Opposites Attract

Public Spaces, Private Places: This Waialae Iki home has two distinctly different landscapes. The small front yard features plants that grow low to the ground and are laid out in straight clean lines.

“This area pretty much gets blasted by the sun all day long,” says landscaper Greg Lee, pointing to one home’s sloping and nearly shadeless backyard. “So, all the plants we put back here are suited for full sun exposure. Otherwise, you’re looking at a lot of problems and a lot of dead plants.”

Lee, who owns and operates Landscapes by Tropical Images with his wife, Terri, was tasked with designing and installing two different landscapes around this brand-new home. The homeowners wanted their back yard to be tropically-themed, somewhat traditional and, of course, durable.

Around the corner and in front of the house, both the homeowners’ wishes and the growing conditions differed distinctly from the back. Since the new home was designed in a contemporary architectural style, the homeowners wanted an uncluttered landscape that wouldn’t break up the structure’s clean, long lines. Luckily, the two-story home protected the front area from the ever-present sun and the occasional high winds, so Lee had a wide palette of plants from which to choose.

However, the backyard’s landscape is allowed to grow thick and lush.

“Environments change from one side of a house to the other. It happens all the time,” says Lee. “But up on these ridges, the differences can sometimes be drastic. In the case of this home, we had a high, facing-out front and a slope in back. We designed one landscape that is more vertical. You don’t want to be throwing things up against the home and covering up some nice details.”

One challenge that affected both the front and back yards was the area’s sparse, poor soil. According to Lee, most of Oahu’s mountain ridges, especially those along East Honolulu, are infamous for their scarcity of good dirt and overabundance of near granite-like blue stone. Lee’s landscaping effort began with heavy excavation. Tropical Image’s work crew removed nearly 20 cubic yards of stone, using some of the fill to tame the property’s severe slopes. On top of this smoothed-over bedrock, they laid down 60 cubic yards of top soil (approximately four truck loads), making sure the lot had at least a six- to eight-inch layer of dirt. In some areas, the rich, fortified topsoil goes more than three feet deep.

When it came to plant selection, Lee kept things simple, clean and vertical. Fronting the home, he planted a handful of podocarpus nagi. This slow-growing, angular evergreen echoes the long lines of the house and doesn’t conceal it’s eye-catching façade. Reinforcing the contemporary, upright look of the garden, Lee planted several bridal-bouquet plumeria trees, tall and slender plants, which present their willowy blossoms in elegant bunches.

The Plant Palette: The home’s two yards required a varied collection of plants. (left to right): With its distinctively shaped leaves, black taro provides both texture and color to the garden.The bridal bouquet plumeria tree presents its delicate blossoms in an elegant corsage. Agapanthus, a frequent bloomer, produces abundant and eye-catching blossoms. Red ginger provides an unmistakable tropical look to the garden as well as some spot color.

Below these tall plumeria, the landscape designer placed several layers of plants that vary in texture and color: deep-green, large-leafed philodendron xanadu sits next to bushy akia, slender white lariape, densely packed dwarf lauae fern and elegant walking irises; the latter produces a delicate purple blossom. The collection of plants surrounds a small lawn of el toro zoysia grass.

Surprisingly, the front yard measures in at a little more than 500 square feet. But, by using a small selection of plants and placing them in layers, Lee was able to visually widen the space.

It’s a Jungle Out There: Australian tree ferns bring a touch of the rain forest, while Macarthur palms provide screening from the neighboring homes. However, nothing obstructs the home’s stunning views of the East Honolulu shoreline.

In a protected corner of the front yard, Lee planted a stand of red ginger plants and started a near-seamless transition into the tropical back yard by installing more philodendron xanadu plants nearby. The groundcover continues around the corner and is integrated with an entirely different plant palette.

“You’re always looking for depth, texture and variety in any landscape,” says Lee. “But when you’re working with a transition from one area to the next, you want something that invites you and makes you want to walk around the corner.”

Curb Appeal: In the front, landscaper Greg Lee layered a variety of different textured and colored plants, one behind the other. The strategy adds visual interests but also maximizes space.

The backyard landscape features a practice putting green made of artificial turf; a small, soothing Japanese-style water feature; and a wide, expansive (and sloping) lawn. Of course, everything is bathed in abundant sunshine.

Practice Makes Perfect: A lush and colorful tropical landscape is a beautiful and sometimes distracting backdrop to the home’s practice putting green.

Along the edge of the yard, Lee planted a half-dozen MacArthur palms, which will quickly grow tall and soon provide plenty of shade. He also installed a handful of Australian tree ferns. These plants, with their large feathery fronds, bring a distinctive tropical look to the garden—but are hardy enough to withstand the backyard heat. Below this semi-protective screen, the Tropical Images crew planted a small collection of colorful plants: black taro, purple-blossomed agapanthus and more red ginger.

To tie everything together, Lee decided on a hedge line of pink acalefa for both yards. The fast-growing, multi-colored bush will be allowed to grow tall in the backyard to provide screening from the neighbors. Lee kept the hedge low and neat out front, so that it provides plenty of color and texture without distracting from the real attention getter of the property—the house.

“Getting things planted in stone was the biggest challenge here,” says Lee. “But once we covered everything with soil, we were OK. With the slope and all this stone underneath, we knew drainage wouldn’t be a problem. And, of course, we knew we’d always have enough sun.”