An Inspired Landscape

Bold and Beautiful in Nutana

Our outdoor spaces became even more important to us in 2020, so when Alora Arnold and Kale Wudrich’s landscaping was completed last June, they were ready to make the most of it.

The couple purchased their first home in November 2019—an A-frame design that didn’t quite suit their modern tastes. Before moving in, they oversaw a complete renovation of the interior and exterior. By the time they moved in during the following spring, the landscaping was the final project to tackle.

Pre-renovation, the house was more cottage core than urban core. Inside, the couple overhauled the cabin-esque kitchen and bathrooms, and sheathed the wood ceiling in a fresh coat of white paint. On the exterior, new siding with black trim and accent

by: JuLie bArnes Photos: LiLLiAn LAne

lighting created a more contemporary aesthetic.

establishing Goals

The couple hired Keystone Outdoor Living to landscape the front and backyard in a style befitting their newly modernized home.

The couple had a firm grasp of their goals for the outdoor spaces. They wanted a place to barbeque and entertain, and a green space for

their dog. They also wanted dedicated areas for greenery, while keeping maintenance to a minimum.

Design Brief

“I have a design background—it’s in fashion design—so I’m pretty clear with my vision,” says Alora. She prepared an art direction board for Brayden Enns, Keystone’s project manager. The board included inspiration images of landscaping the couple liked, with notes on different zones, materials, features and their preferred colour palette—warm wood tones with black and white accents. “We gave Brayden some

Feather reed and blue lyme grasses don’t require extra irrigation once established. direction because I always find it works better when you are clear with your expectations,” says Alora. “It’s helpful to have visuals, so I sent him the pictures and he transformed it into what would work in our space.”

It was just the right amount of direction, says Brayden. “It really allowed for a lot

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Alora took inspiration from the time she and Kale lived in Halifax by planting yellow lupines. The spiky flowers are commonly found in the Maritimes. She also planted two varieties of sedum (on left), blue fescue grass, sea thrift, Russian sage and silver mounds. of creative licence, but at the same time, gave enough guidelines to point me in the right direction and get moving quickly. It makes it a nice smooth project—you actually have a harder time when people are too rigidly married to their mental imagery.”

Street Appeal

The front and backyard were both xeriscaped to minimize maintenance and irrigation needs. New fescue grasses, sea thrifts, lupines and silver mounds add texture and colour in the front yard, while established evergreens create vertical interest.

“Alora wanted to maintain some of the mature plant life,” says Brayden. A mature columnar cedar and a spruce bookend the façade, while a well-established globe

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Alora grows a mixture of herbs and perennials in her backyard garden, including basil, thyme, sage, parsley, hot peppers, catmint, red lettuce and rhododendron.

Alora and Kale designed and built the outdoor sectional from the same type of pressure-treated lumber that forms the deck. cedar sits adjacent to the front deck. “When you are looking at the house dead on, the tall cedar and spruce do a great job of framing the left and right side of the house,” says Brayden.

Keystone created an undulating dry riverbed “to give a sense of movement to the yard,” says Brayden. The yard gently slopes towards the riverbed, so in the event of a heavy downpour, the water drains towards it and slowly percolates into the groundwater rather than flooding the sidewalk.

“When I drive or walk down the street, I look at it and say, ‘This is a statement yard,’” says Brayden. “The owners made a conscious decision to renovate the house and make it look beautiful and they did the same with the yard.”

A Dash of DIY

“We kept the same theme going in the back,” says Brayden. “We used pressuretreated lumber for the deck and the stairs to match the front deck, and the same black aluminum railing that matches the house trim.”

Keystone also created a hardscaped patio in a stepping stone grid pattern with 24” x 24” pavers. The light colour of the pavers creates a sharp contrast with the surrounding charcoal rundle rock. “Having that contrast was pretty important because it shows off the design feature so much better,” says Alora. “It needs to

Alora and Kale built the trellis and cast the concrete planters for their container garden.

Keystone installed 24” x 24” pavers in a stepping stone grid. The blue-grey veining in the pavers picks up the colour of the surrounding rundle rocks. pop so you actually notice it.”

The backyard is a brilliant mix of Keystone’s thoughtful hardscaping and a dash of DIY by Alora and Kale.

“Kale presented us with the idea for the sectional, and he and Alora built it themselves,” says Brayden. “We came back after the weekend and they had it on their deck already. It’s fantastic to see something like that—they wanted to start using and enjoying their yard.”

Alora handled all the plantings herself. “I always used to do the flowers for my parents’ house,” says Alora. “My nana, my mom and I would always do the yard every year. It was always something I liked doing and looked forward to.”

In her new home, Alora wanted to create a space along the garage for a small garden with herbs, lettuces and ornamentals.

“Kale and I always like to do projects, so we poured all the cement planters for the garden,” says Alora. They bought concrete mix and built the molds themselves. “There were many nights of mixing cement in our garage. It’s not that hard—just kind of messy.”

The couple also built their own trellis for this area, which will act as a support for a clematis this growing season.

Brayden says he loves seeing clients customize and personalize their spaces.

“When you have a homeowner who is competent and knows how to build the awesome accent pieces that they’re envisioning, it’s a wonderful way for them to feel a sense of ownership in their yard.”

Puppy Pad for Two

Incorporating some green space for their French bulldog, Birdie, was another key element to the backyard design. Keystone installed an artificial grass rather than real grass, says Brayden.

“With real grass, you have to have fertilizer and a lawn mower, and it’s such a small area, so we decided on an artificial turf that keeps pet odours out.”

Birdie now shares the space with Pearl—an Italian greyhound Alora and Kale welcomed into their home last summer.

The Crowning Jewel

Kale and Alora’s backyard has proven to be a perfect space for both quiet time and entertaining.

“I think I had my coffee out in the backyard every morning last summer. We ate most of our dinners out there,” says Alora. “We are really close with our families so we had both sets of parents over and we would sit around the fire.”

The completed landscaping “was like the jewel on top of the whole project,” says Alora. “We use our backyard so much. There isn’t a single thing I wish we had done differently.”

Julie Barnes

Keystone installed an artificial grass ‘puppy pad’ for easy cleanup and to negate the need for a lawn mower.

Keystone designed the dry riverbed to control runoff and give a sense of movement to the yard.

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