Top trees for fall color...

This week's posts are dedicated to the beautiful trees of fall - each day a new tree will be posted. Any of the picks will add an explosion of fiery hues to your yard this fall!


Sweet Birch: A beautiful tree, you'll love the sweet birch for it's cinnamon-colored peeling bark and triangular dark green leaves that turn a beautiful golden-yellow in fall.

Natures Gift...

I live my life with a simple ethic... when you give to Nature, it gives back to you. It is a simple rule and one I hold very close to my everyday practice.

I consider my design work and interaction with clients as a way to teach people about Nature. In a way, I do a small part to help restore beauty to the land and help bring Nature back in balance through the landscapes I design.

"The work we do is a reflection of who we are. If we're sloppy at it, it's because we're sloppy inside. If we're late at it, it's because we're late inside. If we're bored by it, it's because we're inside, with ourselves, not with the work. The most menial work can be a piece of art when done by an artist. So the job here is not outside of ourselves, but inside of ourselves. How we do our work becomes a mirror of how we are inside." (p. 199, 200, Gerber, 2001)

Gerber, Michael E.: (2001). The E-myth Revisited: Why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it. New York: Harper Business.

Developing your Natural Environment

Whenever I start a new project I always ask the client: "What is most important? How do you envision yourself (or family) in this space?" I'm there to develop the natural environment to compliment their personal living style... To create rooms and livability outside the house.

Like the garden, there is no set time or milepost that indicates one is complete. We keep evolving.

"The richness I receive comes from Nature, the source of my inspiration." - Claude Monet.
Claude Monet, Water-Lily Pond and Weeping Willow (1916-19).

Learning from Nature...

A student's commitment to learning signifies how I feel every day at work - Not only am I learning something new with each job, but newness is the hallmark of nature, always evolving, always dynamic.

Finding the Heart and Soul of your Land

Your home - and its land - is where the heart is. Essential to the comfort and beauty of your home, your outdoor living space should both welcome you home upon return and beckon you outdoors no matter the season.

Every day is a new day...

And every second in the garden is a fresh gift. The real thrill for me is always when my heart is touched by the spirit and magic of the land. And it is in the listening that I have learned my land lessons.


It is said that "working in the garden means working hand in hand with God." Perhaps this is what ultimately appealed to me and drew me to landscape architecture.

I love the dynamic qualities of the landscape, how it is never ever the same from moment to moment, therefore making each moment a gift waiting to be opened. I have always been inspired through the natural environment, its power, majesty and beauty. We are all drawn to nature on one level or another and respond positively to natural beauty. I am truly blessed to work my passion and be passionate about my work.

In the details...

Everything is in the details... If we do a stone edge, the client is going to notice the beauty when they sit out on the patio, sipping their martini, that it has a quality to it that captures the light. It enables them to see that , yes, this is a hand carved piece of stone, there was detail put into this. Someone actually sculpted this piece and we laid it here on our property - it's not just something off the rack. It is custom to our property. The details are what make people feel good.

"What artist so noble... as he who, with far reaching conception of beauty, in designing power, sketches the outlines, writes the colors, and directs the shadows of a picture so great that Nature shall be employed upon it for generations, before the work he arranged for her shall realize his intentions." - Frederick Law Olmsted, father of American landscape architecture

Exploring the Challenges...

Every garden is unique and has its own set of cultural, architectural, environmental and spiritual conditions. I love the challenge of exploring a new site and finding out about its wonders and mysteries.

Note: the above photo illustrates these challenges wonderfully - it's
surprising there could be so much pleasure in a reclaimed parking lot!

Visualization

I'm a very visual person. I'm always looking at the patterns of the natural world - the compositional elements of color, light, texture, hard lines...

"Work is passive without you. It can't do anything. Work is only an idea before a person does it. But the moment a person does it, the impact of the work on the world becomes a reflection of that idea - the idea behind the work - as well as the person doing it." (p. 200, Gerber, 2001).

Gerber Michael E.: (2001). The E-Myth Revisited: Why most small businesses don't work and what to do about it. New York: Harper Business

What I see...

I see the setting sun, the sun coming down at an angle and reflecting up into people's eyes... their face... and the golden light that comes there. And for me this is one of the over-arching qualities of the site that will play out into the late afternoon.

Speak to me...

So am I the conduit for the site to speak to the building? What does it want to be? How does it want to be at it's best?... "Speak to me!"... I find that meditating before I jump into a design really helps. I sit and I just let these images pass over me. I quiets me enough to let images come. I project myself into that space...

Practical Magic…

The circulation and functionality of what the client intends [to do in their home] and how they intend to experience the space also gives rules to how we solve the problem or provide the resolution. I envision them there and ask myself: what would be the optimal, most magical moment when the light would be perfect? When the sunsets will be glorious and that golden light reflects off the back drop. Whether or not you want to look through vegetation and have the grasses or the hydrangeas back lit - to give it that added boost of mystery - or stare straight out the sea. I work to envision the space with all of my senses before I have even drawn it.

The Art of the Practical…

I have to identify what the problems are. In this plan [sitting on the desk before me] there are a lot of challenges…they are not so much problems as they are all moving parts. They each have a set of rules that guide how the game [of design] is played - so there are a lot of little “games.” The game of how you bring your cars in [into your home], the game of how people arrive at the front of your house and what they see as they come in. The rules of that game are turning radii, the distance to the front door, how much space it takes to park. . . how big is the Mercedes, how big is the Porsche? If a UPS truck came into here would it be able to make the turn? How many cars can you fit in here for entertaining? For parking and for entry there are different rules.

For the private living area of the house - I call it the overriding geometry of the space. What is the most important thing to the client? Is it the views to the lighthouse, or is it the views to the water? Does the prevalence of the Southwest wind over ride that? You have to work to put your different pieces into priority as you sort this out and understand all of the connections between the pieces. . . swimming in the pool, where do people sit? For me, I feel very strongly that someone should sit facing south or west, looking over the water or to the view or to the sun so that the seating should always be on the North or Northeast section of the pool; or on the East.