Comments on: Thinking Forward

By: Dee/reddirtramblings

Dee/reddirtramblings — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:32:13 +0000

Beautifully written Susan. I hope 2010 proves to be a better year for us all.~~Dee

By: Helen at Toronto Gardens

Helen at Toronto Gardens — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:22:21 +0000

Although our blog is taglined “real gardens by real people”, it’s hard not to be swayed by garden porn. We do find ourselves reporting on garden-tour gardens, as they’re so darned showable. But I’ll never have $150,000 for hardscaping (or $15,000… or, right now, even $1,500), so cheap and cheerful has been and will continue to be my mode de vie. I’m challenging myself as a gardener to be more creative about it. Constraints can be a great muse.

By: Robert Webber

Robert Webber — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:57:33 +0000

Accords very much with our letter in the January edition of the Garden Design Journal. If it doesn’t sound patronising, Susan, you always make very good sense. A happy new year to you. Robert

By: Bill Healy

Bill Healy — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:02:31 +0000

Susan,
Your post is influencing and inspriational. Though the new econony has punched or clobbered our budgets, it can be exciting be part of a fight to create a saner more beautiful planet. Loved your Robert Frost photo.

By: Shirley Bovshow "EdenMaker"

Shirley Bovshow "EdenMaker" — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:31:40 +0000

HI Susan,
I’m with you. Sustainable gardens and landscapes are gaining momentum and the buzz starts with us professionals as we inspire our clients to consider one.

I welcome the challenge of a small budget (not too small though that I can’t make a living) and a homeowner with “lofty ideas” (magazine clippings), it brings out my creative problem solving side.

I’ll be posting more “before and after” photos on my blog as well as on my show with price tags so people will understand how much things cost!

Maybe we should all consider doing this. It will surely educate the public.

Shirley Bovshow “Eden Maker”

By: judy maier

judy maier — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:44:50 +0000

Dear Susan, so well described. Thank you for your thoughtful and pertinent post.

By: Kari Lønning

Kari Lønning — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:19:13 +0000

2010 will be a year of shaking out. There is a need for good design, creative problem solvers and ecology. This will be applicable in all fields. There is a need for people with vision. Landscape designers are in the unique position to add quality of life to the public while working to save the environment one city space, or backyard at a time. An educated public will make all this easier though.

By: Pat FitzGerald

Pat FitzGerald — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:34:18 +0000

Good timely article Susan. Back to how it should always have been more to the point. We know from other life lessons the pendulum must swing to the slightly uncomfortable extreme before us humans come back into line. Its an exciting time ahead. I am editing a presentation I made for industry conferences a few years go called New Plants New Spaces, your article and the comments above are very helpful for plants people like me to learn what may be needed in the future. One could say so much on this topic. I recently read an interview, nothing to do with plants, with the Architect Frank Gehry where he said one of his main points of pride in his work is that his projects come in n budget! Another important achivement on his check list was a mention of his Guggenheim gallery buliding in Bilbao cost, on budget, $100 million and that last year it earner $320 million euro for the city this may not seem to have much to do with a garden design but it most definitely has. For the majority the garden must be a functional, affordable place to live in and give people who worked hard for their money return for expenditure. This may have been forgotten for a while in some Chelsea Show copy designs but for sure reality has roosted today. Thanks for your planning insights Susan they are very helpful.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and respond with such a thoughtful reply Pat. Interesting that you bring up the added after value of such a high profile and high sticker project as Bilbao. If we, as designers, pay attention to giving the most that we can within the client’s budget, then the after value will certainly become greater to both the client and ourselves. P.S. I would have thought Bilbao cost so much more than that…–S

By: James Golden

James Golden — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:47:20 +0000

We need to see some books on low budget, sustainable landscape and garden design. But those books apparently don’t have many readers. Considering the cost of maintenance, we may have to accept less than pristine garden environments, not a bad thing for the environment, but tolerance for that would need to be cultivated, the benefits made visible (or immediately apparent).

If a book on budget wise, sustainable garden design was titled something that didn’t sound as if it had to be good for you- like cherry flavored cough medicine- they might sell.–s

By: Michelle D.

Michelle D. — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 20:27:01 +0000

Fantastic article Susan.
I agree that this new economy is going to give us design professionals more opportunities to be imaginative with our clients.

One point of communicating this method is through publication and I am extremely grateful to innovators such as Martha Stewart for her continuing inspiration and publication of a wide variety of gardens in her magazine and other media outlets.

People , ( our clients ) read these picture perfect magazines to be inspired and to gain ideas on how to craft and style their own exterior environments.
Besides being entertaining they are good for our business and extremely helpful as an educational tool to our clients.
How many times have we all read or head of the landscape designer who has requested that their client create an image notebook from clipped magazine images ? …. Plenty.

Part of our job has always been and should always be to assist and guide our clients in creating the garden of their dreams within their budgetary constrainsts and if those picture perfect magazines with those over the top residential resort images can help narrow down the wide variety of choices then I say keep promoting that avenue of communication.
We can use all the help we can get in this new economy.

Agreed. Many people need the imagery to help clarify their ideas visually. I believe people still want their dream gardens – we have to use and invent tools to give them that…whatever their budget. I think we’ve all learned a few lessons this year! Here’s to moving forward in a way that allows for creativity, collaboration and dreams.–S