A quality job can take time. In my field, that means that a project can take a season and even more to complete. That was the case for a landscaping and construction project we did for Mark and Susan Quinnell. Mark is the owner of the Northfield State Farm Insurance Agency. Landscape architect Spencer Jones came up with a beautiful landscape plan for the Quinnells. It was an ambitious plan that consisted of retaining walls, a step system, an elaborate limestone patio, and a tree and shrub lay-out. It also involved partially dismantling two boulder walls and re-constructing them in four different locations. . We started phase I of the project in the summer of 2005 and finished that fall. Phase II was completed the first week of June 2006. We had a deadline to meet for Phase II, because their daughter Emily was having her high school graduation party that weekend.

During phase I, we constructed the limestone patio and did some backyard landscaping. The most ambitious part of the project was the installation of the custom-cut limestone patio.The patio was very labor intensive, because we cut each stone individually to give it a custom look. We also integrated 3 sitting stones into the patio. Susan will be planting annuals and perennials in a raised flower bed in the middle of the patio. (See photo. Click to enlarge).

Phase II saw us landscape the front, build the retaining walls, and finish the landscaping around the Quinnell’s pool. The timing couldn’t have been better (or luckier!). As we were laying the last roll of sod and sweeping up the driveway on the Friday of graduation weekend, Susan’s parents were getting out of their car and walking past the crew as they were finishing up the drive!

By the way, Emily is spending her first year out of high school in Brazil as a Rotary Exchange Student. She loves her time there, and it has been a great experience for her. She will be coming back in July and will be looking forward to attending St. Olaf College next fall.

click photos to enlarge

Left: Jon Larson and Jordan Docken finishing up the tiered wall system. We put tarps and styrofoam insulation the steps to protect them from any possible damage
Right: That’s Mark helping with a boulder for one of the future walls

Check our website later for an update on this job and some pictures of the finished project!

Last summer, I received a call from Dick Bodman and his wife Hongyuan-Lang to look at a unique project. Dick and Hongyuan live in a beautiful home out by the Cannon Valley wilderness Area in a home built in 2002 by Northfield Construction Company.

Dick and Hongyuan had a large mound of soil left over (left photo, click to enlarge) from the construction of their home, and instead of wasting the soil, they wanted to put it to good use.

Hongyuan had seen some hillside gardens and terracing when she and Dick went to China, so she knew she wanted a series of elevated gardens, with retaining walls and a step system involved. There was already some fieldstone on the site, so we decided to use those in combination with some timbers, similar to another wall we built in the back of the house. (Right photo: John Larson and Matt Grove working on the boulder wall.)

I think the combination of wood and stone that Hongyuan chose created a great look for her wall system (left). The use of the boulders and the wood makes it much more interesting and brings this 6′ terracing system in to scale very nicely. The boulders do a nice job of visually “holding” the system to the ground.

I give Hongyuan a lot of the credit for how this project turned out. She had a vision for what she wanted and was able to communicate it to me during the construction process.

We also added several watering spigots (right) to make it easier to get water to the different terraces without Hongyuan having to drag a lot of heavy hose where she wanted it.

I’ll post an update on the completed project later this spring.