About this time every year folks begin grumbling about winter and wishing for spring to arrive early. Not landscaping professionals. Snow has innumerable benefits to forest, parks, and landscapes. Big picture, snow is important for earth’s climate system. Snowcover helps regulate the temperature of the planet’s surface, and once that melts, it fills rivers, reservoirs, […]
Philosophical Notes on the Land and Landscapes
Setting the landscape
We’ve discussed the importance of establishing the “bones of the landscape” before. Good bones in the outdoor environment are created through expert use of permanent landscape features such as boulders and rocks, pathways, fencing, water fountains/ponds/swimming pools, stairs/steps, patios, and walls. This is referred to as ‘hardscaping’ in landscape design. Outdoor Craftsmen is known for […]
Minimalist is still popular – including in landscaping
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Clare Boothe Luce The minimalist movement that started in the 1960’s thrived on simplicity in both content and form. It devolved into the excesses of the Reagan era in the 1980s, and then saw a resurgence in this country during the ‘great recession’ we experienced at the beginning of […]
Luxurious Outdoor Escapes
The pinnacle of quality in landscape design has to do with a these fundamental concepts (among others). These are some of the absolute tenets of our work. Respect for and stewardship of the land, regardless of size. This requires tuning in to all of elements of the place – light, air, sound, weather, orientation, grading […]
Plants for the Senses
One of the most important tasks our designers undertake is to include ‘notes’ of all five human senses into clients’ landscape designs. We’re devotees of landscapes that proactively bring the outdoors into the personal everyday experience through sound, sight, taste, smell, and touch. Some plants just invite more attention than others in the landscape. It […]
The Garden Path
Paths and walkways are the connections through your entire property – the trusty workhorses that make stepping into and around your home’s outdoor places a pleasure. Paths are useful and practical – they are the movers of people, pets, and stuff. They are the civil engineering facet of landscape design, a foundational infrastructure on which […]
