Sea Stone.

A north-facing coastal garden in Stinson Beach.

Plate
09
Location
Stinson Beach, California
Site
1.4 acres
Scope
II · Design + build

Status

Design + build · Scope II · Stewardship year-round

Begin a similar brief All plates

I.PLATE 09 · INTRODUCTION

The brief,
in short.

A north-facing coastal slope, salt-spray and wind. We held the existing cypress windbreak, repaired the lawn-substitute (red fescue and seaside daisy), and drew a path that runs from the kitchen door to a small viewing terrace at the cliff edge.

II.I. THE BRIEF

The brief

Half-time residents. The brief was a single requirement — somewhere to drink coffee at 7 a.m. with a view of the water. The existing landscape had been a lawn that the salt killed every summer. They wanted something native, low-maintenance, and not pretending to be a lawn.

Coastal cypress — PLATE 09.A · Cypress windbreak, retained

III.II. THE SITE

The site

Stinson Beach: north-facing, fog-soaked, salt-blown. The lawn had been failing for years. Existing Monterey cypress windbreak on the western edge that we kept; without it, nothing would survive the wind. Soil thin over rock at the cliff edge; deeper near the house.

Festuca meadow at cliff — PLATE 09.B · Fescue carpet to the cliff edge

IV.III. THE INTERVENTION

III

The intervention

Lawn out. A meadow of Festuca rubra and Erigeron glaucus replaces it — a soft surface that reads as a lawn from the kitchen window but doesn't pretend. A drifted gravel path from the kitchen door to a small bluestone terrace at the cliff edge. The terrace is the morning-coffee spot; we held it small on purpose.

V.IV. THE PLANTING

The planting

Festuca rubra carpet. Erigeron glaucus accents. A cluster of Romneya coulteri at the cliff side for spring. Achillea and Stachys for color in summer. The coastal palette is a short list because the conditions narrow it; what's there has to thrive on the coast first and look right second.

VI.V. MAINTENANCE PLAN

Maintenance plan

Spring + summer visit cadence; quarterly winter. Cypress windbreak inspected yearly by an arborist. The fescue meadow is edged twice a year. We replaced one Romneya in year three after a coastal storm took it; standard year-one warranty had lapsed but we did it anyway.

VII.MATERIALS · PLANT SCHEDULE

4 MATERIALS · 6 SPECIES

MATERIALS