New Eco: Urban Landscape Design

It has been common knowledge in the gardening industry for a long time that fall is the best time to plant.  I know as soon as the weather gets nice, the spring rush to plant begins and I think this is the reason many people think that spring is actually the ideal time to plant.  One of the reasons I prefer planting in the fall is because I don't have the summer heat chasing me down but the other reason is because in the wild, nature "plants" in the fall and if thats what happens in nature, I have a nagging feeling that it might be happening for good reason.  Here is a good article from the seed company American Meadows that sums up all the reasons why you should skip spring and wait for cooler weather. 

Why Many Experts Feel Fall Planting is Best

This is a full backyard renovation that we recently did in Fort Greene.   Our client came to us with the idea of a U-shaped retaining wall with a water feature and a large enough patio space to entertain plenty of guests.  Here are some pics of how it came out.  Below you will find the before shot.

And here is the after...

Here is the outline of the waterfeature in-progress.

During the renovations, the homeowner found this ornate, iron fireplace plate and wanted to incorporate it into the design somehow...

So we decided to make it the face of the weeping wall waterfeature we installed, pictured below.

And here are a few more pics just for fun.  The site had three existing River Birch trees and a Japanese "Bloodgood Maple" that the homeowner wanted to keep, so they acted as the backbone of the garden as we worked around them and incorporated them into our design.  We also installed a number of drought-tolerant and native species including an Eastern Redbud.

Here is a sneak peak of a cedar fence we are currently doing for a design/build project in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.  Before we got there the backyard was truely wild, with a large mosquito population that was calling it home (the majority of them have since relocated).  For this project we are building a custom red cedar fence, recycled bluestone patio and installing an almost fully native landscape (the only thing that will not be native is a Japanese "Bloodgood" Maple, which is a fully adaptive tree for the New York City area.  Keep you posted on the end result soon...

I haven't blogged in a bit and here is why, we've been busy making people happy.  We got this note from a big fan of ours and it really means so much to us when we receive these tokens of appreciation. Thanks Joan!

Here is an article I came across today to promote a book called "Rooftop Gardens: The Terraces, Conservatories and Balconies of New York" (although there was only one picture in the article?!?!).  I haven't checked it out yet but will definitely be combing it for some ideas.  Check it out.  

Visiting New York's Exclusive Rooftop Gardens