The Dog Days of Summer If you have a canine companion in your life, or expect to have one in the future, dog-friendly landscaping may pique your interest. Like all of our clients, each dog is unique, and while many are the easygoing sorts when it comes to the landscape, [...]
Elements: Water Features In the Landscape When summer heat starts to set in out here in the East Bay, we appreciate even more the element of water in the designed landscape. Water features can take many forms. A swimming pool, of course, offers the ultimate refresh on a hot day. But even [...]
Container Planting In the midst of winter, it can be daunting to take on a large-scale landscape project. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make transformative changes to your outdoor living space during this time! If you need to create a point of interest, a cooling sense of lush foliage or a [...]
Structures in the Landscape In nearly every garden style, constructed elements play a role in defining space for an inviting outdoor experience. Gates and trellises, pergolas and cabanas- landscape structures have the power to transform a garden. The variety of styles gives infinite possibility to these elements, allowing a landscape’s unique [...]
Embellishments For The Landscape In creating outdoor living spaces, design is often in the details! Whether designing a landscape from scratch or adding to the existing landscape, stylistic embellishments can completely change the overall effect of the space. Embellishments personalize the home landscape and reflect your unique style, for a fun, relaxing outdoor [...]
On Decks A J. Montgomery Deck on the cover of Sunset's 'Complete Deck Book' For a moment here in California, it seemed like decks were going out of style. Wood was being replaced with stone and concrete terraces, as homeowners began to work with the contours of their land and defy [...]
HOW TO HIRE A LANDSCAPE DESIGN PRO You’ve decided you want to hire a professional to design your landscape, but how do you decide who to call? If it’s your first time hiring a design pro of any sort, it can be an especially daunting idea. There are many services available to help [...]
Approaching Infinity: Infinity-edge Pools One of our long-time favorite design features would have to be the Infinity-edge Pool. With an elegance that borders on the impossible, these breathtaking pools are one amazing statement with infinite possibility. Invisible Edge In math, zero and infinity are somewhat twin mysteries. The [...]
HOME-GROWN GROCERIES If you haven’t grown your own food before, it’s the perfect time to start. We feel it’s one of those things that is simple to learn but can take a lifetime to master. We aren’t masters yet by any means, but we do learn more each year, and since [...]
Landscape Lighting During the summer months we often stay outside later due to the nice weather, so this is the time of year when we find that landscape lighting really shines. Lending cozy elegance to the night landscape and safely illuminating paths and steps, lighting allows us to enjoy our outdoor living [...]
