A library is an important design tool. A library can be as simple as a folder stuffed with pictures of everything you ever saw or read that you liked. I find books irresistible, and I have collected them as long as I have gardened. They expose me to other people and places. What I see when I read becomes a part of what I bring to my work. It reminds me that I am part of a community of a certain sort. Would that someday I could write one essay the caliber of those written by Henry Mitchell. The long time garden writer for the Washington Post, until his death in 1993; his books I read over and over again. To follow is one of my favorite essays by him-this spring it seems especially timely. His book, The Essential Earthman, is a much have garden tool.
As important a tool as geometry is my Nikon D-60 digital camera. I could not overestimate the impact this tool has had on my design work. I take endless panoramic pictures of projects. The house, the land, the placement of trees, the views out the windows-I take many more pictures than what I could possibly need, as they are as easy to get rid of as they are to keep. The camera is a single-eyed machine. The printed pictures come with edges; what I photograph is a composition. It records what we have become accustomed to, and don’t see anymore-like the trash cans on the terrace.
As a designer and gardener, I have favorite tools. I have a certain ancient Dutch hoe I favor, and a small but very sharp stainless steel spade. I am willing to endure the weight of this tool, even before I have a chunk of wet dirt balanced on it, as it is small. My Dutch hoe is weightless, and deadly to weeds. It dances around the crowns of my perennials, with minimal direction from me.
I like my hands far better than any trowel I have ever tried, so workable soil, and whatever it takes to get that is important in my garden. I am not a garden glove girl. My fingers develop cracks every spring and fall. There is no substitute for my hands, in the soil-this is my point of view.
I am happy to discuss at great length my process for designing a landscape. I plan to go over this in excruciating detail, for those who can last! Tools and skills are just that-nothing more, and nothing less. I would reveal anything and everything-and still be completely confident that I have something worthwhile to offer. I have made a living almost 25 years, designing. Enough said.
I have plenty of clients that are eminently able to be on their own. Not professional designers, they shortchange their talent and heart. It has been my good fortune to have clients of all kinds, with talent and heart. I know this better than most.