Palo Alto Eichler Garden

Spare at the street, generous out back.

The project

The house does the talking. The garden stays low.

An Eichler in Palo Alto, with bare dirt in front and an old coast live oak over it.

The front keeps faith with the house: a stucco wall and entry gate aligned to the architecture's clean lines, a sculptural succulent bed on almost no water, and a low carpet of drought-tolerant planting that lets the oak, the wood cladding and the roofline read the way Eichler intended.

Behind the wall, the register changes. Raised cedar beds fill with chard, chiles and the family's table, and a side path stitches the two worlds together. The photographs were taken two years after the before shots — grown in and holding up. I led the design at Farmscape and saw it through construction.

Sculptural succulent bed from overhead — form and texture on almost no water — A sculptural succulent bed on almost no water.

The edible garden behind the wall — raised beds in full production — Behind the wall, the raised beds in full production.

Rainbow chard filling a raised bed — the family's table, growing — Chard in a raised cedar bed — the family's table, growing.

The patio behind the wall — Acapulco chairs and string lights against the Eichler, a chard bed running up to the paving — The patio behind the wall, with a chard bed running up to the paving.

Chiles ripening red and green in one of the raised beds — Chiles ripening in one of the raised beds.

The street view after — the Eichler behind its new low garden — From the street, the Eichler sits behind its new low garden.

Before — the front yard as bare dirt, prior to construction — Before — the front yard as bare dirt.

Project credits

Design team — FarmscapeLara Hermanson (principal), Sharon DeBell — design through construction administration

Design & buildFarmscape

ForemanKenny Shearer

PhotographyFarmscape

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