Scott Levy
Ash Malarkey
You'd think that a firm with the name European Garden Design would be in London or France, but this landscape and garden firm is located in Calgary, Canada. Their designs usually start at $800, depending whether its a Hard Scape or a Soft Scape design. This firm specializes in stone from natural to paving and retaining walls. They also have spring and summer maintenance including lawn maintenance and spring clean-ups including power raking, fertilizing and aerating. For winter maintenace, they do snow removal for residential and commercial properties.
Landscaping102: Taking Landscaping to the Next Level
landscaping, landscape design, pools, exteriors
Hello! I write anything and everything about home improvements, gardening, shopping and landscaping. :)
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Mark Brand Architecture and Landscaping
Being the first Architecture firm I featured, I sure hope I give justice to the team behind Mark Brand Architecture's work. This San Francisco-based award-winning firm creates buildings and interiors that balance high design and practicality - two things that are very hard to marry harmoniously - with the skyrocketing prices of real estate and raw materials. As you browse through their portfolio, you'll definitely see understated elegance with dramatic accents from Japanese-inspired homes to tri-level decks with grand views. For over twenty years, the firm has specialized in residential models from lofty hillsides to tight city lots.
I'd like to focus on how they transition interior space with the landscape design outside. The first two photos of the slideshow displays a small two-level residence in Noe Valley. They remodelled the whole house to fit the owner's fascination with Japanese culture, using natural wood trimmings and casework. For the garden, they used soft green granite and a traditional Japanese fountain to accentuate the whole space. Note how you'll see the Japanese garden from inside the house, cohesing the elements into a Zen creation.
The last two photos are of a renovation work of a cottage in Mill Valley California. The property was like a dish with too many cooks spoiling it; it was handed from one owner to another, being remodeled too many times. The place lacked a central theme, although very quaint and charming. The walkways and stairs give the property a good perspective, with heavy timber elements and a rustom door to complement the country-style setting.
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by Ash Malarkey
GreenSea Hydrophonics
Although relatively young in the business, GreenSea Hydrophonics has been supplying to hydrophonic growers for the past five years online and from their physical store in Suffolk, United Kingdom. This family-run business has a wide variety of grow lights, standard and digital, Secret Jardin grow tents, many ventilation products, all types of hydroponic growing systems and media and we also stock the full range of Canna, Plagron, Biobizz, Plant Magic Plus and Vitalink nutrients and additives for hydroponics, soil, coco and organic cultivation. What's interesting about GreanSea Hydrophonics is that they also design and do their own hydrophonic and aerophonic systems for their satisfied clients.
If you haven't heard of Hydrophonics, it is another method of indoor plant cultivation that accelerates the growth of plants vis-a-vis soil-grown plants. It also encourages better yield from crops, giving the roots a nutrient-rich solution.
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by Ash Malarkey
David Rolston Landscape Architects
Principal of the Dallas-based landscape firm, David Rolston, is passionate about gardening and planting, often using native plants, including local and unfamiliar perennials, in his creations. The press has praised the firm's "clear creative vision, skilled use of structural elements and sensitivity to the environment that typify a Rolston landscape design". This Dallas gardens firm has an incredibly wide range of services like planting plans, hardscapes, arbors, patios, fireplaces, firepits, fountains, pools, ponds and outdoor kitchens.
What caught my eye is their Water Conscious Green Design service, having experimented with drought-tolerant plants from all over the country. This is very timely as people are worried about water and the skyrocketing prices of electric, water and utility bills. The firm designs a rainwater harvesting system with water-saving options for irrigation to get the most efficient landscape design possible.
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by Ash Malarkey
Creative Garden Design
Good composition, balance and proportion built the twenty year old Landscaping and Gardening firm, Creative Garden Design. This Dublin-based firm specializes in Landscaping, Decking, Garden Design, Patio and Paving, Driveways, Garden Lighting, Garden Sculptures, and Golf Greens. They even encourage their clients in growing their own vegetables on their backyard.
What I love about their design is their cobblelock style when designing driveways. They also have natural stone to precast slabbing for your patios and paving. If you're a planting enthusiast, they have a trained team of horticulturists to help you organize your planting scheme. Looks like they have the whole package! These Dublin people are lucky!
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by Ash Malarkey
Green by Nature
Green by Nature, a Colorado-based firm, has been specializing in garden design, construction and maintenance ensuring that they can create, build and maintain your garden for over 15 years. They bank on each client's unique personality and lifestyle. Their services include landscaping, annual color, maintenance and holiday lighting services.
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by Ash Malarkey
Catherine Clancy's Inspired Gardens
I was browsing for great garden designs around the web and I came across Catherine Clancy's Inspired Gardens project aptly named "Secret Garden". The transformation from wild jungle to mystical garden was amazing - and its good to note that the plants weren't cut down significantly thus still maintaining that "secret garden" look. I would have appreciated some color on the pavement though. Here are a couple of photos.
Description from the Catherine Clancy website:
This long thin London garden had lots of lovely mature trees providing a good structure, but a lot shade. A light deprived lawn was replaced with reclaimed flag paving, and trees were pruned. This created the perfect environment for a shady cottage garden for the plant loving client. Jungle type planting was used to create an enclosed "secret" area at the back of the garden, which will be used as an adult escape. Replacing the worn out lawn with paving created enough space for teenage children's sports activities.
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by Ash Malarkey
Pattern Imprinted Concrete
Pattern imprinted concrete gives home owners the option other than the regular block paving or paving slabs to design their driveways. It is not just a very popular choice for driveways, paths, patios, swimming pool and hot tub surrounds, it is also being used for indoor flooring such as kitchen and dining rooms. The great thing about it is that it can replicate the look of other materials like block paving, stone, old style cobbles, slate, decking. Pattern Imprinted Concrete is one of the suppliers and installers of imprinted concrete all across England, Scotland and Wales.
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by Ash Malarkey
Elegant Natural Stones
Elegant natural stones is a tile sandstone supplier, which exports natural stone products like Marble, Granite, Sandstones, Slate stone, Limestone, Quartzite, Bidasar, Flooring Patterns, Handicrafts, Table Tops, Stone Fire Place, Stone Pillars, Stone Fountain, Stone Figure. They're a good tile supplier for both home and business use.
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by Ash Malarkey
Landscape Firms: 3D Ikon
3DIkon is a high end architectural studio composed of a team of Architects, 3D Digital Artists, Graphic Designers, and Digital Animators determined to make use of their fullest potential and expertise to professionally assist Architectural firms, Engineering firms, and the Building Industries around the globe. Look at the before and after photos after their 3d render:
Whether its 3d renderings, animation, illustration, or photo montages, 3DIkon definitely has a strong graphic tool to enable its clients to easily see the shape, size, style and unique feel of their design.
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by Ash Malarkey
