A RIGHT TO KNOW

Ok, I don’t usually use my blog as a “bully pulpit” but I think this is important.

Everyone should have the right to know what is in the food they are buying and feeding to themselves and their families.  Right now in California and across the States there are groups organizing to make the labeling of GMOs – Genetically Modified Organisms – mandatory on packaging.  At this stage, what we’re (yes, I’m part of this) trying to do is get these propositions onto the November ballot.  To do that there will soon be folks out collecting signatures that will qualify the initiative to go into the election and give us, the people, an opportunity to choose between knowing or not knowing what is in our food.

A genetically engineered food is a plant or meat product that has had its DNA artificially altered by genes of other plants, animals, viruses or bacteria.  This type of genetic alteration is not found in nature – it’s not like cross breeding tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Currently the health risks of genetically engineered foods are unclear as in the United States the FDA doesn’t require any safety testing or health studies on these foods.  However, in a 2011 Canadian study, researchers found that of 93% of pregnant women tested, their blood contained a toxin found in a genetically engineered corn that produces its own pesticide (Bt corn).

Much of the world already requires this labeling – 50 countries with over 40% of the world’s population label GMOs, including China.  This initiative would simply require food sold in retail outlets in California to label the product if it is genetically modified or contains genetically engineered ingredients.

In California we need to collect 850,000 signatures by April 15.  That sounds like a lot, but when you think about the size of our State and population it’s not that much of an obstacle.  To find out more information and how you may be able to help go to www.labelgmos.org

If you need to find out more about GMOs take a look at the following sites and/or films:

The Future of Food – great film documentary

Institute for Responsible Technology                                                

Organic Consumers Association

 Robyn O’Brien’s TED Talk

Everything You Have to Know About Dangerous GM Foods  (this is long – about 85 minutes, but worth it)

 

So that’s it.  Educate yourselves and please – sign the petition!

Rob

10 New Year’s Resolutions for the Gardener and Landscape Designer

 

Here is a list of the top 10 things we’d love everyone to do (or not do) in 2012 and the years ahead.  Read through our list and even if you can only try one of these New Year’s Resolutions, make 2012 the year you try something new.  And do pass this along to your associates in the landscaping industry – from little acorns mighty trees do grow!  We wish everyone a happy, prosperous year.

Use more Natives Resolve to include more native plants of the area in your designs, or if you are a homeowner looking for plants to include in your garden, resolve to go native!  Natives require less water and care, are hardy, and often offer a food source for wild birds and animals.

Reduce (better still, Eliminate) Herbicide/Pesticide Use  Resolve to look for more natural alternatives to RoundUp and other chemical pesticides.  Chemical pesticides kill more than just weeds – frogs, beneficial insects such as bees, and other creatures are regularly killed by the injudicious use of pesticides.  Look for alternatives – they are out there and not difficult to find.  University research shows that glyphosate is poisoning the soil and all creatures that live in it or feed on plants grown on it. Diseases previously contained by the natural ecosystem are now out of control due to the use of RoundUp and GMO’s.  Follow this link below and watch the video (ok, it is an hour long – but worth it)  http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=58601501

Continue Your Education  Resolve to learn something new this year.  Go to the library and check out a book about a famous landscape designer or architect who is new to you, or learn about someone whose work is completely different from your usual design style.  Visit a garden that is open to the public that you have never seen before.  Attend landscape and/or flower shows.  Discover a new garden blog and share it with your friends.  Take a class in landscape design from your local college or a private school.

Be Water Wise  Reduce the size of, or eliminate, lawns altogether from your designs.  Too often lawns are there because the designer or contractor didn’t have a better solution.  Use water more efficiently by installing a new water-saving programmable irrigation clock that can automatically pause the irrigating program when it rains and even have the ability to track real-time weather conditions.  Check and see if your area has adopted any specific water-saving ordinances that you should know about.  In California we have Assembly bill 1881 – the Model Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance that is slowly being enacted State-wide.

Create Wildlife-Friendly Gardens  This is easier to do than you think!  There are websites available and many sources to learn how to incorporate wildlife-friendly details in a new or even an existing garden.  Check out the National Wildlife Federation website, for instance.  Even something as simple as a birdbath under a tree can make life a little easier for birds.  Visit the National Wildlife Federation at www.nwf.org to find a Certified Professional Landscaper in your area that can help you design and build a wildlife-friendly landscape.

Stop Burning Your Leaves    Each Fall I watch the smoke from damp piles of leaves that are being burned in our area.  Leaves offer wonderful and natural mulch for the garden, retaining moisture, protecting plants from compaction and returning nutrients to the soil.  Composted or not, shredded or not, try to find ways to take advantage of the leaves rather than burn them.  Your neighbors and the air will   thank you for your effort. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop Shearing Your Shrubs  If you’re constantly having to shear and prune shrubs in the landscape there’s a good chance the plant selected is just too big for the location.  Remember that old mantra, Right Plant, Right Place.  Embrace the natural shape of your plants and shrubs.  Back away from those shears.

Support Your Industry  Resolve to attend a home and landscape show, garden show, or other landscape venue and take the time to meet others in your field, network, find out how you can help each other in these difficult economic times.  Join LinkedIn and other social networking sites if you haven’t already.  Whether it’s the landscape contractors association, professional landscape designers or landscape architects – become active in one of these organizations and support them.

No More Butchering of Trees  Improperly pruned trees are more susceptible to disease and infestation.  Butchered trees will also grow weaker branch connections that add to the danger of injury to both tree and humans.  Consult with a certified arborist, nursery person or master gardener before trimming the trees – don’t trust someone just because they say they know what they are doing – do some research before the damage happens!  Not sure where to start?  Visit the ISA for more information.

Support Your Local Farmers Market  Here in Auburn, Calif. our Farmers Market is going every Saturday of the year, bringing in-season fresh fruits, vegetables, honey and organic, locally raised meats.  There are websites that identify where and when farmers markets are happening across the country.  These folks are members of your community and if you have a question about a product who better to ask then the person who grew it.  Yes, you may pay a little bit more for the food, but the quality more than makes up for the cost.  And it’s a fun day out! 

MENDOCINO COAST BOTANICAL GARDENS – WELL WORTH A VISIT!

Any visit to the Fort Bragg/Mendocino area should include a stop at the Botanical Gardens – 47 acres that includes landscaped areas, a vegetable garden, a rhododendron garden, and wild lands leading to a stunning view of the ocean and California Coast line.  We stopped in while staying in Fort Bragg in early October.  We had been to the Botanical Gardens before, but much has changed and improved there in the past 8 years since our first visit, and we enjoyed it even more.

One of the changes we noted is the inclusion of outdoor garden sculptures which appear to be made of old heavy equipment parts and other repurposed metal objects.  These were quite creative and interesting and were well-placed throughout the grounds.  We are fans of garden art so we enjoyed this very much.

The other addition we really liked was the large enclosed vegetable garden, or potager.  There were many well-tended beds of vegetables and flowers, and scarecrows scattered here and there.  We are always looking for ideas to bring home to our own garden beds, and we both really liked the garden teepees fashioned from thin pieces of rebar, allowed to rust naturally in place.

 

Since this is a Botanical garden after all, many different types of plants are included, and all are well-identified for the plant     enthusiast.  When you arrive you are given a map that guides you to all the various plant collections – and it is actually pretty vast so allow plenty of time to roam through them all.  Areas of interest include a perennial garden, heritage rose garden, succulents and cactus (yes, really), the rhododendrons mentioned above, a native plant garden, heather garden and many more.  The planting combinations and arrangements are not altogether inspired, but the focus is on species collecting and identification, nevertheless, color and texture combinations and plant placement are still a wonderful visual aid to all designers and gardeners.  

As designers and architects we may not have a vast plant palette as we may be more focused on layout and design, water features and more, but the plants we do work with we should know well enough to ensure their success in our gardens.  Visiting botanical gardens is way to broaden our knowledge of plant combinations and become more aware of their individual soil/light and water needs.  At the California School of Garden Design we work with our beginning students in learning more about the plants that thrive in their geographical areas by the compilation of a complete herbarium based on exposures, water needs and temperature zones.

The Mendocino Botanical Gardens have a very comprehensive and helpful website, www.gardenbythesea.org, so if you are planning a trip up the coast to the Mendocino/Fort Bragg area, check out their website before you leave so you can see what is on at the Gardens during your visit.  Oh, and if you are a dog lover – they allow leashed dogs throughout the entire grounds.  Just remember to keep your dog on its lead, especially if you walk out to the cliffs overlooking the ocean – there is no guardrail and the drop is quite steep.

BEE-ING THERE

By now you would have to have been living in a cave for the last several years if you have not heard about Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and how it threatens our domestic bee population.  It occurs when worker bees in a hive or colony abruptly disappear, never to return.  Whether this is due to them somehow abandoning the hive, or if it is due to illness or death is not known yet.  Intensive studies are under way in the U.S. and probably other countries as well, to try and identify the source of CCD and if there is a way to stop it from destroying bee colonies.  A number of theories have been put forth as to its cause, such as pesticides (my money is on this one), modern practices of transporting bees  hundreds of miles to pollinate huge orchards (increased stress on the colony), larger hives than the bees normally make for themselves, or natural causes such as bacterial infections, insect infestations, etc.  The increased use of GMO crops may also be a contributing factor.    

Hopefully, scientists will be able to get to the bottom of CCD before it is too late.  We’ve all seen that famous quote attributed to Albert Einstein:  “if the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left.”  Whether or not Einstein really said this (doubtful), it really isn’t far from the truth.

I’m certain there is a wild honeybee hive not far from our property, because there has always been a healthy bee population visiting the flowers in our garden.  Since becoming aware of the myriad things threatening honeybees today (homeowner pesticide use, wild land turned into asphalt and subdivisions to name just two), I’ve made a real effort to provide year-round food sources for the bees in my neighborhood.  Bringing the bees to our property benefits us as well – the bees are just as happy to forage among my tomato plant and zucchini flowers as they are the sunflowers I plant for them.  In fact, I’ve taken to including flowers they like in my vegetable beds as a draw for them to visit.

Planning for year-round food sources for bees is not hard to do, and I would like to suggest that as landscape designers, we make an effort to include bees’ favorite plants in the gardens we design.  Homeowners doing it themselves can do so as well.  There are quite a few websites out there that provide tips and suggestions for homeowners who aren’t sure what plants to use.

Bee-friendly gardens can include all sorts of plants, from rosemary bushes to salvia to giant sunflowers.  We have an herb garden not far from our    kitchen door, and it includes both rosemary and a large plot of oregano.  When the oregano blooms, the bees are thrilled:  you can watch them happily crawling from one tiny white flower to another, completely absorbed in their pollen collecting.  In fall, tall clusters of lavender aster flowers have their full attention.  Also investigate the use of some native plants in your plans, and a variety of colors and shapes of flowers.  Pollinators such as bees and other insects seem to prefer plants in clumps, making it easy for them to move from flower to flower.  Bees also appreciate a little water source, such as a shallow bird bath or shallow bowl placed on the ground.

Homeowners need not worry about the possibility of bee stings if they plant bee-friendly flowers – the bees are far too busy planning for winter than looking for trouble.  I’m deathly allergic to them myself, but I have yet to be stung here on our property, even with bees right outside my front door.  Another thing to consider is that honeybees are only one type of bee that will visit and pollinate the flowers of fruit trees, nut trees and our vegetable plants.  There is actually quite a variety of bees who undertake this work on our behalf, including bumblebees and mason bees.

But just as important as it is to include food source plants for bees in your planting plans, is convincing the homeowner to avoid the use of pesticides.  Pesticides are not selective, and will kill all insects, not just the pests.

So go on, give honeybees a helping hand, because in the long run you may just be helping the entire human population as well.

Want to learn more about CCD and the research being done?  U.C. Davis in California is a good place to start – visit their website at www.entomology.ucdavisedu/dept/beebio/cfm.

For information on organic beekeeping visit http://www.groovygreen.com/?p=138

If you’d like to know more about starting your own bee colony visit My Garden School at www.my-garden-school.com/course/introduction-to-natural-beekeeping

Happy Gardening!

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS…

Recently I had the opportunity to work with clients in Sacramento with a new Spanish-style home who wanted to create a private garden courtyard for themselves.  The client is a general contractor and so has the skills required to complete the construction of the project.    

As with all my initial meetings, I listened closely to what the clients were asking for.  If you have read any of my earlier blogs you will remember that this does not mean they were vocalizing their ideas as well as they might have.  What they were telling me was what they dreamed of having.  How to get there was the stumbling block.  To borrow from Thomas Church, our job as designers and architects is to interpret and come up with a design idea that goes beyond the clients imagination.  

My first task was to do some research on California Mission-style gardens.  This was the direction they wanted the garden layout to move in as it was taking shape.  The more I delved into the subject of Spanish gardens I realized that the “Mission” style didn’t really come about in California until the 1920′s.  The original Jesuit priests were too busy growing food and medicinal plants to be too concerned with ornamental gardens.  The commonalities that wove through all of the gardens was the same – the courtyard should be walled, a central fountain would be incorporated, it would have rough timber arbors with grapevines and the plant palette would be rather simple.

When I imagine a courtyard I see a space that creates a sense of privacy – both implied and physical – within the landscape.  Oftentimes this can be created by the clever use of existing slopes and elevations to give the visitor an opportunity to step down and descend into the new space.  In this instance using high walls may not be necessary as the elevation changes inherent in the design and construction will reinforce the feel and intent of the courtyard.

This site did not present any chances to excavate and play with elevations – the yard is flat.  So that brought me to the idea that the courtyard walls would have to be at least 6 feet high – possibly 7 feet high.  This would instantly create a room with little air movement and a claustrophobic feeling.  The answer was to plug in arched “windows” within the wall for views out and air movement in.  The arches would echo features on the home.  Spanish tile is the roofing material and I wanted this to be carried through on the top of the courtyard wall.  So now the wall is at  least 1’6″ thick to accommodate the size of the tiles.  Costs are going up!

As I developed the plan on paper (yes – I still draw with pen and ink!) I could see the new landscape perfectly clear – but would the client?  I knew I had to build this garden in 3-D otherwise they would never truly see what I was seeing.  This is where I do turn to computers and to SketchUp – Google’s 3-D program for doing just this sort of presentation.  This also takes me back to the title for this post – I was going to have one shot at selling this idea and I wanted it to be good.It took me about a day to build this garden in SketchUp and I did it pretty down and dirty – no layers, few components, one group.  But, since I wasn’t doing this as a full design within the program and probably wasn’t going to do much changing of the layout anyway it didn’t really matter.Bottom line – I had set up 12 scenes of the proposed plan within SketchUp (I show 3 of the scenes below) and took them for the tour that way, before I ever let them see the paper drawings.  Ok, we all know that the rendering within SketchUp is a little on the cheesy side.  A photo-realistic plugin would have been great, but I don’t have one.  Turns out it didn’t matter.   They were able to walk through their new landscape.  The 6 foot high walls were perfect – everything they had been asking for without knowing it.   There were no changes to this project and this was the first plan presentation.  And this courtyard is within the property that requires a 6 foot tall masonry sound wall to prevent traffic noise.So what’s my point in this article?  Pay attention.  Listen to your client and interpret what they are saying.  Don’t hold yourself back from doing the best you can.  When you have a project that really does do a major overhaul of the existing landscape, use a computer and build your garden in 3-D for the client.  Show that to them first and get them excited and on-board.  Budget may not be as big of an issue as you may have at first thought.

                        

A Case of Garden Envy?

My wife, Wendy, just returned from a week’s visit with good friends who live in Southern England, about 20 miles south of Oxford.  Duncan runs a garden design school that I attended years ago and we have been friends ever since.  I live in the foothills of the Sacramento Valley in Northern California with hot, dry summers and cool/cold, wet winters.  Theirs is the classic English garden climate that you always see in gardening magazines – lush and green and darned little need for irrigation systems!  But what Wendy really coveted was their perfect kitchen garden, or potager, as the French call it.                                                                                                                                                                                           

Although their house is over a hundred years old (youthful by English standards), the kitchen garden was added after they moved in.  It was nothing but a neglected side yard where the garbage bins resided to begin with.  Much thought and planning was put into it before any construction began, as with any good design.  A true kitchen garden, it is reached by going out a door directly from the kitchen and down a few steps.  Inside a large rectangular walled space are a number of raised beds filled with a colorful combinations of vegetables and flowers.  A pergola for roses runs along one long wall, and there is a water feature that provides the sound of splashing water.  Plants grow riotously, spilling over the edges of the beds.  Plants in pots are scattered everywhere, and it looks pretty enough in summer to be featured on the cover of a magazine – in fact I think it has been! 

Just outside the walled area is a small, picturesque old glasshouse facing West where they grow tomatoes, basil and other soft vegetables that need more sun and warmth.  On one end of the garden is the Taj Mahal of chicken coops, where 4 chickens reside in luxury surroundings.  Periodically they are allowed into the kitchen garden to forage, fertilize and eat bugs.  In return they provide a bounty of eggs every day.  On the outside of the opposite wall, Duncan keeps two hives of honeybees.  The bees have a ready source of pollen and help pollinate the plants in the garden.  All of this is done organically – crops, chickens and bees working symbiotically to maintain and improve the soil, fertilize and pollinate the crops and provide healthy, wholesome food for the table.

Of course I have a vegetable garden here at our house in California that I enjoy very much, but what a difference.  Due to the hot summer days, watering is a major issue. Our clay soil has been worked with for 10 years now – amending and using heavy mulches to conserve moisture is a necessity.  The hot sun in summer (often over 100 degrees F) bakes everything and even with the thick mulching my pumpkins and other squash must sometimes be watered twice a day.

We also garden organically and are seed savers – my theory being that seed from plants that have adapted to the site are going to be hardier in next years’ garden, and I know how they have been treated. 

 Chickens are not much of an option as we live near the rim of the American River canyon and between fox, bobcat, bear and every other wild animal that enjoys a chicken dinner, I’m afraid the birds wouldn’t have a very good chance of survival (a neighbors chickens were attacked twice by a bear – the second time finishing off the flock), and as to honeybees – serious allergies.  Anaphylactic shock is no fun. 

But at least I can take satisfaction in the knowledge that I will definitely get more tomatoes than our friends in England.                                                              Ok, one picture of OUR tomatoes in California!

THE SPIRIT OF THE PLACE

The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture & Landscaping defines  genius loci in this way:

Latin term meaning ‘the genius of the place’, referring to the presiding deity or spirit. Every place has its own unique qualities, not only in terms of its physical makeup, but of how it is perceived, so it ought to be (but far too often is not) the responsibilities of the architect or landscape-designer to be sensitive to those unique qualities, to enhance them rather than to destroy them. Alexander Pope, in Epistle IV (1731) of his Moral Essays, addressed to Lord Burlington, states in his Argument that, ‘instanced in architecture and gardening,… all must be adapted to the genius of the place, and… beauties not forced into it, but resulting from it’.
Nowadays, when we in the landscape design business refer to “Genius Loci”, we are speaking of the spirit of the place, not necessarily an actual spirit or deity, but of having respect for the surrounding landscape and life of the place, and an understanding of it.  A good garden designer or Landscape Architect sees and understands the spirit of the place, and designs a garden or landscaped area to fit in with its surroundings, to harmonize, and thus respect the Genius Loci of the place. One of my favorite Frank Lloyd Wright quotes explains this idea very simply:  ‘Each house is born like a living organism out of the contact between the genius loci and the needs of the inhabitants’.  Although he is speaking specifically about architecture and designing houses, the same principle applies to landscape design.  Substitute “Garden” for “House” in this quote – the concept works.

 

Think about how perfect those austere but gorgeous Arizona desert landscapes are: how the landscaped garden with its hardscaping, low walls made of local stone, and lovely structural desert plants seems to flow into the natural desert beyond.  How appealing and right it seems to see a winding dry stone wall weaving through the soft hills and trees of a New England field.  Or an English garden that gently frames a view of the rolling fields and farmlands beyond, not competing with that natural view, but rather setting it off, and making it a part of the garden itself. 

 You don’t have to look far afield to see and recognize the many dreadful violations of Genius Loci that are made today.  How many times have you driven through a boring and manicured subdivision and seen the artificial dry stream bed cutting across a lawn – oftentimes starting at the corner of the house and ending at the sidewalk.  And let’s not forget the fake stone “waterfalls” that seem to sprout out of nowhere and go nowhere in a back yard?  Even those large, expensive Italianate stone fountains that look stunning in a formal setting are too often dominating a small patch of lawn or tiny entry courtyard – totally out of proportion, ridiculously out of place.

 When I have a new garden design commission, the first thing I do is take a lot of photos of the site, the house, and the views from the property.  I spend some time getting a feel for the area, and the architecture of the home itself.  You must include the home as part of the Genius Loci; it is there, it is part of the landscape.  Then I come away and mull things over in my mind and sleep on it.  Gradually my ideas take shape and I can begin doing the rough sketches.  You can do this even if your commission is a small fenced in yard in a subdivision – just look at the surrounding area.  What kind of trees are there?  Is the natural landscape beyond the subdivision rolling hills, flat grassy expanses, or just more subdivisions?  Is there a view of a river, the ocean, or mountains in the distance?  Sometimes you just have to go on your instincts of what would fit there and what would be an abomination.  Over time, it will get easier to do this. 

To learn more about the concept of Genius Loci, check out the Internet – there are many references to it both in relation to architecture and landscape design.  And as always, look to the work of the great landscape designers for many sterling example. 

The Empire Mine State Park in Grass Valley, Calif. has a wonderful example of an Arts and Crafts style home.  The house was built using rock from the hard rock mine tunnels on site.  Consequently the stone, being native, blends beautifully with the terrain.  The brick was fired about 20 miles away and is a connecting thread throughout the property.  This park is well worth the visit.  Below is a photo of the cottage.

PROBE TO DISCOVER

Refuse to be turned out in the front yard like a dog while your client holds you on a leash demanding ‘what would you do here?  Make me a pool under that tree.’

Fletcher Steele

Challenge #1:          many years ago I had the opportunity to do a design for a couple who had a comfortable back yard and a realistically sized budget for the project.  During the first meeting and consultation, where the clients could talk about what they were hoping to get out of the design, they told me in no uncertain terms that they wanted nothing that would attract birds or butterflies.  The wife was deathly afraid of anything that flew, and with any mention of birds or insects she would state in very certain terms that she wanted nothing of the sort in her new garden, not even harmless little hummingbirds.  So I had to design a landscape that could not include any flowering plants, no birdbaths or other water features, and no places a bird could (hopefully) find to build a nest.    This was the opposite of what every other client I’ve had usually requests.

Solution:        this is where your plantsmanship comes into play.  Remember that all color in the garden does not have to come from flowers.  Walk through your local garden center or take a walk in the forest and you are surrounded by various shades of green and the colors/hues of bark.  The yard was on a slope that was parallel to the house and new decking and patios were needed to use the space effectively.  The color of timber and paving materials should be a complement to the plantings.  What we achieved was a garden of quiet and calm based on a simple palette of the color green.

Challenge #2:          within the last week I had the opportunity to meet with a landscape contractor and potential client in Sacramento.  The contractor had done a direct mailing to solicit business and the scope of the project required the services of a landscape architect – hence my being brought into the picture.  We had a set appointment time and arrived promptly and rang the bell.  We could see through the house to the back yard where the client was working on some carpentry projects, so he very likely did not hear the doorbell.  Consequently we went around the side yard to where he was working.  Long story short – he ignored us for about 5 – 10 minutes – other than a very cursory acknowledgement of our arrival, and continued working on his project.  Eventually he paused (by this time I was walking around the yard) and he and the contractor shook hands – I returned and was introduced.  The rest of the “meeting” consisted of the homeowner telling us what had to be done, how he was not particularly interested in ordinances regarding greenbelts (his home overlooks the American River) and basically contradicting everything I was asking or suggesting.  The contractor had another meeting and left us to discuss the project and scope of work.  By this time it was obvious that he was not someone I would be able to build any rapport with.  I explained how I conduct business and that I would send a proposal for the design work.  At this he told me that he and his wife (she was not present at this meeting – a bad thing) would need to see a concept plan before they would sign on to anything and at this he went back to his project leaving me to go on my way.  Foolishly I agreed to prepare a concept plan (at no charge!)  before I left.  Bad mistake!

Solution:        needless to say I considered this an awkward situation.  I was invited onto the site by the contractor – not the client – and the contractor was there due to a direct mailing – not because the homeowner knew him or his work.  Fortunately two other projects came into my office within the next couple of days and I was able to remove myself from the prospect of  doing any design work for someone whose project I had absolutely no interest in being involved with.  I have always believed that the homeowner needs to be the one to make first contact – preferably through knowledge of your work and reputation.  This situation offered neither and consequently the homeowner felt he had a business advantage over me.  This should never be – client and designer/architect MUST respect each other and see eye to eye, otherwise it will never work successfully.

The moral of these stories is:          you can be certain that during your career as a landscape designer, you will meet many different kinds of people, with all sorts of wishes and constraints for their garden.  As much as you may hope and pray for the kind of client who makes no demands and is happy with whatever you come up with, just as many of them will be the opposite.

You will meet potential clients who want a completely maintenance-free garden, or a retired couple who want a child-friendly yard for their grandchildren, or someone who requires total wheelchair-accessibility.  Or your client may tell you, as one of mine did recently, that her entire budget was $3,000.  Including the design fee.

When this happens to you (and it will), you can choose to chafe against the client’s constraints and demands while still taking on the job (and feel frustrated and as if you want to bang your head against the nearest wall)…OR…you can choose to accept the commission and view these constraints as a challenge to your creativity, an opportunity to test yourself and your skills and push your way through it…OR…you can accept that some people and projects are not worth the time, money and headaches (such as the one mentioned above) and remove yourself from the job altogether.

At the end of the day it is your job and responsibility to work WITH your client and create a garden that goes beyond their expectations.

As landscape architect Fletcher Steele wrote:

“He [the landscape architect] probes to discover, not what she [the client] has, but what she dreams of having: not what she does but what she would like to do”

“Dreaming enables us to withdraw into ourselves for brief moments and rests us.  It is good and if the garden makes it easier and pleasant to dream, then it is a good garden.”

LIFE ITSELF TAKING FORM

“Just because we live in the age of the machine doesn’t mean we have to be ruled by the machine”  

                                                                                                                                                                                                              -  Frank Lloyd Wright 

Hand-drawn and colored landscape plans give you a sense that what you are doing is art, not just drafting.  Frank Lloyd Wrights’ famous house Falling Water in western Pennsylvania was hand drawn in just 3 hours.  This drawing was the concept plan, complete with section/elevations that conveyed his ideas to the client.  I have little doubt that had Wright had access to computer aided design, the construction documents would have been finished in that manner, combining two art forms. 

If you begin your career as a landscape designer/architect by working for a design-build firm or by drafting plans in an architect’s office, it will be absolutely necessary for you to be thoroughly conversant in CAD.  Auto-CAD and VectorWorks are the two most commonly used programs although there are many others.  Firms tend toward moving projects through quickly, making CAD design the only way to go.  Changes to a project are much simpler to deal with using a computer.  There is also the benefit of being able to send plans wherever they need to go in an instant via e-mail.

At the CSGD, we look at the hand-rendering vs. CAD-produced design plan this way:

Everyone going to art school learning to become an artist is first taught to draw in the classic style – for example, drawing the human form or landscape in a life-like way in charcoal from live models.  Once the student has a firm grounding in how to draw and paint, they can then spread their wings and try more “modern” techniques with full confidence.  It’s understanding the basics – how shapes relate to one another!

In other words, starting out by learning to draw and color-render plans by hand will give you a firm foundation in design.  Nothing feels the same as using pen-and-ink, colored pencils, pastels and/or markers on a pristine piece of paper, drawing to scale by hand using techniques, a drafting compass and your own neat lettering (neat lettering? -this could be a blog in itself!).  Once you master these simple skills, if you eventually decide to try your hand at learning to design in CAD, the knowledge of how to design will still be with you.

No matter what anybody tells you, there is a difference – landscape plans done entirely by CAD can seem quite one-dimensional and, well, soulless.  The essence of the designer, of you, doesn’t necessarily come across.  One way to counteract that one-dimensional effect of CAD designing is to hand-color your master plan before presenting it to the client.  It is good to remember that CAD stands for Computer Aided Design (we could insert Drafting here).

 At the California School of Garden Design, we look to combine these different techniques by offering students a 2-day intro course in Google SketchUp.  SketchUp is a three dimensional presentation software – sort of CAD-lite.  It is a powerful and fairly easy to learn program – it does takes time to completely master, but is extremely “user-friendly” to the first time user – but once you do, you can take your clients on a 3-D tour of their proposed garden so they can see what their completed project could look like in various perspective views, including the views out of their windows.  For those clients who have difficulty visualizing their project when looking at a simple plan view on paper, this is an incredible help to them (and you). 

I feel that, at the design stage of a project you need to convey your ideas as effectively as possible – producing hand drawn sketches on site, creating perspective drawings in the studio (even as a wire frame and then hand rendering) and preparing a Mood Board are all techniques that help to sell your concept.  Hand drafting is a way of working with your initial ideas throughout your scope of work.  I truly believe that as you develop your ideas, by working initially on paper with pencil you tend to look at the entire landscape more effectively. Almost like the potter working with a lump of clay that they mould into their finished product.  In spite of CAD, there is still a demand for well-built, 3-dimensional models. 

Those who are familiar with history know that the Arts and Crafts movements in England and America evolved from a rejection of mass production, soulless architecture and the machine – returning to a love of hand crafted homes, furniture and gardens.  Genius Loci.  Let’s use all our talents in creating gardens for our clients and heed Wright’s quote from the title of this article.

One final quote from Wright

“There is the fluid, elastic period of becoming, as in the plan, when possibilities are infinite”

Above is an example of a hand drawn and colored plan on a Mood Board by Marcia D., one of our Beginning Design students.

How Fred and Ginger Make a Perfect Garden!

“Horticultural excellence in the garden can never compensate for a fundamentally bad layout.”  Thomas Church, Landscape Architect.

Or, to paraphrase Tommy, a fundamentally floppy, disorganized, or unstructured layout.  Here at the California School of Garden Design, we teach landscape design students the essential elements to create a structured landscape design with long lines, angles and organization.  Most people instinctively rebel against this approach, thinking it means the garden will not flow or never appear soft and pleasing to the eye, or that it isn’t creative, and clients are often the most vehemently opposed to such structure – but in fact, it really is the best approach for a number of reasons.

Think of a couple dancing a waltz – let’s take Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for our example.  You can easily picture them in your mind:  Fred is wearing a dark, elegant tuxedo, with long, lean lines.  Ginger on the other hand is in a long, flowing gown covered with sparkle or feathers, maybe in silver or pale pink.  As they dance together, Fred holds her in front of him, leading her strongly through the steps, and as she moves within the framework of his arms, her skirts flow and ebb softly around his legs.  Think of them this way:  Fred represents the structure of a design, like hardscaping, arbors, paths, and Ginger the softer elements – the flowers, plants, vines, grasses.  Remove one of these partners, and what you have left is still ok, but much weaker.  Together, they are perfect.  Now go back and read our quote at the top of this article one more time.

The necessary horticultural knowledge is easy to come by, if you feel you are weak in that area.  Check your local community college for plant ID classes, pick up a few helpful books on plants, such as the Sunset Western Garden Book, or connect with your local chapter of Master Gardeners.  Becoming a Master Gardener will help you establish a firm knowledge of plants and their uses.  At the CSGD, one of the requirements for passing the Beginning Landscape Design Course is creating an Herbarium – a collection of various types of plants and their uses, tailored to your geographical area.  An Herbarium is a useful tool to help you choose plants that grow well in your area when you begin designing on your own.

Learning about how to create structure and form in landscape design requires a bit more of an effort, but there are some excellent books available to get you started.  A couple of good books on this subject are Creative Connections – Aspects of the Garden Design Process by Barbara Hunt and Elizabeth Whateley on Packard Publishing Limited and the Thomas Church book Gardens are for People. Both of these books are easily found by doing an internet search.  There are a number of private garden design schools both in the U.S. and the U.K., including ours that specifically teach students the importance of these design principles.

The photo at left is a design I created for our local hospital – it is a memorial garden for the use of patients, staff and visitors to the hospital.  The space was a long rectangle.  As you can see, there is quite a bit of structure and hardscaping in this fairly small space – an overhead pergola, the brick path and planting beds, a water feature, etc.  Although the plants at the time of this picture were still young, you can already see that the grasses are mounding and spilling over onto the brick, softening their edges, and the vines are already clambering up the pergola.  Various shrubs and mounding bushes are arranged along the walls to soften and fill in the spaces.  Water plants grow out of the metal fountain, and a sheltered wall of the building is covered with a woven matting which absorbs sound.  The structure and plant elements combine to create a well-balanced garden space that will look attractive all year ‘round, not just in spring or early summer.

Below is a “before and after” of a front garden that I designed a few years ago which illustrates what a difference having a good balance between structure and plantings can make. 

 

In this “before” picture, the plantings are running rampant, the lawn is all Bermuda grass and the only path is a very narrow sidewalk of ill-fitting stepping stones running along the house.  The rest of the yard, not shown in this photo, is nothing but hillside and disorganized ground covers.  It is, for all intents and purposes, completely unusable space, and yet this is the area of the garden that the client’s used the most for entertaining and relaxation.  The other side of the house faces West and is extremely hot in the afternoon sun.

In the “after” picture (right), the same front yard reveals a wide, inviting path of warm colored stone visible on the other side of a new, made to look old garden fence trailing with vines.  A seating area and water feature have been added, as well as an arbor with a path leading through it that beckons visitors to wander through and explore more of  the garden. 

Another view, at left, shows the new entry arbor.  The addition of several interconnected stone terraces and patios, pathways and structures, as well as the water feature, have transformed this garden into a paradise for the very happy owners.

To finish up,

Horticultural expertise will not save a garden that lacks structure, proportion or functionality.  Establish your layout, choose your paving materials carefully and introduce plantings and water to reinforce your designs and never be afraid to introduce changes in elevation to create additional interest and separation of space.  Good Luck!