Landscape, Plants, Hardscape & Decks
Appreciating water doesn’t always require sweeping ocean vistas or cascading streams, explains writer and naturalist, Jamie Nestor. As he points out in this personal essay, the beauty and fascination of aquatic environments sometimes exist in surprising places, but can be no less inspiring.
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Ensuring a stunning planting environment is all about the ground itself, says landscape designer, Mark David Levine. Beautiful greenery requires forethought and action in the form of soils testing and amendments for newly landscaped areas – a crucial practice he believes should be mandatory for all projects that include garden spaces of any size, style or location.
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The presence of trees in cities makes life better, a fact made provable by a wide set of both measurable and purely intuitive positive effects. From economic benefits to positive emotional and social impacts to the pleasure of birds and bees, urban trees are worth hugging.
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The tradition of Japanese Gardening has been inspiring designers for centuries. As Eric Herman points out, it’s equal parts philosophy and technique that is aimed at representing and celebrating nature – a set of ideas and disciplines that can deeply influence watershapers who take time to explore these spaces with an open mind and an open heart.
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Marilyn Monroe’s legacy has a new home in a plaza directly adjacent the recently dedicated Downtown Park in Palm Springs, Calif. It’s a beautiful park with an ingenious design that blends modernism of the fabled resort city, while harmonizing with the desert environment. It also features a truly beautiful and inventive watershape.
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Glass tile has long been one of, if not the, most distinctive material used in swimming pools. Applying the science of optical physics, inventor David Knox of Lightstreams Glass Tile, takes on projects that require one-of-a-kind tile creations for designers and clients that want something no one else has.
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Scott Cohen is passionate about plants and especially those that produce beautiful flowers. Here he explains that while plants add a rich dimension to his designs, they do also attract pollinators, including bees, other insects, hummingbirds and even bats. Thankfully, it is impossible to have flowers without the creatures that help propagate them, but to his mind, having a garden blossoming with color and life is a source of tremendous joy and fascination.
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Artaic (Boston, Mass.) has launched its Quad Collection of tile mosaics. The collection showcases a wide array geometric patterns and alignments for use in grid-style, classic and modular applications. Part of the company’s Vitreous Glass line, the collection is available in new sizes, ½ inch, 1 inch. Artaic’s Glazed Porcelain line, is also offered in new 1-inch, 2-inch, 1-by-2-inch, 2-by-4-inch and 4-inch tile sizes. To learn more, click here.
Despite water usage concerns, grass remains a mainstay in both commercial and residential landscapes. Working with grass, explains Mike Logsdon, usually requires some level of moderation and a knack for knowing how to ply the multitudinous types of grasses for the greatest effect, based on client expectations and anticipated grassy needs.
Bedsheets of Dunes and Water