Landscaping Vision for 101 Skyline Ridge

We’ve gathered several images—including examples from Central Home Supply and others generated to inspire patterns and textures—that help express our vision for the next phase of landscaping at 101 Skyline Ridge.

Below is a summary of our goals and preferences to guide the project:

Project Goals

1. Granite Table Area

   Prepare the existing gold fines under the tree to ensure they’re stable and ready for installation of a granite table that we recently purchased. It has not yet been delivered, so we'd like your guidance on whether to deliver it now or later.(See reference photos below.)

2. Pond Refresh

   Improve the pond by covering the visible liner and burying the exposed pipe. We assume this will involve adding more river rock.

3. Front Lawn Slope—Naturalistic Hardscape + Planting

   Landscape the area from the front porch down the hill using a mix of gravel, cobbles, larger rocks, and select flagstone.

   This should integrate natural textures while shaping gentle pathways or visual channels.

4. Side Patio Integration

   Tie the side patio into the front area using matching or complementary materials—likely flagstone and gold fines—to create flow and cohesion between spaces.

5. Seasonal Wildflower Zone + Daffodil Layering

   Plant additional daffodils on the upper part of the slope (just downhill from the pond).

   After the daffodils fade, this area fills with wild lupine, mule’s ear, and clarkia—so we’d like to preserve that natural succession by keeping most of it wild.

6. Irrigation

   Assess current irrigation and install or adjust as needed to support new and existing plants effectively.

7. Stump Removal

   Please remove the old stump.

Design Concepts + Materials

We’re especially focused on making the area nearest the house more fire-resistant. For this space, we’d like to use non-flammable, textured materials—not just a single gravel type, but a visually interesting combination.

At Central Home Supply, we liked:

• Salmon Bay Gravel

• Small Cobbles

• An unmarked gravel (we can show you a photo)

Rather than straight borders or plain spreads, we are inspired by braided riverbeds and dry creek forms—natural patterns that flow and interweave. We’ve shared images showing how bands of different gravel colors and textures can form meandering pathways or braids, with some areas featuring planted accents at natural crossing points.

Summary of Style Preferences

• Naturalistic, layered, and flowing—not geometric or overly formal

• Fire-safe zone closest to the house (gravel, stone, minimal fine mulch)

• Visual interest through contrasting textures and materials

• Thoughtful integration of paths and plantings

• Seasonal wildflowers and bulbs maintained or enhanced

• Blend of utility and beauty

Let us know if you’d like to walk through the site together again or review the photos in person. We’re excited to collaborate on this next phase!

Salmon Bay. We like this even though it is one of the more expensive.

This unmarked gravel might contrast well with the Salmon Bay.

We like the small cobbles as a texture contrast to Salmon Bay and the other gravel.

We'd love to have some rocks (supposedly this is Sonoma) that have moss on them.

This shows the size we are thinking of. We were told this rock is about $175. We could see getting half a dozen or so based on your advice.

We probably don't need much flagstone, but ideally it would be the same color scheme as our patio. The flagstone would be to provide a few stepping stones to the side of the front porch and to the front porch and pond.

The table is about 53 inches square but needs a footprint of about 7 feet square for the six rock chairs.

We are getting it from Spanish Town, Half Moon Bay. They will deliver and place it for us.

The idea is to contrast with color and texture. There are rocks and this image is just to show the idea of color contrast. Central Home Supply doesn't have much choice on the color front, but I think what they have we can work with.

This image was generated by ChatGPT and modified by me. I inserted phots of the two gravels the chose. This gives one idea of placement.

This is ChatGPTs elaborate idea of a landscape inspired by a braided river bed!

We like the different colors and textures.

This is to show how some flagstone could be used as stepping stones.

An example of different colors and textures.

This emulates a dry river bed. We didn't choose rocks like this, but if you have an idea, we can talk.

Flagstone on gravel.

Interesting pattern using color and texture.

The dry river bed look.