Scott – The house and property look awesome, seems like a
fun project. I think you have the right idea with low-maintenance/natural looking
planting in the sloped areas and using walls to create a level lawn space.

Do you have pictures of the boulders or rough sizes? Boulder
walls are simple structurally as long as you do not go too vertical. Without a true foundation, they do shift a
little over time but shouldn’t be an issue for you with only lawn and soil
around it.

If you have a survey/plans with contours on them I would be
happy to quickly share a couple grading concepts. The architect’s site plan could also help
provide more info.

Best, Dean

When you say stuff like, "...cut the hillside so I can install boulders and rock sweeping up from the drive by the road, up the slope, and frame the top of the slope." ... There is so much room for erroneous thinking; I don't think anyone can accurately visualize what you mean. You must find some graphic way to communicate this. It could be a simple plan sketch. Or you could doodle on top of a photo. (Do it digitally in MS Paint.) I'm only talking about a SIMPLE sketch.

I think you need to create a beautiful land form. Right now it looks like a huge chunk of earth was hacked out of the yard. The cut bank at the road is not really a problem. It is other parts of the yard. Do you have access to more soil? I second the request for pics of materials -- boulders and rock -- because their quality and size will make a difference.

I can easily picture a double row of widely spaced, very large, mature trees, limbed up high so the house can be seen but still seems well protected. Of the portion we can see now, I would want it to be more civilized (as opposed to 'natural'.) Development of the ground level bank planting would depend on what light conditions are created. It may take time to create the right conditions.

That is quite a handsome building!

Hi Dean.

Here are a couple of pics of the site plan. The house sits on a hill with a level half acre which used to be garden and will be again with the restored water pumping windmill. There will be a vegetable garden surrounding the windmill. In front of the house on the side where the slope to the road falls away we envision a formal boxwood and rose garden. Below the house sits the barns and a wood lot. From the hill the views fall away to the balance of the 200 ac farm. The last pic shows the turn behind the barns down the lane. The barn yard I plan to enclose with white four rail horse fence and the wood lot will be partially fenced for sheep and the rest of it will be partially cleared and an orchard reestablished. The circular drive will get crushed stone and a new segment of drive will continue past the barns and up to the garden area on the hill with the house.p and windmill. I believe I will eliminate the straight run of drive coming right up to the house and will instead just have the drive wind up to the house through the orchard from the backside and land at the top of the hill. I don't think I like the drive near the house. The site plan doesn't speak much to how to address the slope.

Theslope is kind of a stinker. The county cut the road bed down in the 50s. The grade didn't used to this steep down to the road. It's summer and the rock pikes are covered in brush so no pics. The stone ranges in size from some VW size monsters on down to cantaloupes. After a hundred fifty years of rock picking I don't think there is any danger of running out. It's all roundish Michigan field stone. Thanks a bunch. I'm struggling to visualize the sweep of the rock and how we want to reshape that part of the hill.

Yardvaark

This rock on the shore came out of the pile I have on hand. It's common field stone. I transported it some 200 miles to my cabin so it's on the smaller side of what is there. Top soil on hand is unlimited. The Case 860 Construction King backhoe had a hard time accommodating some of the individual boulders in that rock pIle. Min 3,000 lbs per. I'm not really sure how the road cut should be terraced. I like the huge chunk of earth stripped out of the hill to create the tiered wedding cake effect with the house sitting on top. I believe this to be a 1800s landscaping practice as I've noticed other residential buildings of the era with the same treatment. The inspiration for the project is the Parthenon sitting high on a rocky barren outcropping. For that reason, I was not in favor of masking the foundation with a picket fence or foundation plantings. I'm vacillating on that now, but I still do like the look of the house sitting exposed and high. Likewise, I've seen a mock up of the house with wood shutters. I'm thinking the look becomes more "home" and less temple with the shutters. Not yet constructed is the front porch which will be a platform sans railing to mimick climbing up the alter. I do believe I will plant white ornamental trees as shown in the site plan. The interior surfaces are all white and marble in keeping with the temple inspiration. Certainly, I could eliminate the terrace in the front yard with top soil fill and grading. That isn't what I am planning to do. Perhaps I should. Comments welcomed.

With a sizable space, it's possible that a few photos mislead. But from what I see, I don't think the chunk of earth missing from the "front" yard reads as you think it does. To me, it seems as if the base has been weakened. There is rule of landscape design that I follow without exception and it's that everything must look strong and properly engineered ... whether it is important to the function, or not. Things that look weak destroy a design whether they matter at all. I can subscribe to the idea of a temple on high, but that is not what the scraped out portion does for me. In the photo, it looks to me as if the base is in danger of giving way at the corner of the building nearest ... like the top layer of cake is not sufficiently supported. There may be a disaster when it is transported to the wedding hall. I would explore this issue more.

I still don't understand how you envision using the rock. It looks smaller than what I was thinking, per how I thought you intended to use it. For it's size, I would be thinking of mortaring together into a structure more substantial.

It seems like an awkward fit with the rose garden.

Your points are well taken Yardvaark. I did not perceive how the tiered side yard communicates instability of the structure. I'm on site now (500 mile commute) and will look at it with a new eye. Replacing the terraced side yard with gentle slope is under strong consideration. I've been at loss as to what to do. The big Cat excavator is on sitefor other work. I have a few days to figure it out.

I'm thinking the lower terrace on the side yard should have boulders added to visually strengthen the landscape plan and tie in visually with the stone foundation of the house. I'm thinking the terracing itself should stay. A look at classical temples shows them exposed and often times on a platue. I also noticed how the vertical evergreens in the foreground of some of these ancient sites provides a sense of scale and antiquity. I believe the evergreen was regarded as a symbol of ever lasting life

The help is appreciated Yardvaark. The excavator is on site working now to install the new septic system. I was able to advise him to install the tank and field a bit deeper than he would otherwise based on the grading he will be doing.

Scott - If you are able to use larger size boulders (2-3ft+) I think tiered stone walls would help achieve the look you want. The height of the walls could hopefully stay around 3' to not become overwhelming or distract from the home. You can space them out slightly to have lawn space between.

The image below I quickly show a possible layout for the walls in the black.

Progress pics from today.

It's a little hard to see the details but it seems like the look is becoming smoother, which looks better to me. You are filling the chiseled portion? What is your opinion?

We began by softening the terracing in the yard and slope to the road. As that work progressed I decided to eliminate the terracing of the yard all together in favor of a gentle slope. These pictures show the terraces softened in appearance. The backyard is being leveled and a lot of additional grade work is being done to the wood lot adjoining the backyard.

It seems much improved. It's nice that you are able to be on top of the project as it happens.

Couple more progress photos. Horse shoe drive and parking area also being rejuvenated with crushed stone.

I think it looks much better than when it had the chiseled notch along the side. (You agree ...?)

Fresh pics from the excavator. Looks outstanding and it's still just raw dirt.

It looks spectacular and also much easier to mow. What a gorgeous place!

A few more pics showing the excavation work surrounding the house. The slope on all four sides of the house was altered opening up long views from the south and the surrounding wood lot was selectively cleared.

Looks great! I hope at some point you remove scruffy lower foliage to produce approximately 25' clear trunk on the large, older trees. It will give a stately feel to surroundings.

Yardvaark,

its now about a year later and you can see how I heeded your advice adjusting the grade of the yard. We took about 18" off the top of the hill surrounding the house and graded in all directions. Eliminating the "hump" in the side yard was spot on. The next phase is to decide what to do with this side yard. I like the clean sweep of grass. I've also considered options such as planting a Japanese maple surrounded by boulders near the drive entrance as a near field focal point, or planting a small semi dwarf apple, orchard in the lower side yard, or starting to creating classical symmetrical garden on the side yard. Thoughts and recommendations welcome.

Some additional pics of the other elevations and work accomplished. Picket fence will be added this year enclosing the side and possibly front entry this year. I spent a lot of time digging French drains last summer to keep the basement dry. You can see how high the well is in front of the side porch. It was installed before we graded and was a normal height above the surface then. This gives a good visual how much we changed the grade.