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Lembke Residence
Design Approach & Features
The Lembke Residence is located in a suburban neighborhood that lies within a river basin in Flagstaff, Arizona. The property originally featured large lawns, mature aspen and fruit trees, and a driveway that drained toward the house. The Lembke’s growing family needed entertainment space and a garden, but they also wanted to retain part of the lawn.
Phase I began with replacing part of the driveway and pouring new sidewalks in the back landscape. A new colored concrete patio was installed and edged with sandstone and two planters, veneered with sandstone and stucco, were built for a flowerbed and a raised garden. A dry-stacked sandstone wall was constructed to separate a basketball court from the garden. Three French drains were installed to collect rainwater from the roof and send it into deep pits lined with cobbles and buried in the lawn.
Phase II entailed building a raised, dry-laid, sandstone planter on the south side of the lawn for a flower garden that would screen the neighbor’s house.
Phase III involved reconstructing the front — a long driveway and sidewalk trimmed with junipers. The rest of the landscape was a large bluegrass lawn with an aging irrigation system. We replaced the lawn and junipers with a wildflower / native grass meadow that was raised up 2 feet and tilted back toward the house with the help of a dry-laid sandstone wall. We also installed a new driveway and walkway, along with a stone-veneered planter.
Awards
This project won first place for Professionally Installed Landscapes, Xeriscape Award, for the City of Flagstaff in 2006. It became the flagship for a City program that encouraged residents to replace Kentucky bluegrass with attractive, drought-tolerant plants. Schaafsma Design helped start this program at the request of the Water Conservation Office, headed by Adam Miller and The Arboretum of Flagstaff with staff member Brian Keeley.
The Landscape Construction Team
Dennis Ellsworth Concrete: Driveway and sidewalks - Casciani Stone Masonry: Veneered planters, sandstone patio trim, dry-laid wall
- Schaafsma Design: Landscape design, planters, French drains, landscape and dry laid-wall in front of the house
