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Classic Style Courtyard Fountain
It’s wonderful for me to visit landscapes I’ve designed and installed a few years later. This landscape/garden was designed in a ‘classic’ style to echo the home’s architecture. The hard-scape–the sitting/retaining wall, the steps and landing, the fountain, the courtyard paving all looked great when just installed. The plantings did too. But now 6 years later, the plantings… Read more
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Gloomy Weather Week, but not from my windows
It’s certainly been another rainy gloomy week in the Northeast. Reminds me of winters in Santa Cruz, CA. The only bright spots are the views from my windows. Out the back, a tapestry of different greens created by a variety woodland trees with a flowering cherry or two, a scene so beautiful I find myself in awe… Read more
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Visiting a Landscape I Designed/Installed in 2006
It takes a few years for a landscape I design and all its elements to approach the vision in my head. This image taken last week shows the garden in early spring–not all the plantings are up. Even just finished–the custom design of the welcoming gate to the back garden, the meandering path from drive to back… Read more
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As a Landscape Designer I design the seen and the unseen
In April and May, our native and cultivated landscapes come alive. Some are magical–other’s not- so- much. My work as a landscape designer takes the “not-so-much” into magical. As humans we notice the plantings–when they bloom and their shapes in relation to others. What we feel, but don’t usually notice in a successful garden is the… Read more
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Latest Discovery
The Bloodroot pictured above responded to yesterday’s sun by opening its’ flowers. Bloodroot or Sanguinaria canadensis occurs in our native hardwood forests and as you would expect from its’ name has a red colored root. For me it’s one of spring’s delights to rediscover each year on my garden journey. I treasure it as it’s fleeting–a spring efemeral… Read more
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Discovery, Astonishment, and Sharing
A few lines from Mary Oliver’s poem were sent to me. It reads “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” Living within a garden makes it easy to follow her instructions. A journey of discovery offered each day. It’s the opportunity to pay attention and discover, and in that process, notice your breath and connection to… Read more