Elements

When you think about gardens, especially residential gardens, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Plants, sitting and dining areas, paths? Do you think of special places? Do you have memories of gardens you grew up with? The smell of lavender by a bench? Dipping your hand into the cool water of a fountain on a stifling, summer day?

During this career of over 2 decades, I am often struck by how personal, intimate, and I might even go so far as to say emotional, gardens can be, not only to their owners but to their visitors. My focus on residential design has illuminated how vulnerable people feel about their gardens. Many of my clients struggle in the design process, as if they were birthing a child.

And sometimes for this child they want a special dress, something unique and particular that is designed for only their garden. These are special opportunities for me as I get to dive into details more frequently supplanted by “off the shelf” components. I think of these details as sculptures for the garden.

Benches & Tables

Brilliant furniture design among the greats is a life-long pursuit. Wendell Castle, George Nakashima, Joaquim Tenreiro, and Eileen Gray are a few of my favorites. But landscape architects and architects frequently get in on the act. I look to Thomas Church and Edwin Lutyens who designed benches for their clients. Getting the seat height and back inclination just right for lounging versus dining. How wide is the seat? Are there arms, legs, cushions?

My first experience designing a bench came very early in my career (circa 1999) when I designed a meditation bench for a client. It was made of stone to match the rest of the stonework on the property with a curved seat and an angled back like an Adirondack chair. It faced a corner of dark, green evergreens (yews) planted in retaining walls so the meditator could have something green to meditate on all year round. And it was absolutely freezing to sit on! So cold, who would want to sit there and meditate? A definite learning experience.

After that, many of benches I designed doubled as walls, retaining or free standing. I insisted they be at least two feet wide so one could comfortably lay down on them. Later I graduated to wood in some instances, cantilevered, close to water so you can dip your fingers and toes in, close to fire, and most recently metal and wood. The most recent bench, designed last year, lines a deck, replacing the need for a guard rail and offering up seats for the best views in the yard.

To date I have only had one opportunity to design a table, and that is one for myself in my garden. Inspired by my son’s love of legos and a nearby, perennial bed with flowers in orange, creamsicle colors. I have always loved narrow, dining tables so I planned for a 30” wide, glass table top.

Water Features

In hot climates, even the sound of water is cooling to the soul. It’s amazing how metaphorical water is in our lives and the metaphor extends to water in the garden. Almost all of my clients want water features for different reasons: sight, sound, cooling affect, birds, fish, and plants. But water features can require a lot of maintenance. Truth be told, water features leak (not all but most). I actually try to talk people out of water features. If that doesn’t work I recommend prefabricated water features like the lovely ones from Stone Forest in Santa Fe.

Every once in a while I take great pleasure in designing a custom water feature. Sometimes the water feature is also a cooler for drinks. Other times, there is a bench attached so you can cool your hand in the water. When my clients have rock fetishes, I design the fountain with all of their rocks, killing two birds with one stone. The water feature as part of the green roof on MCA/Denver was inspired by pale blue pools at the bottom of the marble mines in Marble, Colorado. The stainless steel pool, fabricated by Junoworks does not leak.

The most recent water feature I created for a client in the mountains is a reflection pool in an entry courtyard. You hear the sound before you enter the gate. You experience the feature as you walk to the front door and into the house, as well as when you sit at the dining room table. The stainless steel pool, again fabricated by Junoworks, does not leak. The issue around designing a water feature in climates with snowy, cold winters is what happens in the winter. It is more costly to insulate the pipes so the water can run all winter. Normally you shut the water off. Then what are you looking at for 6 months of the year? I call this the unsightly amenity issue.

Labyrinths

The entrance to a labyrinth is supposed to face North/Northwest. No wonder Hitchcock chose that as a title for his memorable film. I have studied labyrinths for years. Archetypal, cross cultural, religious, secular, they are sometimes called mazes. Confusing. However you are never confused on which way to go when you walk a labyrinth. One foot in front of the other. It is a meditation on a clear path, however curvy. The layers of the labyrinth relate to the chakras, different colors and tones. The beginning is the end. The end is the beginning.

I have been lucky enough to design at least three, starting in 2000 and more recently in 2017.

Rain Gardens

As I mentioned a while back, storm water flow is an increasing topic of conversation with my clients. Where does the water flow once it hits the ground? Sometimes the only place for the water to go is the most visible place in the yard, like downspouts by your front door. One solution is to put splash blocks at the bottom of the downspouts to direct the water further from the foundation. Have you seen how ugly splash blocks are? Another solution is to attach a pipe that will eventually clog, to the downspout and run the water somewhere else. Other people want “natural” looking dry creek beds to run the water out. “Natural” is an operative, oft-misused term here, especially when the contractor dumps a bunch of gravel and rocks in a serpentine path and calls it good. A long time ago after studying ancient drainage techniques, I decided the best way is to riff off the past. When I can, I design what I call drainage receptacles with different cobble techniques and shapes. They direct water away from the house and can become rain gardens.

Fire

Firepits, fireplaces and outdoor kitchens bring us back to the most primal source of comfort and connection in human experience. The fire becomes the place to gather in any garden. Fire features can be modern, safe and low maintenance while adding a focal point and creating an outdoor living space in any climate.

Fences & Screens

Many garden designs benefit from special attention to fences and screens. Beyond marking a property line or dividing space, fences and screens can create intimate outdoor rooms, provide privacy in dense urban neighborhoods, and add elements of light and shade. In recent projects, I have created custom metal screens that draw inspiration from the plants in the garden, such as a stately Persian walnut tree in the front yard of a San Francisco home.