Projects
Calming and Supportive of Wildlife
Before: A blank slate. The homeowner wanted color and texture, and as many native plants as possible.
New plantings:
After: A Relaxing retreat that supports numerous insects and birds
Make it Bloom Please!
BEFORE: Early spring – ornamental grasses just beginning to grow in back, empty space in front filling in with WEEDS!
Planting a mix of annuals and perennials . . .
Mid-season magic!
Lots of color please! Our customers really enjoy it!
Entry Makeover-Faux Stream Bed
Before: A Home needed the front entry spruced up . . .
AFTER: A faux riverbed took advantage of numerous gravel and rocks and saved the expense of removal.
A few years later . . . front beds transformation complete!
Transform the Jungle
Before: The client wanted less “jungley” and instead, a more restful garden experience:
AFTER: We went Zenish. Low plants will fill in for a more lush look, but
keep the scale so as not to compete with the weeping japanese maple.
Circle of Life
BEFORE:The client’s lawncare person cleared and readied the circular beds, but felt he was not qualified to design them. The client wanted something updated, modern, and distinctive.
After: A year later in summer
An early spring picture of dried foliage left standing for winter interest.
How the beds look in spring:
Ahh Spring!
Some Pro Bono Work
I designed a Children’s garden at the Cross plains Library, complete with yellow brick road.
BEFORE: Just weeds
The volunteers, librarian, and myself worked to plant the garden, here’s a few volunteers at work.
Follow the Yellow Brick Road!
Curb Appeal:
In 2010 the owners asked me to do something to add a little pizzaz. We mutually decided the place to work was the weird little triangle of grass – it was hard to mow in any case . . .
Just after planting:
Seven years later – really filled in and looking lovely!
Picnic Paradise
A commercial location where this small square patch of land was just overrun with weeds next to the parking lot for a Take-Out Deli. The billboard says it all – time to say “Goodbye”, weeds!
AFTER: Three years later the jungle is tamed and a lovely picnic area now exists for customer use!
Dr. Livingstone I presume?
BEFORE: Weeds out of control! This homeowner needed help getting his front yard under control: please remove the weeds, but leave the prairie plants and add some color!
AFTER:
Diana’s Tomato Refuge
Problem:
Diana loves tomatoes! But in the last couple of years she had experienced disease and decreased yields. With her busy schedule, her small garden was the perfect size, but she hadn’t realized how quickly the tomatoes would deplete the soil of nutrients. She also wished me to devise a solution to her “gangsta bunny” problem. Apparently this particular bunny loved to take naps precisely in her small lettuce patch. She hadn’t tried to put up a fence, however; how could she reach her plants if it was surrounded by a fence? A gate on such a small raised bed would be superfluous since she needed access to all four sides and had little room for a garden path inside since all space would be used by plants.
Solution:Since many tomato diseases are spread and exacerbated by poor soil, we replaced the old soil with new and devised a simple rotation strategy to help manage the health of her soil going forward. “Gangsta bunny” was foiled by the installation of a fence – but my simple roll-up/down design still allowed easy access to the tomatoes. Finally a small “path” of bricks allowed additional access to the interior, delineated the two growing areas for annual crop rotation, but limited soil compaction and maximized planting space.
George’s Garden
George plants seeds.
Goal:
George wanted a vegetable garden! George’s mother Amy like the idea of less grass to mow and was willing to put in a vegetable garden for George, if it could be made in such a way that her busy work schedule could still allow her to care for it.
It’s all yours George!
Design:
A simple U-shaped raised bed allows a soaker hose to run down the length for easy watering and a minimized planting area for easier weeding and easier soil quality maintenance. The large pathways provide easy access for wheelbarrows and will be thickly mulched for weed prevention.
A fence and gate are built. Come on in!
