grass
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.
If friends had told me that, eight years after leaving the Las Vegas desert, I'd be incorporating synthetic turf in a high percentage of my outdoor spaces in Texas, I would've said "No way!" What a concept! I now live and work where there's no water shortage, so why on earth would my clients or I have any interest in finding substitutes for big expanses of lawn? Well, what I'm seeing now is that the low-maintenance, long-lasting faux-grass solution is
In recent weeks, I’ve spent a good bit of time speaking to landscaping colleagues, garden clubs and symposium attendees about our general need to get smarter when it comes to how we think about landscapes. This is all part of my perpetual campaign to convince everyone to use the right plants in the right places in order to save water, labor and the fuels consumed in maintaining them. A big part of my pitch is one I’ve addressed before in this space – that is, I object to
Last month, I introduced my rundown on books I like to have at hand in my studio by mentioning a project that included a pool, an outdoor kitchen, stone walls, a fire pit and some other amenities. A feature I didn't mention - but one that may well be unique for a backyard in upstate New York - was the Peruvian Travertine we chose for use around the pool. While decking material seldom takes center stage in a design, its high visibility tends to make it more than just a bit player. Indeed, the choice of a material can either
Last month, I introduced my rundown on books I like to have at hand in my studio by mentioning a project that included a pool, an outdoor kitchen, stone walls, a fire pit and some other amenities. A feature I didn't mention - but one that may well be unique for a backyard in upstate New York - was the Peruvian Travertine we chose for use around the pool. While decking material seldom takes center stage in a design, its high visibility tends to make it more than just a bit player. Indeed, the choice of a material can either
Images of waterways almost anywhere in the world are filled with gentle sweeps of free-flowing grasses swaying in the breezes or simply lazing by the water's edge. From a watershaper's perspective, these grasses are arguably the most versatile of all plant materials. In one form or another, they exist and thrive in almost every environment in the world. They can be used by themselves to lend a natural feeling to a stream or pond, next to a contemporary watershape to make a bold statement or nestled among almost any other plants in any landscape style to soften and add texture. One of the best things about grasses (particularly the taller ones) is how gracefully they wave in the wind, adding an element of
To my way of thinking, one of the most fundamental considerations in any landscape design has to do with understanding how the major elements blend visually with each other and their immediate surroundings. When that design includes water - be it a pond, stream, fountain, pool or spa - the key to effective visual blending depends to an overwhelming degree on how you define the internal boundaries within the design. This is so because of a couple of crucial visual concepts: First, we all know that
