to winter sledding, this active young family embraces all four seasons and wanted to upgrade the use and appearance of their disparate spaces while adding some new outdoor activities to the mix.

This renovation brought spatial and visual harmony to the property while maximizing usability. The new sunken TV firepit lounge, dining patio, revised deck, and screened porch come together as a harmonious and multi-functional entertaining space and the secondary areas around the property capture more usable space for this family to experience their special setting.

Highlights of this project include:

• Sunken lounge with retractable exterior TV
• Stone gas firepit and portable wood firepit
• Stone paving and seat walls
• Low voltage lighting
• Simple, low maintenance plantings

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Pergola Covered Dining Room

The homeowners have been in their home for 30+years. The homeowners for this Minnetonka project had goals to update the landscaping around their entire property. They had a tired concrete sidewalk with improper drainage and overgrown plantings that needed updating. The backyard had a gradual slope making it somewhat unusable and they really wanted an outdoor living space with a pergola. When entertaining in their new backyard they would need a better way for family and guests to arrive and get to the backyard as they walked through the sloped side yard area.

The design solution was to replace the front yard concrete sidewalk with a new limestone sidewalk and shade tolerant plantings.  Drainage correction alleviated a perpetual slippery spot on the walkway and wayfinding lights were added.  Curb appeal was restored to this family gem!

The backyard is vast and parklike.  With grandchildren in the mix, now was the time to use this space!  Stone steps and plantings in the side yard area lead to the new outdoor room.  A new masonry stone retaining wall creates a flat area for a limestone patio and pergola adorned with stone columns. The new outdoor living room has  two distinct areas for dining and lounging. Large trees were strategically placed for privacy. The addition of landscape lighting to this space creates an ambiance like no other.  Other highlights of the backyard include stainless steel raised garden beds and a 20+ tree orchard.

Highlights of this project include:

• New plantings and sidewalk in the front yard
• Stone steps leading to backyard
• Raised stone patio with pergola
• Low voltage lighting
• Low maintenance woodland plantings
• Raised planters
• Orchard

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