Mid-century patio gardens, 2008.

Sometimes everything has to follow one theme. Sometimes, not so much. This design created transitions between outdoor rooms, each with its own character. Arrive, entertain, relax Arrival The entire front, including the home’s façade and garage door, got a redo. The biggest issue was that once you were in the entry patio, you were basicallyContinue reading “Mid-century patio gardens, 2008.”

Retrospective: An early design

Endings. Beginnings. New Year. Time to run a retrospective series, telling stories of design across a not-so-epic scale. Hopefully you’ll be amused, entertained and enlightened. It started with a party in 2000 We came into this project after meeting an architect at a party, who was working on a custom house, very clean, very chic.Continue reading “Retrospective: An early design”

Four options for a new back yard

This is an example of why we get professional surveys. We sketched a pool that encroached on some rock outcroppings on the slope, not readily visible from the house. The survey also gave us the exact slope, useful for calculating retaining wall heights, steps, terracing… This was supposed to be four equal sized images, sinceContinue reading “Four options for a new back yard”

Miles of ideas: remote consults + design

We developed workflows to work remotely because of COVID, but it turns out that they’re great for designing landscapes that are impractically distant. This design would have stuck us in the car for about five hours. This composite image uses multiple data sources, plus input from our client, to create something “close enough” for aContinue reading “Miles of ideas: remote consults + design”

A tapestry of colors for a front yard

Low-growing plants create a tapestry of color, punctuated by bold agaves, backed by taller shrubs and trees. It’s a great place for hummingbirds and pollinators, too. This garden has been growing for several years now, and has moved into the phase where maintenance centers on keeping the plants in bound as opposed to letting weedsContinue reading “A tapestry of colors for a front yard”