Posts Tagged ‘design’
Color-Changing Evergreens
Funnily enough, no-one has ever asked me to design a high maintenance garden, yet there is a common misconception that low maintenance translates to an endless row of boxwood or a border entirely devoted to rhododendrons. While these may be easy care they certainly won’t win any design awards. Yet evergreen trees and shrubs are…
Read MoreDesign Evolution: doing it your way
As an independent designer I'm in the fortunate position of being able to design gardens that will be professionally installed by my recommended contractors*, by the homeowners themselves, or even by another preferred and local-to-the-site contractor. (*I never accept a referral fee so my recommendation is based on the fact that they always do outstanding…
Read MoreLayers in the Winter Garden
Layering is a way of life here in the Pacific Northwest where on any given day, regardless of the season, you may be reaching for a fleece jacket one minute and peeling down to a T-shirt the next. As I looked outside early this morning the sun was just beginning to rise over the tree…
Read MoreThe Role of a Garden Designer Part 2: Deck Design
A beautiful home, a delightful young family, and a garden full of potential; I knew this was a design project that I was really going to enjoy. Adding a family-sized patio, kid-friendly play spaces that would encourage adventure and exploration, a new kitchen garden within an enclosed courtyard, and low maintenance, easy-care plantings that offered…
Read MorePlanning Fabulous Fall Combinations
Stop what you're doing for a moment, look out of the window, and take a long, hard look at your fall garden. What do you see? I'm sure there are individual trees or shrubs that are breathtaking, but are they shown off to their best advantage? Do they read as random sparks here and there,…
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