WHAT IS A GARDEN DESIGNER?

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A garden designer is a professional who designs the plan and features of gardens.

The compositional elements of garden design and landscape design are: terrain, water, plantings, constructed elements, buildings, paving, site characteristics and genius loci, (a sense of place) and the local climactic qualities.

Garden designers create brownstone garden design, townhouse garden design, roof garden design, residential garden design and public garden design. A garden design in Brooklyn, New York (an urban garden design) is just as challenging as a country estate.  Creating a successful Brooklyn garden design is just as rewarding to the designer as is the creation of a 5-acre site.

Garden designers are skilled specialists dealing with master planning of landscapes and design of gardens, consulting with advice for clients, providing direction and supervision during construction, and the management of establishment and maintenance once the garden has been created. Many garden designers have formal education and practical education. As with any professional, a combination of the formal education and practical education and experience bodes well for the client. 

They are able to survey the site, and prepare drawings for the development of a garden from concepts to construction, and resource the plant and building materials. The complexities in contemporary environmental design issues and technology increase the scope professional garden designers fill.

WHY HIRE A GARDEN DESIGNER?

MORE IDEAS FOR PARK SLOPE GARDENS

6. Park Slope yards and gardens are akin to medieval cloister gardens. They are inward focused and allow the designer to use certain illusory design techniques. Consider verticality of space. Take advantage of this by choosing several plants, pots and garden architecture that are narrow and tall.  At the same time be aware that you need to strike a balance as high walls around a small space can become claustrophobic.

7. Less is more!  If the given patio space will only fit a table and 4 chairs comfortably, leave it at that.  Adding more furniture will only create a tight, cluttered look. Think functionality and circulation. Custom built furniture (storage benches) affords a place to store tools, hoses and extra potting soil. Less clutter = more open space.

8. Make planters moveable, either by placing casters underneath them or purchasing them of lightweight material.  Planters need to be raised off of most surfaces for drainage.  From time to time you will want to move them to clean underneath.

9. Take advantage of walls!  Place a focal point such as a wall fountain or other object d’art. Famous landscape designer Beatrix Farrand referred to vines or espaliered shrubs as “wall coverings”—using them outdoors as one uses wallpaper within interior spaces.

10. Ideas for small garden designs should include low maintenance design. Use drip irrigation on a timer.  A rain sensor should also be considered.

GARDEN IDEAS 1-5

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MOSQUITOES IN THE GARDEN

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Repelling and controlling mosquitoes.  What works and what doesn't.

There is only one thing I dislike about my job as a garden designer in New York City…mosquitoes. Mosquitos seem particular rampant in the brooklyn brownstone gardens and manhattan townhouses that I design and build.  Lack of air movement in these walled gardens contribute to this.  Manhattan terrace gardens are devoid of this problem because they are windy sites. 

Many of these brownstone gardens are shade gardens.  Shade gardens contribute to the mosquito population with moist situations, organic material and standing water.  Protecting yourself by covering exposed skin can only go so far.  Your face, ear, neck and hands are still left unprotected at other times.  I’ve tried various sprays.  All I can say is “OFF” should be labeled “ON” because it does not work! 

Citronella scented pelargoniums, thyme, candles, catmint, rosemary, marigolds, lemongrass do not work. If they did, then the gardens I build would be a safe haven as they contain many of these plants.  But this is not the case.  "Anti-mosquito plants are effective at keeping mosquitoes away from themselves, but they won't help you much" states Dr. Douglas W. Tallamy, entomologist at the University of Delaware.

Cherokee Indians smashed the roots of goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis) into a pulp and mixed it with bear fat as a means to spread over the body for protection from insects.  Western tribes of Native Americans used western yarrow (Achillea millefolium) as both a mosquito repellent and as a poultice to treat infected wounds. When used as a mosquito repellent, its leaves are placed on hot coals to make a smudge.  

CLICK HERE FOR TIPS TO REPEL MOSQUITOES FROM YOUR GARDEN

*also known as “scented geraniums,” they are tender perennials and occur naturally almost entirely within South Africa.  Most are frost tender in the northeast USA and need to be protected during the winter from temperatures in the low 30's (F) and below, and from excessive moisture when they are not in growth.

GETTING STARTED: BROOKLYN BROWNSTONE GARDENS

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Here's an excerpt from a 1980 New York Times article (that’s 35 years ago!) on successful design solutions for brownstone gardens.  In my practice as a New York City garden designer I design Brownstone garden designs.

“Many brownstone gardens are both an asset and a problem: they promise to bring outdoor space into the lives of nature-starved New Yorkers, but the spaces themselves are usually small and sometimes damp, and they often lack light and privacy. The high canopies of the aspiring ailanthus and other city trees compound both the promise and the problem of a back garden by providing greenery that obscures the sun.”

Interestingly, what this demonstrates is that garden designs and garden styles may come and go, but the essence of the challenges remain the same in designing Brooklyn brownstone gardens or virtually any other specific garden design.

Brownstones and their gardens have been altered so many times over the decades that many yards have unique conditions, some extremely difficult to plant and design for. If they are not carefully planned and tended, the course nature takes will not be inviting.

Designing the garden of a brownstone is something like writing a haiku: there are strong constraints, especially on space, and success can turn on a nuance, such as the proportion of light to shade. A Brooklyn Heights landscape designer, says, ‘You have a small rectangle, and it's a question of how you divide it.’

rendering of a brooklyn garden design sketch up
rendering of a brooklyn garden design sketch up

There are, however, many ways to design successfully within this constrained form. Some gardens look as though they are excerpts from a forest; others have constructions of terraces, pavilions or trellises; still others are totally decked, both floor and fence. Designing is especially difficult when the yard requires remedying problems that lie beyond the fence, in other yards. Success sometimes depends on the cooperation of neighbors.” 

10 IDEAS FOR BROOKLYN BROWNSTONE GARDENS