Battle Ground resident Juan Lopez fashions one-of-a-kind items out of used tires, like this colorful planter filled with artificial flowers.
Employing largely reusable material like water bottles, tires and artificial turf, Battle Ground residents Juan Lopez and Graciela Torres have created low-maintenance landscaping that set their family’s yard apart.
Hundreds of water bottles, over a dozen tires, several yards of white decorative rock, stepping stones, patio pavers, edging brick and 1,200 square feet of artificial turf are the elements that make up an eye-catching and low maintenance yard in Battle Ground. Despite its earth-friendly appearance, saving the planet one yard at a time had nothing to do with the owners’ vision.
In 2015, Juan Lopez and his wife, Graciela Torres, purchased a home located north of Main Street in Battle Ground. At the time, it had a typical front yard with an established tree planted in the middle of it.
“I like to stay busy every day. All the water that we drink, we save the bottles. One day I was playing around and started making shapes and designs around the big tree,” Lopez said.
Lopez spent two years breathing life into his initial concept and completed the front side yard parking pad in the fall of 2018. Tackling the yard after work and on the weekends, he dug up all the sod, mounded up fresh dirt and laid artificial turf that came from California.
California transplants, Lopez and Torres were familiar with the type of artificial turf they now have in their front yard. Lopez was looking for a certain shade of green, defined blades, and material that bounced back and held up to being walked on. Installing synthetic grass is not a simple DIY project and the contours and character of Lopez’s yard require a level of skill and attention to detail that even some professional installers lack.
Water bottles were then filled with sand to retain their shape in the sun and the cold and inserted, one after another, as a unique border around the grass and flower beds. Masking paper was rolled out to cover the ground as Lopez spray-painted the majority of the bottles white — which he later changed to his favorite color, key lime. A design around the trunk of the tree is painted in red. Serpentine shapes add to the visual interest.
Holding a mix of synthetic and real flowers and a grouping of topiaries, recycled tires anchor the yard with pops of red, white, blue and yellow. Lopez took this idea from his day job.
“We own a tire shop and auto repair,” he explained. “We charge to dispose of the tires and some customers take them away instead and use them to plant tomatoes. I thought ‘if customers plant tomatoes, I’ll plant plants.’”
In fact, Lopez and Torres own two tire stores and an automotive shop in Southwest Washington. To direct his creative energy, Lopez fashions one-of-a-kind planters out of used tires, cutting the pliable material to resemble flower petals and even using the wheel to design multi-tiered water features. These are not items he makes to sell but, rather, to set his family’s yard apart.
“Low maintenance had nothing to do with it. I really wanted something beautiful that’s different,” Lopez said.
Recently, the mass of synthetic flowers that guarantee year-round color in the yard were pulled from all the flower beds and replaced with petunias. In 2018, the Lopez-Torres yard was bursting with 300 petunia plants. This year, thanks to their annual drive to Woodburn, it has over 300 plants chosen for a variety of colors. By mid-June, the beds will be in full bloom.
Torres helped with some of the heavy lifting as the new yard was installed but, mostly, she stands back and offers constructive criticism for final tweaks. The side yard parking pad made of pavers came about after Torres decided white decorative rock didn’t look right at the base of the large tree. Lopez agreed with his wife’s eye, moved the rock to the side and created a parking area that looks attractive and whimsical when it’s not in use.
This year, they are fine-tuning their plantings by experimenting with shade-loving and sun-loving flowers. This will extend the color spots later into the fall and compensate for warmer summers.
Lopez is quiet about the amount of work and thought that went into his yard but his wife is immediately proud and supportive.
“I can tell, when anyone tells him about how good his garden looks, how happy it makes him. I can see it on his face,” Torres said.
