walkways
Generally speaking, the folks who visit botanical gardens fall into two categories. The first includes local residents who can best be described as garden enthusiasts - the sort who visit monthly, weekly or even daily to follow the lifecycles of favorite trees, shrubs and plants and can spend countless hours observing the diurnal operations of flowers or of the birds who come and go as a year progresses. The second group, generally larger and often much larger, includes local residents who stop by the gardens only when
When I first became involved with this project, the property was little more than a muddy slope - a dramatic piece of Panamanian topography that nobody had ever considered developing before my clients came along and decided to build a large, custom home. There was a reason it was available to them when they arrived: The building site was a logistical nightmare not only because of the topography but also because of the configuration of the lot. But they
Last time, Bruce Zaretsky discussed the importance of making a good first impression with a home’s landscape, starting with defining a pathway to the main entry. Here, he picks up that discussion while setting a broader front-yard stage. Today’s homes have many entries: front doors, service entries, back doors, garage doors and more. As a landscape designer, it is always my goal to
Everything about this project was classic and beautiful. For one thing, the home has the soft look of a French country chateau. For another, it’s located in Hancock Park, one of the oldest of Los Angeles’ upscale downtown neighborhoods. And when you add in the fact that it sits on a half-acre-plus lot on a quiet street, we had the pleasing sense that we’d landed on a refreshing oasis at the heart of a bustling metropolis. We also enjoyed the privilege of working here with Andres Cardenes, a wonderful architect who had collaborated with these clients on and off for several years. In their latest endeavor, he had come in to refurbish the home along historic and formal lines – something that often happens in this neighborhood, which boasts numerous restored and beautifully maintained homes across a range of architectural styles. Our firm, New Leaf Landscape of Agoura Hills, Calif., had worked with Cardenes on previous projects. When he called, he talked a bit about the situation and let us know that he thought we’d be a great fit because of the way we
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
Beauty enhances our lives by changing our perceptions, and what we do as landscape professionals plays an important part in setting that perceptual stage. As the mystic poet Rumi wrote in the 13th Century, "Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it." The steps we take in moving to and from our homes are important in that context, both for us and for our clients: These daily treads affect our perception of the world and influence our moods. While we can't always change the part of the journey that continues beyond the garden gate, we can do much to shape the sense of welcome, beauty and ease by
Contractors of all types are notorious for setting impossible-to-keep schedules, thereby disappointing clients and damaging their own credibility in the process. Sometimes, however, situations arise that require landshapers to shrink their established installation timetables, a necessity that will turn up the heat on even the most accomplished of contractors. For the project profiled in these pages, my clients had something come up that (from their perspective, anyway) necessitated completion of the project much earlier than anyone thought: They were expecting a baby and insisted that our delivery date should happen before theirs. The challenge we faced with the new timetable - just five months rather than the planned eight - was huge: It required truly constant interaction and communication with the clients and sub-contractors as well as intensive coordinating and expediting of a mind-boggling number of simultaneous processes - enough to drive us all crazy from time to time, but ultimately a
In 1921, a flood rolled into Pueblo, Colo., submerging the civic center beneath 11 feet of water and leaving more than 100 people dead. To prevent the recurrence of such disasters, engineers came to town, diverted the river along a different path and encased it in underground levees several blocks away. Seventy years later, a grand project known locally as HARP – the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk of Pueblo – undertook to restore the historic course of the Arkansas River and make it the centerpiece of a 26-acre downtown park. HARP re-creates 2,220 linear feet of the historic river in concrete-lined (yet naturalistic) channels. Nearing completion after ten years, the urban park will include 3,300 linear feet of navigable waterway for use by water taxis and pleasure boats as well as dramatic fountains; more than a mile of promenades and other walkways; a two-acre lake; and an outdoor environmental-education center. It has been a massive undertaking, as befits a project aimed at revitalizing an entire city. For the watershaping community, the project stands as an example of the truly transforming effect that
