Landscape design is no more about flowers and plants than Architecture is about drywall and siding material. It is about space and experience.

Creating landscape space is exactly like building Architectural space with floors, walls, and ceilings, except that different materials can be used - and sometimes the scale of things outside is larger.

Plants can be a large part of what creates these outdoor volumes and your experiences of them, but also there is the sculpted floor (earth, hardscape, water and greenery), walls (plants, tree trunks, structures, water, mountains) and ceiling (sky, tree canopy, structure, etc.). The scale and proportions of these things are critical. There is nothing wrong with using flowers if that is what you like, but it is only a small part of the experience of a well-designed space, and it takes a lot more than flowers to give a place that special feeling of uniqueness.

On a larger scale, aside from designing for the human body and its activities, landscape frequently accommodates circulation for vehicles and boats, wildlife, and provides habitat for plant communities and animals. It usually has underpinnings dealing with management of water and drainage, and connections between various buildings, activities and destinations.

The floor plans of our architecture exist within the larger floor plan of the landscape, and it is through these eyes that I approach a project as a landscape architect.