stephanie mckenna’s
Garden Design
Portfolio
My current day job is residential garden design at Miller Landscape Architecture, and I love to freelance too! Here are a few examples of my garden design work.
Moyers Road, Richmond, California {Summer 2023}
A front and back garden in Richmond offer a blank slate for an updated, modern design. In the front, removing part of the existing fence creates an opportunity for a curving pathway through the garden. A privacy screen blocks the street from the front bedroom, and curved corten steel create tiered raised planting beds for added height and interest in an otherwise flat space.
A plant palette that mixes California chaparral natives with sculptural succulents and cacti keeps the garden low maintenance and drought tolerant, with year-round color. Corten steel planters with coordinated plantings help to connect the long entrance walkway with the front door inside the courtyard.
The back garden will include a floating platform deck for entertaining, raised beds for growing veggies, a small meadow area, and a hammock for lounging.
Buckingham Boulevard, Berkeley California {Summer 2023}
A back garden hillside in the Berkeley Hills - there is no existing landscaping, and the client wants entertaining spaces for outdoor dining and a firepit area. I designed a tiered concept with the top patio connecting to the existing exterior pathways around the house, and steps down to a rustic curved pathway that leads to a sunken firepit patio. Native trees mixed with dwarf fruit trees give the client extra shade on the southern exposure and opportunity for culinary harvests.
65th Street, Oakland, California {Summer 2023}
An existing garden space with an established hardscape in North Oakland needed an updated planting plan to integrate more native plantings within the mature beds. The clients also wanted a tapestry meadow for their new dog to run and play in, and additional raised beds for veggie growing. We also added guild plantings under the existing fruit trees, and re-thought the north entrance paving for a more modern and accessible entry.
Sacramento Street, Berkeley, California {Summer 2023}
A design for a small backyard garden in North Berkeley. The clients want to integrate existing brick on site into more cohesive pathways. We also re-jiggered their raised bed edible food garden into a more intentional layout - including space to sit under an arbor covered in evergreen vines, and benches integrated into the raised beds.
56th + Dover, Oakland, California {2015-Present}
When my husband and I became stewards of this land in 2015 the back garden was a giant empty field of buffalo grass and thickly-poured concrete. We had a vision to create an urban oasis filled with secret-garden-esque rooms and meandering pathways, and I feel so grateful for the ways in which we have been able to transform this space on a limited budget.
In addition to the overall design and installation of the garden, I also designed and project-managed the construction of the large covered deck, which has become our outdoor dining room. We love to plan out a new rotation of edible crops in our raised garden bed, and we’ve tried our best to provide small habitats for the local songbirds and pollinators. I would love to add more food-producing perennial plants, and many more California natives - and I love that I have the opportunity to continue dreaming up new ways the garden can evolve.
Landscape Design with Chris Grampp {Fall 2022 & Spring 2023}
A selection of projects from the core Landscape Design class at Merritt College. The fall semester focused on hand drafting, and concluded in a residential landscape design (the first project in this gallery). In the Spring we worked on a longer form project, developing a site plan for a section of the Oakland Zoo called The Wilds. For the first portion of the project I collaborated with a fellow student (Daisy Gerstein). The second portion of the project was a planting plan for a portion of the same space, designed independently.
Planting Design with Terri McFarland {Fall 2022}
A selection of projects from a class focused primarily on planting design. The final project was a residential landscape in San Francisco, and I challenged myself to create a planting plan for the space that included mostly hyper-local plant species native to San Francisco. Earlier in the semester, we worked on a project centered around landscape archetypes, for which I designed a healing forest garden.
Grading & Drainage with Terri McFarland {Spring 2023}
I ended up loving learning about grading & drainage, which really surprised me! Shown here are construction documents from our final project - a public park near a culverted section of Lafayette Creek.
Form & Composition with Chris Grampp {Spring 2022}
A selection of projects from a concept-heavy class focused on landscape design principles. We had the opportunity to play with plan-view and planometric designs for a modern abode in the southwest, explore paving pattern intersections for a courtyard at an art gallery, learn about the different ways trees can anchor a landscape, and design an experiential pathway through a 20-acre open space.
I really enjoyed experimenting with different design drawing styles (both analog and digital) and am excited to deepen my landscape design knowledge next semester in Landscape Design 1 and Planting Design, as well as Freehand Drawing for Landscape Designers.
Permaculture with Lawrence Lee {Fall 2021}
Images from the final project for a class focused on Permaculture principles - in which we learned about propagation, soil health, water use, interplanting, composting, vermiculture, integrative pest management, mushroom cultivation, site assessment, and closed-loop systems.
For this semester-long project, we chose a site and did a site analysis, scale of permanence, interviewed stakeholders, and put together a design concept and timeline for completion. As part of re-envisioning our back garden space through a Permaculture lens, I chose to move a seating area to make space for a keyhole hügelkultur bed with log edges that could also function as homes for native bees.
Hügelkultur Bed Installation {Spring 2022}
Images from the installation of our keyhole hügelkultur bed, inspired by the final project from my Permaculture class. We used offcut logs from our winter tree trimmings, and layered the interior of the bed with mulch, green yard clippings, and soil.
Mallory Avenue, Portland, Oregon {Summer 2020}
A garden design for a friend’s backyard space in Portland, Oregon. The garden was never installed because they ended up moving, but it was fun to envision a space where their toddler could play amongst vegetable beds and climate-appropriate ornamental plantings.
Toyon Glam Wreath {Winter 2021}
My submission for the 2021 CNPS Wreath Masters competition, which won first place in the Avant-Garden category! The wreath is made of 100% California native plants, and includes Toyon branches + berries (Heteromeles arbutifolia 'Davis Gold'), Catalina Ironwood foliage (Lyonothamnus floribundus), Arctostaphylos manzanita ’St. Helena’ inflorescence, Bush Poppy foliage (Dendromecon rigida), St. Catherine’s Lace dried inflorescence (Erioganum giganteum), and Red Alder foliage (Alnus rubra).
Other Portfolio Galleries: