Marketing (or not) With My Clients' Homes

I think I did it right. I started designing gardens before I knew that was what I would "grow up" to do. My first forays into site design as a kid included a fantasy plant nursery, pet store, and flower shop.  My parents' back yard was the subject of many site plans as well, though they didn't implement my thoughts.I earned my BLA (Bachelors of Landscape Architecture, a 5 year degree), got my first "real" job, and after a few years, began taking my own projects on the side.  This year I started teaching and finally went full-time as my own boss.  I have essentially spent all my free time for the last mumble-mumble years absorbed in design, gardens, plants, and everything related.You would think that I would have no shortage of beautiful built projects to share online, adding new ones all the time.  Below is part of why I don't put a full body of work in public online places:Naturally, many of the projects I've worked on have been with former employers.  Many of them are my work or at least partly so, but the former employer owns the intellectual property.  I can put the work I did in my own portfolio, that is industry standard, but it is not kosher to put that stuff on my own website or blog to promote myself apart from promoting the company I worked for at the time.  In addition to that, I have agreements with some former employers that state I won't put anything online that came from my employment with them, and some clients and I have similar agreements.  Not marketing with clients' projects can be limiting in this age where everything is available at a click, but there ya go.I respect the wishes of my clients and some of them are more particular about their privacy than others.  I never post or put online anything that a client would like to keep private.  For some of them, that is everything.  The work I do is often someone's home, and I totally get wanting to keep home private!Additionally, a garden is never done.  The design work is only a portion of making a quality outdoor environment.   A great many projects are phased in for budget reasons or other limitations (this can take years!), and it also takes time for the plants to grow in.  In a recent post on a project in Italy, you can see that the photos I posted span about 2 years - after two years, that garden is just getting to the point where it looks good enough to take photos and post them.  If I had posted it too early, it would not have had the same ability to represent what the intention was in the first place.I am incredibly fortunate to work on amazing projects with amazing people - whether their own home, a rental, or a commercial or institutional project, there's opportunity for discovery, beauty, and environmental benefits all around.... so am I still doing it right?  I sure hope so.Hemerocallis 'c1797a' fd 4 

Pinterest and Design Communication

It never occurred to me until recently to use Pinterest.com as a communication tool in collaboration with a client.  Granted, Pinterest can’t actually do the design work for me or my client, but it does allow for us to collaborate and understand each other in a common forum....which is proving to be so fun!Pinterest isn’t everyone's favorite tool, but for those who want to collect images and links in a web-based place, it is a lot of fun.  Back in the day (like a year ago), I saved links as internet explorer's bookmarks and images were always saved to my hard-drive (which means I don't know where they came from).  Now, I have links for non image-heavy things (like articles) on Delicious.com and images (with links!) are on Pinterest.  I can access all this stuff as a resource from anywhere there's internet access.  That's kinda handy! (What Pinterest is)I’ve only just tried using it with a client recently, and at one of our meetings, I asked what they thought.  So far, so good – my client likes being able to share a photo with me, and we add comments back and forth for each other.  It is so gratifying to see that my client has started a board for their project, and have “re-pinned” some “pins” from my various boards (with comments!) which helps me zero-in on exactly what they’re responding to.People can "pin" images from anywhere on the internet, and they can also upload images from their own computer... but don't mistake someone's pins for their own design ability or experience.  The images come from all over the place, with and without express permission.  There is some concern over permissions and Pinterest's user agreement.  Several months ago, I did have the experience of re-pinning an image and then getting an email from Pinterest that the owner of that image had requested it be taken down, so they emailed me a link to the source and removed the image from every instance on Pinterest.So- if you're planning a project, or looking for an easier way to share images with your client or designer than saving and e-mailing both a link and the picture, this may be a useful thing for you!If you want to follow my boards, go ahead.  I take no credit for the work you see there, though, unless expressly noted as my own.

"Low Maintenance" - an utterly useless buzzword

I have come to loathe the term "low maintenance".  It is essentially meaningless.   I am starting to wonder if when a client requests a "low maintenance" design, what they're really saying is that they don't want to do any work themselves, including taking the trouble to find a decent gardener or asking questions.It is imperative for both the client and the designer to discuss exactly what types of gardening activities may occur before doing any design work.  Be honest!  REALLY!  For example, when I got my hair cut last week, I told the stylist that I wash and comb my hair, nothing more.  I would not promise to use any appliances or products, and she gave me a cut that works well for my specific needs.You can see from the above photo (taken on my patio earlier this month) that thanks to my personal distaste for weeding, I have a number of (un-planned) plants just growing together, willy-nilly, doing their thing.  I am okay with that, so this is the design solution that my personal garden employs.  I'll let nearly anything grow as long as it is healthy and doesn't produce anything painful (thorns, burrs, stingers).  This works for me because I live in an apartment and I know that if/when I move, the whole thing will be ripped up  - there's not much to be gained by fretting over weeds.  Given a different situation, my personal garden might look quite different or it might not.I also grow several roses and a few shrubs - some in containers, some not.   I grow dozens of rare bulbs, more than dozens of perennials, and a few orchids, but I don't do much "work".  Every year I reliably cut Roses, Freesias, and Sweet Peas for indoor bouquets.  I know that rose flowers develop at the very end of a branch and that each cut to remove a flower is, in fact, a pruning cut (and where to take that cut).  I also know that my Sweet Peas will bloom nearly forever as long as I keep cutting the flowers off - it is just terrible having an apartment full of sweet pea flowers, just awful...There are countless ways to design a garden so that it doesn't feel like a ton of unwanted work, and so that taking care of it is at least somewhat enjoyable.   Getting it to that point is as good a reason as any to work with a design professional and/or do a bit of research for your own garden design solutions....but please don't call cutting flowers "maintenance", that just takes out all the fun.

Associations

I read Studio G's blog often, it is a wonderful source of entertainment for me. I recently stumbled across this post, clicking on it because of the title "Religion & Garden Design".               Read it.Reading that gave me the nudge I needed to finally mention associations here, they are powerful and invisible aspects of design work that must never be ignored.  The better designers understand that they must get to know their clients so that subtle, personal conflicts of negative associations can be avoided and positive associations used for inspiration.  Consider the meaning in shapes, colors, plants, orientation (East/West), and views.For example: when I see Beautyberry (the plant image in Studio G's post) I remember the Dallas Arboretum, visiting my friend Melinda, and working at a wonderful Dallas Landscape Architecture firm with wonderful people.The smell of Tomatoes reminds me of my childhood in Southern California, as does for Australian Tree Fern, Mother Fern, Amaryllis belladonna, Agapanthus, and Tuberous Begonias (especially the orange ones).Red and yellow together remind me of Mc Donalds, which I don't think very highly of....I've seen Topher Delaney speak about her landscape work a couple of times, I also met her once at a lunch.  At the beginning of a project, she asks her clients to tell her about where they lived when they were little.  They have a conversation and get to know each other.  She uses this more personal understanding in her design work and succeeds in bringing more meaning to the work than most.So - who are you designing for?  ....and how will the design meet their needs, bring meaning, or make it beautiful for the eye of the beholder?

Why Client Questionnaires Suck, pt. 2

Modative blog post:  I receive updates on this architecture firm's blog when they add a new post, and I thought it was interesting when they recently posted about their client questionnaire, so I thought I would share it (please notice that to their credit, they ASK these questions in person).   I like their blog and that they are sharing their processes so openly.I still think written questionnaires are a bad idea.  I think it is far more important to encourage an open dialog and be responsive to the dynamics of the design process than anything else (some of those answers could change).  Also note that only the last question, number 10, opens the door to 'getting to know' the client.  Some clients aren't very open, others may give too much information, and they don't always like ideas presented.My first post on client questionnaires gets more traffic than anything else I've written here.  I suspect that there are a lot of aspiring designers out there looking for examples of the best questionnaires.  I did this, too, early in my career.  I've even got a few oldies saved on the computer, but I don't use them.Unlike designing for a public, institutional, or commercial facility, when designing for people's homes, the Owners need to work with someone that they can trust above all else.  Someone who will listen and ask questions, then interpret the answers and produce a solution that the client will like (preferably LOVE).Designing for others isn't like any other relationship.  The designer needs to get inside the client's head a little, ask some personal questions (about money, lifestyle, privacy concerns, aesthetic preferences).  Whether you're designing an interior, structure, or garden, this is an involved and personal process.All clients need to know that you are a professional, but they also need to feel that you care about them and their project.  They need to believe that you will treat their investment responsibly, keep private information private, and deliver something beyond their dreams.  Developing a relationship that advances the open communication needed is one of the most important skills that a designer can have.Here's a story from my experience:  I once worked for a small design/build firm for a short time.  I advanced the design development phase of a large and historically significant home.  The Owners were out of town a lot, so it took a while to schedule a meeting, but the company had been working on the project for a while already.  I read the correspondence and found the company's client questionnaire.  The only notes I found regarding aesthetics were written by the client on the (mailed) questionnaire.  They noted that they did not like the color orange or Roses.  Okay then - I designed around what would be appropriate for the stately old home, avoiding orange flowers, orange foliage, and Roses.  We finally met, and they brought images with them of things that they liked.  After some discussion, it became clear that the only images they responded to favorably included chartreuse foliage and white flowers.  In fact, they requested that we include shrub roses!!

I am honored. Thanks!

My friend and colleague Page Huyette asked me to write a post for her blog as a guest writer. I wrote about editing as part of the design process.  Everyone works differently, I think this post illuminates part of my process really well (it should, I wrote it!).Here is the link to that post, and below one of the images (because no blog post should be without pictures!).  I took this snapshot one day a few years ago.  I had been working for a while and when I "came up for air", I thought that all the stuff on my desk (at Scott Lewis Landscape Architecture) looked interesting together.  I'm glad I took the picture, I had no idea it would come in handy some day.Thanks!

Filoli in August

I have to admit that my plan to visit Filoli several times this year fell apart over the summer....but I did visit the gardens yesterday, August 8th, and took a few snapshots. This time, I watched people (and eavesdropped) as much as I enjoyed the gardens. The light was glaringly bright, and good pictures difficult to get, but my ancient digital camera and I did our best.
It was a great day for people watching, though.  The visitors I encountered were (if accents are any indication) from all over the world, and they brought lots of kids with them (which can be both hysterical and loud).  There were also some people there talking about their own gardens....perhaps looking for design ideas?One couple appeared to be touring the garden with their designer. This is what I overheard:Wife: I love those white flowers over there (they were a full bed of white Agrostemma). I mean they're all nice, but I do have some sun and I like those, they're so delicate.Designer: Yeah, with those you need to have full sun.Husband: uh huh.Wife: They're just so pretty.Husband: But this is the Summer. Think about what they'll look like at other times of the year, it will be just this (points to the soil underneath).Designer: yup.What???  Is he kidding?  Not to get into that specific plant, and I have no idea what they are designing for/around...but Agrostemma is an annual and one can plant bulbs underneath or ground cover plants if a spot of bare soil is a major issue for the husband.   In addition, the designer could (should!) be designing so that the garden's inherent design is beautiful whether it is Summer or not (and needs to illustrate this to his clients). If the wife is smitten with white Agrostemma, they should be at least under consideration.  To be fair, I don't know what happened after that....I try not to assert design "rules" because for every rule, there is likely at least one successful example that breaks it...but I do believe that Filoli is a fantastic place to see occasions when an area in its 'off-season' is beautiful, too.What you are focused on is what you will notice.  If you are focused on how much you hate a certain view, guess what?  That view will bother you all the time.  If you are looking for bare patches of soil, congratulations!  Bare soil is what you will find.  What would happen if we all adjusted our attention? What if we saw more than bare soil and ugly views?The paired images here are from Feb 2010 and August 2010.

First Contact and The Lingo

"Could I request a post on finding and making first contact with a designer for those of us with gardens out of your jurisdiction so to speak? You’ve convinced me that outside help would be a good idea for my yard, but I don’t know where to go for it, and I don’t want to give the wrong first impression by not knowing the right terms."

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How to become a Great Client

I just got this blog post in my e-mail from Seth Godin this morning which ties in nicely with the book What Your Contractor Can't Tell You that my good friend Susan introduced me to.  Nevermind that Mr. Godin uses logo design as his example, and never mind that the book focuses on working with Architects and contractors as opposed to Landscape Architects.  BOTH sources discuss the same notion: being a "good" client, or at the very least, an informed one (weirdly, though, they seem to disagree on some points)."Good" clients are beneficial to the entire process, save everyone time, money, and headaches.  The responsibility is not the client's alone, however.  When the relationship between the client and the professionals they've hired is a productive one, the project always benefits.  I am thinking about getting extra copies of that book for my office (knowing full well that suggesting to someone that they read either the post or the book won't necessarily result in them reading either).  It is that good.  No, really.  The $15. you spend on that book can save you thousands in the long and short run.  Not a bad return on investment!I leave you with images from the Windmill Garden in San Francisco - a seasonal planting that I really enjoyed back in April 2006.

Sentimental Plants

nerine from mom My mom used to have "naked ladies" (Amaryllis beladonna) in her garden until she dug them all up and gave them to a neighbor.  Lucky for me, she had some Nerine bowdenii shoved in a corner of the yard (not planted, just set aside bare) and when I asked if the Amaryllis were all gone, she stuffed the Nerine in a box and gave them to me.  Hey, close enough.  Every fall when these things bloom, I think of "home" (though I haven't lived there in quite a long time).I've had a few clients with similar hand-me-down plants, and I think these are (depending on the client's wishes, of course) essential to any new design work.  How rude would it be if you had a Hydrangea from a loved one's garden (heaven forbid that person is gone!) and I just designed it right out (and oh, yes, I've seen this happen) of the new garden.So below are my Nerine.  I'll come clean with you: my yard is a disaster area (no, check that - it is a teensy American Meadow), I haven't done any maintenance since spring, staying inside and working on everything else instead.  I live in an apartment, so yes, my friends, the Nerine are living in a kitty litter bucket with holes drilled in the bottom.   They don't seem to mind, I pay them absolutely no attention whatsoever and look what they gave me back this year:nerine from mom 2