Borrowing a View: Tucson Ridge Garden Blends with Desert Scenery

Mohit and Sherry Modi’s Tucson backyard, perched atop a ridge, blends seamlessly with a verdant gorge and the Santa Catalina Mountains. Landscape architect Philip Van Wyck transformed a dead lawn into a series of low walls, planting beds, and walkways incorporating natural granite boulders, solving drainage issues. The design includes a spa, outdoor kitchen, fireplace, and water feature. Drought-tolerant natives—bougainvillea, Dalea capitata, desert spoon, Salvia clevelandii, Verbena rigida—soften hardscape. Blue palo verdes screen neighboring houses and integrate the landscape with surroundings.