March
The site visit
A 30 percent slope of bare red clay washed onto the driveway. Deer had eaten the azaleas. The owners wanted a way down to the creek and a view from the kitchen.
Signal Mountain hillside
From first sketch to planted yard.
Total project cost: $41,500, including the plan.
A hillside that needed a way down.
Every stage began from the same back-deck corner. That is how you can see a plan turn into a place people use every day.
30%slope
42sandstone steps
2boulder-wall terraces
680plants
3 weeksinstall
$41,500total including plan
April
The drawing
Nell translated sun, water, grade, and the family’s daily views into a rough sketch, then a finished colored-pencil plan.
May
Three weeks of building
42 dry-laid sandstone steps, two terraces held by boulder walls, 680 plants, and coir matting across the slope.
October
First fall
The root systems were settling in, with young plants, gold switchgrass, red oakleaf hydrangea leaves, and coir matting still visible across the slope.
One year later
June
The woodland layers are established, the route to the creek is clear, and the driveway stays clean in a storm.
A hillside, considered