soil retention
This project started in a most unusual way, with the client telling me how little he liked the property he and his wife owned and that a move was likely in the near future. But in the meantime, he said, she wanted a pool. So there I was, sizing up a challenging site and wondering if
The key to good pond-filter/waterfall installation is making certain the area around the unit is well compacted, well supported and properly positioned. If you take care of all of those things, the system that drives the pond will be stable and offer trouble-free performance for many years to come. In this video, we look with special focus at one of the support systems we see as crucial to many of our successes – that is, a good retaining wall that will help keep
If you've been involved in major construction projects - initial work or renovations - chances are good that you've come across the need for retaining walls. In many cases, even the simple leveling of a site will require some type of retaining structure to hold back the soil - whether you're cutting fill out and need to support the slope that remains or filling an area and need to keep the new material from washing away. No matter what site we're talking about, retaining walls have one purpose: to hold something back. Whether you need to terrace a sloped yard, hold up a parking lot or
In discussing my role as a "forensic landscaper" a few months back, I expressed my disappointment in the quality of some of the work I was seeing in my local marketplace - and if the e-mail I've been receiving is any indicator, I am not alone in this experience. Indeed, questionable workmanship may be more prevalent that I ever could have imagined. As a result of this revelation, I will be using this space from time to time to demonstrate the fact that failure is often a better teacher than success and that, by exploring the nature and causes of failed projects, we can all come to a better understanding of the principles and practices that lead to good results. Before I begin, however, I'd like once again to salute
It may seem an odd source of inspiration, but I've always been interested in retaining walls. Even as a child, I'd see photographs of terraced hillsides rich with crops and wonder, "How did they do that?" I've since done my homework and have found historical evidence indicating that the skills needed to build these structures goes back many hundreds of years. I'm now applying those same skills today in devising soil-retaining systems for my clients. Whether it's farmers creating flat spaces on which to
As a landscape designer and installer, I have an abiding fascination with stone. I love the feel of it and its myriad colors, veins, streaks, shapes and textures, and I particularly admire its strength and flexibility. We pave with it, sculpt it and run water over, under and through it. It doesn't need painting or much care, looks great with plant material and has, as those who work with stone will point out, a timeless quality that cannot be reproduced with artificial materials. The best thing about stone is that when you use even one piece in an aesthetically meaningful way, you've
Everyone knows that hanging a pool, pond, or spa off a slope can make quite a dramatic statement, which is probably why so many great watershapers love working on hillsides. But the project doesn't begin and end with the vessel: In fact, placing a watershape on an incline also presents a range of landscape-related issues that must be addressed, whether it's a matter of aesthetics, code or safety requirements or simple
