design
I create site-specific design for any improvement I suggest on any property with which I’m involved, from gardens to walkways to walls. This means that I don’t copy from a book, or impose a design upon the land because it looks good on paper. I take key elements of the site, to figure out what the land wants to do, and combine those with key elements of the architecture of the home. To the mix I add bits of the owner’s personality to arrive at a design that works for that person, in that home, on that property. To learn more, read the syllabus for my course, Landscaping in the Vernacular.
new: curb consult
This two-hour session is the ticket to instant design help for your landscape, and gives you professional assistance without contract or commitment. It allows you to discuss design problems and to find solutions that work for you. If you become a client, I’ll deduct the consult fee from the cost of site design.
green appraisal
The plants, shrubs and trees surrounding your home have an aesthetic value, to be sure, but they also have a dollar value. If you’re thinking of selling your house, you should know the ‘green value’ of these materials before you enter the real estate market. A green appraisal will help support the listing price, and may even boost it.
For land under development, I’ll also tag the plant material that can be salvaged and establish a holding bed. This mature, zone-hardy material can be used to landscape the finished site. If you own the land, you own the plants; it makes more sense to use them than to buy them again.
land art
There are sculptures of stone, and then there’s sculptural stonework, installations so unique they’re like walkable art. In Scarborough there’s a terrace of vintage granite that seems so at home it almost melts into the landscape. On Cousins Island there’s a walkway of lilac bluestone that floats on a sea of river jacks shimmering in the sun. These pieces, and their siblings, are the fusion of form and function. They’re beautiful enough to be called art, practical enough to live in Maine.
landscape renovation
Renovating an existing site requires two skills in particular: an intimate knowledge of pruning techniques, and an understanding of how and when to transplant. The ability to be a ruthless editor doesn’t hurt, either. It is design and salvage, both, and presents its own exquisite challenge: to be true to both past and present. The objective is to be seamless, to have the new instantly such a part of the old that it appears always to have been there. If you’re faced with this daunting task, give me a call. It’s my version of fun.
new home siting
To site a new home I use an ancient Taoist art called geomancy, but I do it with all the practicality of a Yankee. I walk the land and find the place best suited for the house, angled toward the sun and protected from the wind. A Taoist will tell you this is the place where chi flows freely; a Yankee will tell you this is the place where you’ll use less electricity and less heat. An artist will tell you this is the place where the quality of light is best suited to the lines and angles of the house; a Master Gardener will tell you this is the place where plant materials can thrive. I am all of these, and will tell you, here you have a chance to form a natural response to the land.
