Artfully designed garden paths mimic the way it feels to walk in nature. You’ve probably had this experience strolling a woodland path in one of our Northern Virginia regional parks: You pause at an overlook to take in the feeling of space rolling out before you. You sit for a moment and listen to the […]

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Thoughtfully designed outdoor living spaces can feel like a natural extension of your home’s interior living space–with one big difference: your outdoor rooms are “furnished” with the sights, sounds, fragrances, and physical sensations of open-air living. You gain the freedom to revel in all of your senses with no confining walls to constrain your imagination. […]

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How to Fit Landscaping Costs to Your Landscape Dreams So, your grand plans for building the backyard landscape of your dreams have bumped into a stubborn wall of reality? Once you’ve done preliminary research and collected some ideas, the most common challenge homeowners face is how to manage landscaping costs and budgeting.  Getting the size of […]

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Light Up Your Nights Is landscape lighting worth the investment? It most certainly is. Particularly if you calculate your ROI in sensory delight rather than dollars and cents.  A landscape architect will usually discuss an outdoor lighting plan in the final phases of the landscape design process. But it can also be done as a stand-alone […]

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You know that you want to work with a landscape architecture firm. But you aren’t entirely clear about the difference between a design firm and a design-build firm. Which would be right for your project?  If you are in the early stages of planning a landscaping project, this question is bound to come up. And […]

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Before you begin a landscaping project, there’s an important question you need to ask yourself: Should we hire a landscape architect, or not ? The answer to that question depends on the size of your project. Unless it is fairly simple and limited in scope, you should speak with a landscape architect first. Here’s why […]

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New Ways to Prevent the Spread of Boxwood Blight Since the surprise attack of boxwood blight in our region in 2018, we now have three methods of preventing the spread of this fungal disease. Blight-resistant Cultivars Buxus Health Program Preventive Maintenance European and American growers have been busy developing boxwood cultivars that show greater resistance […]

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To plan a landscape that is expressive and full of variety throughout the growing season, you’ll need to spend some time studying how sun, shade, and moisture affect different areas of your yard. Some areas will receive full sun while others spend the day primarily in shade. You’ll want to be sure that your planting […]

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Right now our backyard feels like it is all one thing. We want to add a private space for ourselves that feels quiet and calming, a special place that will insulate us from distraction and activity elsewhere in the yard. What you are experiencing is a common backyard privacy issue. Your desire for a “serene […]

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How can we make our pool area more comfortable and enjoyable? Our pool has a concrete deck around it that is cracking, and it’s too small for chairs or lounging. And the pumping equipment is too close to the area where we want to hang out. We want a swimming pool environment that will accommodate […]

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