An Evolution of Landscape Design

Brooke Merriam tends to her family-friendly paradise

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As Brooke Merriam of Bristol says, “a garden is always evolving.” The owner of Sunflower Designs, a landscape and garden design firm, often has clients ask for a low-maintenance garden that’s full of color and texture. “There’s really no such thing as a low-maintenance garden,” she says. “You get back what you put into it.” Those who truly love the act of digging in dirt and pruning back overgrowth will surely identify; after all, watching what happens over time is part of a gardener’s joy.

Amid the pleasant sounds of children’s laughter, Brooke points out some of the more unusual aspects of her landscape design. “I’m not a super formal person, so my garden reflects that – it’s not formal at all.” She believes that a garden should reflect who a person is and how that person lives: “I have two kids, so I’ve created a garden that’s interesting to them as well.” In her yard, one will discover plants that attract butterflies and others with intriguing fragrances. She’s even constructed a vine teepee – bamboo poles rigged together and covered with vines so that her children can play in its belly.

“I began gardening as a child with my mother,” Brooke explains, “and now my children enjoy helping me, especially in our vegetable garden.” The family grows tomatoes (“several varieties”), watermelon, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, spinach, peas, beets, onions and herbs. “They aren’t interested in helping me cook with it yet,” she says with a laugh, “but they do have lots of fun picking the vegetables.”

Brooke employs ecological principles in landscape design; she and her children both enjoy using water from their eco rain barrel to fill watering cans. “Rain barrels are easy to install,” she says. “Just install them at the base of gutter down spouts. You can use it to fill water containers or attach it to a soaker hose.” Extremely important to her eco-friendly design is proper planning of space, such as grouping plants that need lots of watering together in the same spot. “Much of it is right plant, right place,” she says.

Her daughter holds up a watermelon with pride; her son rinses dirt off a carrot below the barrel’s spigot. Brooke walks the property pointing out some of her favorite plantings; there’s Japanese forest grass (she’s “really into unusual foliage”) and there’s viburnum (she “loves” them for shrubs). “A backyard is a place to be shared with friends and family, and serve as a retreat from the outside world,” she says. Clearly, there is a lot of love in Brooke’s yard.

gardens, gardening, sunflower designs, bristol, east bay, the bay magazine

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