This wonderful project sits on a five-acre property in the middle of the Napa Valley, with a new house and extensive landscaping surrounded by vineyards.  Built for a wine-making couple, Rhyne Designs’ overall design concept was to create a landscape full of amenities to entertain their extended family and host fund raising events. The clean, modern lines of the architecture set the stage for a beautiful central backyard space, with the guest house, pool house and palm trees framing an expansive valley view.  The swimming pool sits in the center of this space with several pleasant terraces around the edges.  A lawn and a Rose garden add life and color, with rectilinear pathways that connect the buildings.  Stepping down towards the view is a large lawn intended to host events, and at the far edge is a bocce court lined with Maple trees for Fall color.

Outside of these central view-oriented spaces are additional gardens that we designed with a rich variety of plants and other elements that create settings for all kinds of activities.  On one side of the house pathways extend through naturalistic native plant gardens to a tennis court and a pickleball court, each with a shaded viewing terrace.  A curving pebble-lined dry creek bed animates the garden and allows for winter drainage and water infiltration. 

An elegant covered outdoor kitchen and living room sits on the other side, serving as an enclosing element for the central backyard but also connecting to a spacious outdoor dining terrace shaded by Mulberry trees.  Stepping down from there we created an area of edible gardens with large raised beds, edible grape vines and a fruit tree orchard.  Adjacent to that is a children’s play area that we designed with fun circular geometry and colorful soft plantings like Lamb’s Ears and Mexican Sage. Rhyne Designs is very pleased to see our design come to life - a fantastic array of beautiful outdoor spaces to entertain all three generations of the family!

The landscape contractor Landesign, won a Bronze Award of Excellence from the National Association of Landscape Professionals for this project (category: Landscape Contracting.)

Architect: Cohn + Associates, Solana Beach, CA

Builder: Dynasty Design Builds, St. Helena, CA

Landscape Contractor: Landesign, Santa Rosa, CA