When you can’t get away as much as you like, create your destination where you live. You can play pétanque, dip in the pool, relax on the deck, entertain, enjoy a glass of Côtes-du-Ventoux with your friends. No arduous plane trip required! Maybe you can even speak a bit of French… Materials: Zellige tiles inContinue reading “Provence in Sacramento”
Category Archives: Urban landscapes
Staying home… in the garden
Between working remotely on projects, our garden is the place to go. There’s always something happening if you look closely enough. Every day is different: new flowers in, old flowers out. Different birds. Strange insects and spiders that appear as you sit and watch the plants.
Daffodils: Lots of color. Zero irrigation.
Daffodils rest dormant during the dry parts of the year, emerging during the rainy season to flower. They’ll store energy, expand and go dormant until the next year, all with no supplemental water (as long as we have sufficient rainfall). It might seem strange to pair succulents with lush daffodils, but all these plants areContinue reading “Daffodils: Lots of color. Zero irrigation.”
The plants are in!
Our project in Davis is coming along nicely as plants and irrigation fill in the design. Without the plants (and some other elements) it was much more stark – click here to see our last set of images. Next come the rest of the irrigation, then bark and lighting. Then it’s time to relax andContinue reading “The plants are in!”
Paris!
The city loses its bustle in August, a time when many businesses are closed and people are relaxed. A main street running along the Seine river closes, transformed into “Paris Plage” a pedestrian oriented linear park. Gardens bloom, the Seine takes on a translucent viridian hue. We start our days with a café crème inContinue reading “Paris!”
Using orchid cactus and succulents to cover a wall
Typically designers use use trailing ground covers to cascade down walls, the most common plant probably being rosemary. But what about something more interesting, something that does not require as much pruning back? Something that will make people stop in their tracks and say, “wow!” Something like, say, orchid cactus (Epiphyllum)? Epiphyllum, true to theirContinue reading “Using orchid cactus and succulents to cover a wall”
Resilient landscaping for Southern California
This didn’t start out as a laboratory for resilient landscape design. It was just a low-maintenance garden for aging people to enjoy. Then one person was no more. The other lost mobility. Parts of the garden received no irrigation. Pruning back and weeding likewise disappeared. Yet the garden survived, mostly intact.
We’re in Hearth and Home magazine’s Outdoor Rooms special issue!
The Outdoor Room, a special issue showcasing exactly what it says: outdoor rooms. More specifically, outdoor rooms with cooking centers and fire features, mostly. Our design had a challenge that was rather unique: we had to maintain access to the garage, and the owners had to be able to park a car behind the patio.Continue reading “We’re in Hearth and Home magazine’s Outdoor Rooms special issue!”
Urban patio
This urban garden connects to the city around it while entertaining guests and growing a few vegetables in the process.