by Tovah Martin Spring sneaks in through a crack in the window. It steals in when you push the panes open for that whiff of fresh air you’ve anticipated for so long. You’ve almost forgotten what the mingling of indoors and outside feels like; it’s been an eternity since you bonded. But then the scent […]
Archive | Landscape Design
When Your Contractor Is Not Familiar with Ecological Design
March 15, 2019 in Business Tips, Landscape Design
by Amanda Sloan, RLA You’ve designed a nice ecological landscape, but the contractor hired to build it is not familiar with ecological practices. What to do? (more…)
Microclimates Made Visible in Your Yard
March 15, 2019 in Landscape Design
by Karen Bussolini Reprinted with permission from Eco-Friendly News, Views, Clues and How-To’s. Winter and spring keep crashing into each other as the seasons sort themselves out. I’ve got a bit of everything – snow, ice, running water, mud, workable soil and dozens of early spring bulbs in bloom. Incredibly varied conditions – wet places […]
Ten Reasons To Make Hand Built Three-Dimensional Models
February 15, 2019 in Business Tips, Landscape Design
by Bryan Quinn Too often matters of convention hold back the creative process. In the landscape, where I primarily work, sometimes my best-intentioned clients initially cling to design clichés such as lawnscapes, overly simplified plant palettes, off-the-shelf garden ornaments, and other types of requests that come from a limited paradigm. In response, I use a […]
Conducting Water – Orchestrating the Song of the Landscape
December 16, 2018 in Landscape Design, Rain Gardens
by Trevor Smith Water’s most amazing quality is that it is simultaneously part of the mystery of life and an essential element in the most mundane routines of life. We use it to cook, brush our teeth and wash our cars, but few can deny the majesty of a waterfall or resist watching waves crash […]
Beyond the Vegetable Patch – Strengthening the Food Connection in the Garden
December 16, 2018 in Edible Landscaping, Landscape Design
by Kerry O’Kelly and Darcy Paige There is a growing understanding that people need to make a connection between their food and its sources, but this is often difficult to achieve. When we think of food in the landscape, we most often think of the vegetable patch. That is a great place to start. However, […]
Mitigation of Suburban Deforestation: The Important Role of Designers
December 16, 2018 in Landscape Design, Trees
by Marie Chieppo I looked out the window this morning and with great pleasure watched the wide variety of birds at my feeders. The speed at which they landed and took off reminded me of an airplane runway. My eyes followed to where they perched to consume their meals – the oldest and largest tree […]
Native Plants for the Small Yard: Easy, Beautiful Home Gardens that Support the Local Ecology
November 15, 2018 in Gardening Basics, Landscape Design, Native Plants
Text by Kate Brandes Illustrations by Tom Maxfield Social scientists have looked at how people feel about their yards, and their research shows that preferences are determined mostly by people’s desire to fit in with the neighbors. Unfortunately, native plants have developed something of a bad rap among homeowners as messy and hard to manage […]
Digging into Ecological Landscaping by Following Nature’s Lead
November 15, 2018 in Biodiversity, Landscape Design
by Kate Hartnett, Mary Tebo, and Marilyn Wyzga This article first appeared in the Winter 2009 issue of The Ecological Landscaper, the newsletter of the Ecological Landscape Alliance. As evidence of extreme weather and ecological stress become more obvious, ELA’s mission to “promote the design, installation and maintenance of landscapes that are guided by a […]
The Garden in Every Sense and Season
September 14, 2018 in Gardening Basics, Landscape Design
by Tovah Martin Taken from The Garden in Every Sense and Season© Copyright 2018 by Tovah Martin, photographs by Kindra Clineff. Published by Timber Press, Portland, OR. Used by permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. Grape Nuts You suspected autumn was in the air. Maybe you even feared fall’s inevitable arrival. But you didn’t come […]