textures
Coverall Stone (SeaTac, WA) supplies Pebble-Tile-1A, a mesh-backed mosaic tile made with natural pebbles. Designed…
Aquamatic Cover Systems (Gilroy, CA) has mounted a catalog showing pool-cover designs available through its…
'I do not understand how anyone can live without one small place of enchantment to turn to.' - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings As watershapers, we draw upon the sound and presence of water to soothe souls, using nature to guide and inform us. In the small pond project featured here, for example, the watershape component of the composition is meant to
Of all the points that are hard to get across when working with clients on a pool design, the one highlighted in this video can be among the hardest: You can paint word pictures until you turn blue; you can show countless photos; you can even take your clients on tours of completed projects and try to show them what you mean: If they have their hearts set on a colored interior finish (that is, pretty much anything beyond plain
By Steve Sandalis We recently completed a project that truly thrilled a pair of well-traveled,…
From the moment I set foot on this site perched on the bluffs at Del Mar, Calif., I just knew I would be the designer chosen to develop the garden: I was energized simply by being there and, more important, was at ease with the owners from the start. Immediately noticeable was the way the whole property sloped down from street level to the top of
As the possibilities of learning more and creating unique gardens take hold, the give and take of landscape design can become a kind of addiction both for designer and client. I have experienced this phenomenon again and again, but only occasionally has it been as pronounced as in the case of the shade garden featured here: It's a wonderful example of how this constant drive to create new and beautiful plant combinations and visual planes can grip any landscape professional. A dedicated gardener, my client
Done properly, planting design is much like painting: It involves setting frames, backgrounds, screens and stages in a garden, thus creating a living scene with the plants as features of the composition. Just as a painter adds layers of colors to a canvas to create a work of art, the garden designer combines plants for visual delight. But the garden designer has an advantage in that scent, texture, motion and even taste can be experienced in gardens in ways that can only be suggested by a painting. (As a former painter, I can attest to this point and credit my artistic adventures in











