Landscape Design for Virginia, Maryland and DC
As modern humans, we spend our days surrounded by solid, imposing “stuff”. We live in big brick and wood houses, drive two-ton steel vehicles to work on concrete and asphalt freeways, and go work in big concrete and steel buildings. It makes sense, then that we carry this through to the landscape. Need to block [...]
I’m still recovering from Halloween – 538 trick-or-treaters is a LOT Of kids – and it’s still framing how I look at things. Of the nearly $200 we spent on candy we have a bowlful left, and as I was pawing through the bowl for a mid-morning snack I kept encountering Milk Duds. Boxes and [...]
As I’ve said many times, being a designer is all about soaking up inspiration wherever you can. On our recent trip to Maymont, I was also awed by the pavilion/colonnade combination in the formal garden. I was only half-joking in my title for this post; it seems like everyone has a different name for a [...]
The answer to the question in the headline is “absolutely”. Real bentgrass putting greens are a maintenance hassle, and the synthetic putting greens available today are NOT the ones we had available a decade ago. If you’re picturing that nappy green indoor/outdoor carpeting Uncle Pete had at his hunting camp, you’re in for a treat. [...]
I received a call from a homeowner for a landscape design in Bristow, Virginia. They were looking to make a lot of changes, and after they signed the landscape design proposal and I started the site analysis, I noticed something we hadn’t talked about: their storage space left a little to be desired. That’s quite [...]
Often when I’m meeting with a landscape design client in the DC metro area, drainage comes up as a concern. Sometimes the client knows he or she has an existing problem while other times I can look at what they want to do and see that we’ll then have to move the water somewhere. Around [...]
I recently spoke with someone who was looking for a retaining wall, four feet tall and ninety feet long. Before moving forward with a consultation he wanted a sense of what such a wall would cost. He was surprised, to say the least. There are a lot of design consideration for retaining walls in northern [...]
Sounds so fancypants, doesn’t it? I have a few projects underway that need one, and it’s a simple concept that sounds more involved than it is. When installing a patio, you want it to have a slight pitch so water doesn’t pool on the surface. If we’re lucky, the grade slopes away from the house [...]
I have a photo of an outdoor kitchen I designed that’s in my presentation portfolio. Outdoor kitchens are funny. They appear to be one of those things for which there is no middle ground. People either want them badly, or they tell their partner no way, no how, not happening, I’m taking the kids and [...]
If your family was like mine, the Fourth of July centered around the grill. I remember one year in particular: I must have been four or five years old, and it rained like crazy all day. Luckily, being Rhode Island it was still relatively cool, so my dad lit a fire in the fireplace and [...]
