A design project follows a riverlike process, where it can eddy and loop back yet eventually manages to flow into something in dynamic balance. Starting with an idea, it’s sketched out, scribbled over, redrawn, rethought, sketched again, detailed, tweaked, overlaid, agreed upon, put out to bid, negotiated, adjusted in the field, added or subtracted, formed, poured, planted, trenched, illuminated, lived in, looked at, enjoyed, maintained, grown, trimmed, tweaked some more, pruned, replanted and remodeled over a span of many years.
Style matters
Use style: prefer large gatherings, others intimate private spaces, others a mix. Should it be wild or controlled? To what extent should it mimic the architecture?
Lifestyle
How do you use your spaces? Are you private, exuberant, an entertainer, a person who loves to curl up in a comfortable space and read? Do you cook or cater? Charcoal or gas? Sun or shade?
Landscape style
What style of landscape do you like? Colorful? Muted? Organic curves, geometric arcs, straight no-nonsense lines? Textural, organic, clean, modern, rustic… or a combination?
At this point, pretty much everything that can be done has been done. So you’re free to choose what you like, mix and match, boldly go where no-one has gone before…
State of the art
Mid-century modern, minimalist and contemporary look perhaps equally to the future as the past. They empasize simple, clean lines, geometric / architectural plants. They often use bold forms, but not always in formal symmetry.
This could be Brubeck, jazz, bossa nova perhaps – if it were music. Clean tones, clean colors, bold lines…
Cultural and rich
Mediterranean designs draw inspiration from areas of the world with similar climate to ours: Spanish, Provençal, Portuguese, Moroccan, Italian and Greek.
These styles are rich with courtyards, mosaic or tile, metal work and color – all things that make them interesting and livable.
Think Flamenco, Rai, Fado… more textural, richer, with roots reaching into the past. Deep colors, tile…
The only constant is change
That’s the interesting thing with landscapes: they’re never static. Design and maintenance become one over the years. Plants grow, seasons change, flowers bloom. What was sunny in the beginning can become deep shade as the tree canopies expand in the sky, necessitating a planting change beneath.
It’s for you!
Designs should serve their users. People need space to walk, sit, pass each other. They can be expansive and outgoing settings for large parties, or private intimate spaces for relaxing. They might have special functions, like large cooking areas, bars, pétanque or bocce courts, stages for outdoor music and dancing.
Your garden and you: a partnership
Landscapes are maintained, somehow. Maybe it’s just cutting back once per year. Maybe it’s the intricate pruning and pinching required to shape a tree or shrub into a bonsai-like sculpture. Maintenance has its own time frame; some regular and short term like weeding. Other maintenance happens over years as plants mature. Some involves the soil, as where compost applied to the surface is carried deeper by earthworms, or where roots penetrate heavy soils to leave paths for water to enter.
The maintenance required needs to fit the garden’s style, too. An avid gardener would consider maintenance part of the fun where a busy executive might want something that only requires periodic touch-ups.
Vary sizes
Like rooms in a house, your outdoor spaces should be different sizes, different levels of intimacy.
A small space can enhance a dining experience with comfort and intimacy. If it’s in a main view area, people will get a preview if they arrive, and people in the space can watch as others show up.
Large spaces impress, but might feel empty if they’re not full of revelers and bon vivants. If you do occasional large events, break the spaces up. People will circulate, and it won’t look like an empty arena most of the time.
Don’t forget the night! You can transform your spaces into magical venues with lighting. By night, a wall can have plant shadows projected upon it, or be lit to silhouette interesting plant forms placed in front.
Designing for the hospitality industry
Restaurant and winery landscape design requires a lot of thought, since it needs to accommodate a range of functions including safety, aesthetics, wow factor, utility and maintenance. First, it should reflect the style of the food and the philosophy of the chef or owner. There should be a sense of entitlement , with some accents setting the tone before patrons enter the building – this can be from the style of pots, sculptures, gates, metalwork, paving and lighting. It needs to facilitate regular operations of delivery, waste removal, maintenance, employee breaks (why do they always have to hang out by the dumpster?). Circulation through the outdoor spaces needs logical patterns for guests and staff.
Some parts of the garden may be purely visual, too small to create functional patios – but other small spaces might work well as outdoor grilling areas in full view of diners or waiting areas, elevating them to performance art stages.
Restaurant landscaping must be functional, too. I like to see perennial herbs – at least rosemary and bay laurel – used instead of merely ornamental shrubs. It’s great to see small vegetable gardens, too. Most herbs – thyme, sage, lavender, rosemary, laurel – are perennial plants that grow well in California and don’t require much care.
Circulation is important, too. Will the wait staff use the same route as the guests? Having a way for staff to quickly move from the kitchen to the patio improves efficiency. There needs to be room to walk behind people seated at bars, tables or on benches. Spaces need to be large enough to allow circulation even if people are standing in a waiting area. Vehicular deliveries should be able to park next to the kitchen to speed delivery and reduce the time that perishable foods rest outside of temperature control.
Mike is one class away from an AA in Culinary Arts (front of the house) – so he actually has an idea of how a professional kitchen works.