Press

Miniscapes put gardens on small scale

By Gloria Young Home & Garden
6/3/10 Auburn Journal

Courtesy to Home & Garden

The beachcomber miniature garden features a grass-roof structure with sand and tropical-inspired plants.

When the economy slowed business for landscape designer Katrina Leonidov Fairchild, she took a creative path to downsizing.

The Meadow Vista resident set her sights on miniature gardens.

Created in 14-to-16- inch diameter containers, they’re smaller versions of landscapes Fairchild would actually create on a life-size scale.

“I’m interested in the elements that make up the design, from the same perspective that I tackle a site for someone who wants a design,” she said.

Most are built around structures — gazebos, pergolas, patios. For her first miniature design, she started with a cabin.

“I adorned it with rock on the fireplace and painted it to look like a cabin you’d find in Tahoe,” she said. “One thing led to another and I found some plants that mimic redwoods or pines and then added rock and stones and basically it started to look like places I’ve visited.”

That got her started thinking about other places she’s seen.

“I created one on La Paz, Mexico,” she said.

Another of the gardens had a Harley theme.

“I bought a miniature Harley and included it in one of the landscapes, calling it ‘Ride into Tahoe,’” she said.

She drew upon her Texas heritage for another garden scene. Planted with cactus, it has a motorcycle riding through the dessert.

Then there’s her mini-take on the California coast.

“I made it look like it was on top of a cliff overlooking the water,” Fairchild said.

For the water, Fairchild used recycled blue glass.

One of the scenes reflects time she spent in Africa.

“It was called ‘Remember Africa,’ and I made it in a little tin bucket and incorporated some grasses and gravel and two lions. The lions were plastic but very realistic. I usually don’t use plastic but this was an exception.”

Fairchild keeps the miniature gardens as true-to-life as possible.

“I strive to use real materials — real stone, gravel, real wood furniture,” she said. “I refrain from plastic or anything fake looking. I even use real driftwood. When I take walks, I’m always looking down searching for things I can use in the landscapes.”

When she started displaying her designs at home shows and fairs, they struck a chord.

“People actually stopped to analyze them and look at them,” Fairchild said. “They’d begin smiling. I asked them, ‘Do you see yourself in that landscape?’ and they’d say yes.”

A design with an arbor caught the eye of Nevada City resident Natasha Shubin.

“It was an emotional thing,” she said Monday. “When I saw it, it was like a little yard and a little garden and it was just like coming back to my childhood. I just wanted to go in there and be in there — like Alice in Wonderland.”

Shubin said she keeps the miniscape on her deck, within easy view from a nearby window.

When she creates the designs, Fairchild plans them around where they’ll fit into a home landscape.

“Just like doing a regular planting plan, I evaluate what kind of plants go together,” she said. “I group them into ones that like full sun, part shade or full shade; and that need the same amount of water. Others I create for indoors.”

Maintaining these small gardens takes some special care.

“Because these are plants that grow slowly, you have to back off on fertilizing. That’s different than something that’s growing life size,” she explained. “You don’t want them to be fast-growing. And you must trim them back in small amounts from time to time. You can even use scissors.”

Depending on location indoors or in the garden, most of the miniscapes will need only a little water once a week or every two weeks, she said.

At the same time, she stresses that they’re not bonsai designs.

“I don’t tinker with the roots,” she said. “I don’t control the plants. It’s a totally different thing.”

When Fairchild began selling the designs, she noticed that customers would ask a lot of questions about how to put them together.

So she decided to offer a class in making the miniature gardens and also to sell the tiny items needed to create them.

“I thought, I’m always about helping people put their gardens together, so why not share this expertise in landscape design and apply it to miniatures,” she said.

Her first class on miniature gardens will be June 19.

Cost of Fairchild’s ready-made miniature gardens ranges from $50 to $100, depending on the amount of materials used. She also will do special orders reflecting hobbies or special interests.

Designer puts landscapes in view

By Gloria Young Home & Garden

1/14/09 Auburn Journal

Ben Furtado/Home & Garden

Steve and Debbi Holden relax on the circular stone seating area in the backyard of their home in the Winchester development. Designed by Katrina Leonidov Fairchild, the informal entertainment area makes the most of breathtaking views of the Sierra.

As Winchester residents Steve and Debbi Holden watched the progress of their new home’s construction last spring, they knew they wanted to make the most of the site’s spectacular views.

Landscape designer Katrina Leonidov Fairchild made that happen.

Fairchild, one of only a few Association of Professional Landscape Designers–certified landscapers in the Sacramento area, was selected as the association’s member of the month for December, she said recently.

“In landscape design, you have to be an extra good listener and then apply what you’re hearing,” she said. “Sometimes it is a slight expression or a slight pause to something I’m proposing that tells me it’s not what clients want. So I give them some other options and wait for the excitement.”

When she plans a project, Fairchild looks beyond trees, plants, shrubs and lawn.

“It is the hardscape that sustains the beauty of the landscape,” she said. “Build the cake first, which is the hardscape, then the icing is the plants and the sprinkles are the garden decor — statues, pots, lighting.”

The scope of her work ranges from raw land, to multi-million dollar homes, to condominium courtyards.

One of Fairchild’s projects was creating an outdoor space for a client renting a condo, where budget was a major consideration.

“I gave the space a focal point with a free-standing arbor and incorporated a very large urn that was a bold, stunning cobalt color,” she said. “I then incorporated some pots next to it and added ornamental pebbles and flagstone. The rest was embellished with softscape. It wasn’t too expensive, it was stunning upon entry and it could easily be changed with a new homeowner coming in.”

The project for the Holdens was on a whole different scale.

“Winchester requires landscaping to be in before the house is completed,” Fairchild said. “But I wanted it to be something they were going to be happy with for a long time. It’s a special house that they’re not going to turn around and sell in a couple of years.

The Tuscan-style home needed a hardscape design to complement the interesting architectural elements. There was already a back patio planned by the architect.

“It needed a second seating area and a garden that was less formal, and something to take full advantage of the view,” Fairchild said.

She came up with a “garden room” featuring half-circular stone seating, a fire pit and a small space of lawn.

Fairchild also wanted to create a focal point to draw the eye to the scenery in the back. Her answer was a curved arch.

“That is the arbor that introduces the mountains and the trees,” she said.

For the softscape landscaping she opted for very young plants and trees.

“Most designers will choose something that is mature — three to five years old minimum,” she explained. “I chose the very young landscaping to demonstrate why hardscape is more important than the softscaping. It is the hardscape that sustains the beauty of the landscape when all else fails, especially in winter.”

The Holdens are pleased with the results.

“I love the arbor idea,” Debbi Holden said. “I probably wouldn’t have thought of it on my own. It’s just the way it creates a second entrance to the backyard. It’s a combination along with the area where the fire pit is located.”

The couple chose Fairchild for the job in part because of her familiarity with the area.

“She also lives in Meadow Vista and we felt the stuff she was going to pick for our yard would be the right plants for our area,” Debbi added.

“She’s passionate about what she does and she seemed like she was going to get things done in a timely manner, and her prices were very fair,” Steve Holden added.

The Holdens, who moved into the house in late summer, used the circular seating area for their Christmas card photo and said they look forward to enjoying the spot even more when good weather arrives.

Fairchild plans the design for her clients. But she doesn’t do the installation. However, she monitors the job through completion, making changes as needed to stay within the design intent, she said.

Fairchild discovered her flair for design about eight years ago when she returned to school and began taking horticulture courses at Sierra College. While she was taking a landscape design course she got an offer to actually do one.

“I was thrown into it cold turkey,” she said. “That was the beginning of my career and the passion for it.”

For homeowners considering new landscaping, she suggests they do some homework before making any decisions.

“Pick up some magazines and tear out some pages,” she said. “They should take pictures of neighborhoods and landscapes they like, or places they’ve visited.”

And look for ways to incorporate special things.

“That is what makes a garden truly unique and truly special,” she said.

Auburn home gets 'Extreme Makeover'

Church group takes a cue from TV show to perform landscaping

6/21/08 Auburn Journal

Michelle Miller-Carl, Journal News Editor

courtesy

Michele Nichols, top right, and her daughters, from bottom right, Tiffany, Ashley, and Sydney, get the surprise of their lives as volunteers reveal the front and backyard makeover they completed of the family's Auburn home.

Ty Pennington ain’t got nothing on Auburn.

The Cornerstone Community Church recently came together with local businesses to give an Auburn mom a yard transformation worthy of the show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”

On June 6, volunteers descended upon Michele Nichols’ home she shares with her daughters Sydney, 4, Tiffany, 6, and Ashley, 9.

“This was a huge surprise. I’m still in shock,” said Michele Nichols Friday.

Taking a cue from the host of the ABC TV show, there was even a Ty Pennington-inspired “spiked hair and bullhorn” early morning wake-up call, said Randall Hensley, a member of the church who helped come up with the idea for the project.

The group then shuttled Nichols to Lake Tahoe while more than 50 members from Cornerstone Community Church tackled her overgrown and dry weed-clogged front and backyards.

“It needed a lot of TLC,” said Nichols, a single mom. “It was in sad shape and wasn’t something I knew how to do or financially could do.”

Eisley’s Nursery, Delta Blue Grass, Robinson Sand and Gravel, Diamond Pacific, Placer Equipment Rentals, Sierra Pipe, and Leonidov Landscape Design, and High Ranch Nursery, Inc in Loomis donated supplies and services for the effort.

“It was incredible to see the volunteer spirit, excitement, compassion, and happiness of all the kids and adults working so diligently together to transform this young mom’s world,” Hensley said.

After two long days of hard labor, Nichols was presented with her new front and backyard landscaping in true “Extreme” fashion.

“They did it in grand style,” Nichols said. “They ‘moved the bus,’ did the blindfolding, the whole bit. Sunday was Ty Pennington-worthy.”

Nichols said her daughters were also thrilled with the new landscaping and ran from frontyard to backyard in excitement.

“True to the TV show she was crying, the kids were excited, the neighbors were clapping,” Hensley said. “Smiles and sore muscles were shared by everyone.”

Nichols said she was grateful for an experience she wouldn’t soon forget.

“This was motivated by God’s love,” she said. “They were showing that our family was loved by them (the church) and by God.”

The Journal’s Michelle Miller-Carl can be reached at michellem@goldcountrymedia.com.