How to Artfully Build a House on a Hillside

If you are considering building a house on a sloped site, let me suggest this mantra: No house should ever be on any hill ... It should be of the hill, belonging to it, so hill and house could live together each

3 Essential Elements of an Artful Garden Path

An outdoor path comes in one of two categories: 1) a directional tool to move people to a destination as efficiently as possible, or 2) a device that allows people to engage the senses as they meander toward a d

How to Pick the Right Garden Ceiling

You’re sitting in your garden. You look up. What do you see? Robin’s egg–blue sky and cotton ball clouds? A leafy canopy shimmering in a breeze? Perhaps it’s an umbrella, a gazebo or a rose-covered trellis. Ever

Native Plants Inspire and Educate at NYCs Botanical Garden

If you’re planning a trip to New York City, make sure to see the Native Plant Garden, which opened in 2013 at the New York Botanical Garden. There’s something for everyone here. Shade gardeners will find plenty

Circle Round for Great Garden Design

“All my lifes a circle, the pop group The New Seekers sang in 1972. Circles are all around us — from clocks and tables to wheels and plates. Circles also have been in our landscape for millennia — just think of

6 Suggestions for Harmonious Hardscaping

Many of us have necessary but oh-so-problematic hardscaping transversing our outdoor spaces, hardscaping that stops the eye and keeps us from achieving that continuous, peaceful flow that we desire for our garde

The Unparalleled Power of Trees

I find you can fit most home sites into one of two types of places: those with mature shade trees and those without. Home sites without trees just arent the same. No matter how much design is integrated into a

Great Design Plant: Quaking Aspen for 3-Season Beauty — on Its Own Turf

If youve seen groves of quaking aspen in the wild in full fall glory, your likely question is, Can I grow them at home? The quick answer is yes, if you live where the trees grow naturally. If not, growing an asp

5 Berry-licious Shrubs to Plant Now for Winter Interest

Fall and winter shrubs usually call to mind colorful autumn leaves or scented evergreen bushes. But winter berries can add just as much visual interest and color to your landscape in the winter. These shrubs are

Polish Your Gardens Look With Metal

We tend to use stone, brick or wood when constructing our gardens. But what about metal? Gates and fences have traditionally been the obvious uses for metal in the garden, as the material is durable and cost eff

Green-Only Gardens Draw the Eye and Soothe the Spirit

We often strive to put colors in our planting designs, in the use of both foliage and flower. But are different colors essential? If we skillfully choose and combine plants, a monochromatic green palette can giv

Energy Now: Designing a Garden That Gets You Going

It is frequently said that the most successful people rise early, set the tone for their day and start being productive while many of us are still hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock or reaching for tha

Inside Houzz: Divine Proportions Make for a Dream Landscape

Jane and Craig Reynolds were about six months from finishing their new house when they started looking for a landscape designer who could rehab their construction site of a yard. They needed someone who was expe

8 Ways a Garden Can Draw You In

I was advised to “put the map away and let the garden guide you through the space” even before entering Hidcote Manor Garden, one of the most influential gardens in England. Given the scale of the garden, this w

Get a Knack for Black in the Garden

Edgy and sophisticated, black is having a moment in architecture and interiors. Black in the garden? It can work beautifully when used well. Inky walls help the edges of the garden recede, dark patios ground a

Design Your Landscape for Peace and Quiet

Whether it’s the busy boulevard at your front curb or the kids next door having a screamingly good time, a noisy environment makes it hard to relax and enjoy your yard. Noise pollution is a stressful irritant t

Landscaping Tricks to Manage Stormwater Runoff

If you’ve ever lived at the bottom of a hill during an extreme weather event, then you know intimately about stormwater runoff. I have distinct memories of watching my bunny rabbit’s cage float down to the botto

Nightfall Brings a Dutch Urban Garden to Life

Nighttime transforms the landscape. Though we’re drawn to it, dusk usually signals that it’s time to go inside for the night. But in this backyard retreat, it’s at night when the garden comes alive — subtle move

What Kind of Gardener Are You? Find Your Archetype

Over the course of my career I have been invited into many very large, professionally decorated homes. More often than not, these dwellings are more house than home, with few personal items that would suggest wh

Explore Your Garden Personality: The Traveler

A highly personal garden can be a beautiful thing. Through its bold strokes of color, subtle nuances, interplay of late-afternoon shadows, layers of texture and faint sounds and aromas, it tells a story of those