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| Student design drawing for a hospital healing garden. |
A garden is a harmonious synthesis of many elements coming together into an expression of natural and intentional beauty. Well designed and tended gardens have a spirit and character all their own and bring a sense of peace and well being to the home.
Background & Aesthetics
My style has been profoundly influenced by the landscapes I have lived in an traveled to. Growing up home schooled in Southeastern Ontario I spent much of my time wandering the mossy woods and getting to know nature on a personal and mythological level.
From lush, wooded Ontario I moved to high and dry Colorado. The evergreen, Rocky Mountains and desert southwest activated my imagination in new ways and drew me in deeper like a good teacher. The Southwest taught me to see the beauty in the minute details. The open sky and endless horizon taught me to meditate.
Studies
Studying Anthropology at the University of Colorado led me to rich world travels and a broader picture of the world, its cultures and its endlessly varied environments. I value all of these experiences immeasurably and they inform my approach to design each with a different set of considerations.
I returned to Ontario to study Landscape Architecture and in so doing returned to my early views of the land even while synthesizing all my past pursuits into a new career. Landscape Architecture takes my deeply ingrained environmentalism, my studied human ecology, idealism and fascination with story and place and aligns them in inspiring new ways. It offers me ways to develop personally, professionally and even spiritually as well as a context in which to respond to the demands of the future.
Experience
I have worked with landscape maintenance and created gardens for more than a decade. I love seeing my own designs come to life and taking the time and care necessary to nurture them along. When I approach a garden, whether new or established, I look beyond the surface and seek to understand how to create or restore a sense of place.
One of the great delights of design is that sometimes the greater the constraints the more inventive the end result becomes. Colorado is a wonderful place to work in this regard because the climate and conditions offer new and fascinating challenges at every turn.
I am particularly interested in the following types of gardens and landscapes but, ever learning, I am always open to new styles and ideas.
- Spiritual and contemplative gardens
- Native plant and wildlife gardens
- Xeriscapes
- Rock gardens
- Edible and medicinal planting
- Small space gardens
- Japanese gardens &
- Mediterranean gardens
To learn more contact me here.
