Fog-belt courtyard — Inner Sunset

Anyone who's lived in the Inner Sunset knows that summer fog is not a pleasant surprise — it's a permanent condition. This side courtyard faced northwest and sat in deep shade from a large redwood in the neighbor's yard. Every attempt the clients had made to grow things there had failed. When they reached out to us, the space had a layer of decomposed wood chips, a dead rosemary, and a plastic chair.

The brief was specific: make it a place we actually want to spend time in the evenings. That meant addressing both the plants and the experience of the space itself. We added wall-mounted lights on a timer, a decomposed granite path that creates a clear line to walk on, and a small built-in seat along one wall.

The plant palette was built around shade and moisture tolerance, which is not a constraint we usually work within in San Francisco. We used Dryopteris erythrosora (autumn fern), Polystichum munitum (western sword fern — a California native), Heuchera 'Palace Purple', two small Japanese maples for canopy at the scale of the space, and some Helleborus orientalis along the base of the back wall. The whole thing is on drip with a moisture sensor so it doesn't overwater in winter.

The transformation was significant. What had been a dead corner is now a space the clients say they use more than their main backyard — partly because it's protected from the wind that the Sunset is famous for.