Linden Court.

A master plan for a courtyard, drawn before any wall is poured.

Plate
07
Location
Oakland Hills, California
Site
0.62 acres
Scope
I · Master plan

Status

Master plan only · Scope I

Begin a similar brief All plates

I.PLATE 07 · INTRODUCTION

The brief,
in short.

A drawing set for a young family who already had their builder. We surveyed the site, walked it twice across two weather systems, and delivered a 30-percent construction set with plant schedule. The build will happen in 2026 with a contractor of their choosing; the drawings hold.

II.I. THE BRIEF

The brief

A young family with a contractor relationship of fifteen years and a clear preference: they wanted a binding plan, not a construction crew. They had walked four landscapes that they admired, sent us photographs, and asked for a courtyard that looked like the corner of one of them — the small one in Atherton with the hornbeam and the gray sedge.

Sedge and stone detail — PLATE 07.A · Carex margin at the path turn

III.II. THE SITE

The site

Sixty-two hundredths of an acre on a corner lot, sloping a foot and a half from the back terrace to the rear property line. Existing oak at the southwest corner. Heavy clay below eight inches. The sun pattern was the gift: the courtyard would get morning sun and afternoon shade, which is the right pattern for the planting we proposed.

Hornbeam standards — PLATE 07.B · Carpinus screen, pruned column

IV.III. THE INTERVENTION

III

The intervention

We held the existing oak as the anchor and drew the courtyard around it. A bluestone walk runs from the back door past the oak to a small terrace at the rear. A low retaining wall in cor-ten doubles as a bench along the south edge. The plant masses are Carex divulsa, Carpinus betulus standards, and a single Acer palmatum at the corner where the path turns.

Studio drawings — PLATE 07.C · Schematic over survey

V.IV. THE PLANTING

The planting

A short list. Carex divulsa is the carpet — drought-resilient, shade-tolerant, the right color all year. Three Carpinus standards form a screen toward the side neighbor; pruned to a column, they read like a wall but breathe like a hedge. The Acer at the corner is the only specimen; it carries the season.

VI.V. MAINTENANCE PLAN

Maintenance plan

Specified in the construction documents. Annual hornbeam pruning in February. Carex margins maintained quarterly. Acer shaped lightly every other year. The contractor's landscape sub will handle establishment; the family is enrolled in our Stewardship roster from year three.

VII.MATERIALS · PLANT SCHEDULE

5 MATERIALS · 5 SPECIES

MATERIALS