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The Kobrinsky Garden Experience:
A Construction Perspective
CASEY LYON
A
fire pit is the nucleus of the Kobrinsky
*garden, visible from most windows in
their home and the celebrated hub of activity
for both human and hummingbird visitors
alike. A strong team is needed to create a garden like the Kobrinskys’. It takes a study of the
delicate nature of the “goings on” in the shared
oak woodland, a landscape design that reflects
the architecture of the home and the wild, a
team of worthy professionals, and a client
willing to take a risk.
Michael Kobrinsky spent his childhood in
this same oak woodland that hosts his new
home in the rolling hills south of Salinas,
California. He grew up wandering, running,
and playing in the woods, and discovered a
fondness for the simple, intact nature of the oak
woodland community. Here, that community
begins with coast live oaks (Quercus agrifolia)
and understory shrubs like Little Sur manzanita (Arctostaphylos edmundsii); yerba buena
(Satureja douglasii) and grasses like Melica imperfecta and Elymus glauca carpet the ground
between and under the dominant woody plants.
At the onset of our landscape work, Jolie
Kobrinsky was focused on the architecture and
construction of their new house, but she was
fully behind the team responsible for the landscape. She may not have realized that the home
and garden would eventually come to rest as
one unit, but she would come to love both —
dearly and equally.
Michael wanted a garden around his new
home that incorporated all of the plants that he
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grew up with. With a goal like that, he could
have made no better connection than with
landscape designer Bernard Trainor. They met
in June 2005 and worked on the design for
approximately eighteen months.
Starting with the Site
With Bernard, you never know whether to
wear work boots, hiking boots, or flip-flops to a
job site; so I usually pack all three. I definitely
needed the hiking boots for that first visit to the
site in March 2006. We spent most of the day
hiking through the woods, identifying and cataloguing the vegetative components of the
woodland. From that list, we developed a plant
palette that would be “borrowed” for the new
landscape; eventually, Bernard would add
other plants to complement those on site,
choosing both native plants and those from
other parts of the world that are adapted to the
annual summer dry period. Present on that day
in March were representatives from Bernard’s
office, from the general contractor’s office, from
the landscape contractor’s office (me), and the
clients. It’s not every day that you get an opportunity to drag both the owners and construction team into the woods for a meeting, but it
pays off in the final product.
With construction of the house well underway, landscape work commenced in April 2006
in the fire pit area. That area had been slated by
the civil engineer as the drainage pit for all the
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Bedroom Wing
Bioswale
Pool
Drive
Living
Entry
Deck
Garage
Fire Pit Area
Bioswale
Plan of the Kobrinsky property. Drawing courtesy Bernard Trainor + Associates
stormwater runoff and the fog drip from the
roof. Bernard and his team were adamant,
however, that the landscape should start right
at the spot that had been forgotten about in the
early site planning.
The Fire Pit
The fire pit space is an area approximately
thirty feet by twenty feet on the south side of
the main residence, at the juncture of the main
house, the garage, and “the cave” (Michael’s
man room). Seventy percent of the storm drains
were routed right into the heart of this space.
Overlooking the area was a deck on the main
house, with ten-foot-tall sliding glass doors
that would open completely to blur the line
between indoors and out. This is where the
magic began . . .
Bernard and his staff proposed celebrating
the water runoff that had been slated to be
piped off and dumped into the woods through
rock dissipators. To do so meant removing the
pipes all together. Bernard designed an intricate system of spillways, channels, and dry
creek beds that ultimately would slow the flow
of water, allow for natural infiltration back into
the groundwater table, and water the carefully
chosen native trees, grasses, and other plants to
be installed—all the while remaining visible
from the main residence.
The landscape construction team set out hard
and heavy with sculpting the land, selecting
and tagging boulders that would act as
benches, grade relievers, steps off the deck,
water features, and the fire pit. Fortunately, the
general contractor had kept on site all the
excess soil from the building’s excavation. We
had mountains of soil to play with, and the
result was nothing short of phenomenal.
The concept of channeling the water into and
through the property was repeated in other
areas of the garden. We created a dry creek bed
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The large deck in early evening,
overlooking a re-established meadow.
Photographs by Jason Liske,
except as noted
The fire pit area as seen
from the large deck off
the living room; the
garage is beyond
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The entry to the
Kobrinsky home,
with the fire pit
area below and
to the right
The fire pit.
Author’s
photograph
A bioswale carries water under
the glass walled corridor/bridge
connecting bedroom wing with
living wing
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that darts under a wood and glass bridge linking the main living areas to the bedroom wing.
This same channel connects to a series of bioswales, all the while picking up rainwater,
moving it through the soil profile, and deeply
watering all of the new plants.
We would not have recommended this noirrigation approach had the clients not been so
willing to become involved in observing and
tending the garden during its establishment period.
Nature in Control
No Irrigation?
We did something on this project that I had
never tried. About two months into landscape
construction, I suggested putting off the installation of an automatic irrigation system.
Bernard’s immediate response was, “Sure,
sounds good to me. Ask Michael and Jolie
what they think.” I explained to the clients
that not having an automatic irrigation system
would mean that they would have to pay close
attention to the garden and hand water trees
and other plants through at least their first
summer. This was asking a lot for a busy family with a child under two and careers
demanding their time and energy — but they
were all for it. Michael relished the opportunity to spend more time re-acquainting
himself with his childhood woodland.
Thus, there is no automatic irrigation in this
garden. We ran a series of water lines connecting to hose bibbs that have been used at times to
deeply and slowly water the new trees. For the
most part, however, the clients’ hands were
closely tied to the nurturing of the new plants.
This was a risky prospect, as the Kobrinsky
home is set inland in a hot zone with poor soils.
Return to Monterey:
Regionalism and Sustainability
Casey Lyon has helped organize the
Pacific Horticulture Study Weekend in
Monterey next May, and will be one of the
featured speakers. He will also lead us
around at east one of the gardens installed
by Habitat Gardens. See the announcement for this program on page 53;
registration is now open.
34 / Pacific Horticulture
I realized how critical this connection
between the clients and the landscape was
when I visited the site on a day in July to check
up on the “goings on” in the garden. Michael
and Jolie were fully engaged, learning and loving the names and habits of the plants with
which they now shared a common space.
That particular day was typical of summer in
this region, scarcely ten miles from the Pacific
Ocean: overcast in the morning and dead silent
in the woods around the house. As I walked
around the garden on that quiet morning, I
heard the sound of running water. My first
thought was, “irrigation leak!”— a natural
response in most gardens. But there was no
irrigation, so I knew there could not be a leak.
After a little more exploration, I realized that
the running water was condensation coming
off the metal seam roof, through the downspouts, and trickling down our spillways. That
gentle trickling sound was a subtle voice of celebration in the garden—a moment that still
gives me chills. There was automatic irrigation
in the garden —not controlled by a Hunter or
Rainbird clock, but by the natural patterns of
climate and season.
Full credit must be given to the team that created the
Kobrinskys’ garden: the clients (Michael, Jolie, and
Valen Kobrinsky); the brilliant project architect (Steve
Camp), the landscape professionals at Bernard
Trainor + Associates ((Bernard, David, Michael, Eefje);
the landscape construction crew at Habitat Gardens
(Bill Pereira, Cody Lyon, Cam Leavens and their
dedicated labor force); the general contractors at
Groza Construction, Inc (Brian Groza, Michael Owen,
Brenden Connoly, Charlie and crew); the staff at
Carmel Valley Ironworks who fabricated the fire pit
and many elements inside the house; and the many
subcontractors (electricians, plumbers, painters).
Visit www.pacifichorticulture.org
for more photographs of Falcon Ridge.
Jan/Feb/Mar 2011