Outside

Build a cutting garden as a small production system with harvest goals, succession, access, conditioning space, useful stem roles, and enough structure to still…

Treat shade as a positive garden condition through measured light, layered foliage, pale notes, stable paths, moisture-aware planting, and an evening identity that does…

Compose container gardens through fewer larger vessels, clear scale hierarchy, repeated materials, compatible plants, working drainage, and enough open space to keep the architecture…

Make a front stoop a complete arrival through a visible address, safe route, usable landing, weather handling, layered light, restrained planting, and enough room…

Use rain barrels, cisterns, rain chains, downspout routing, and overflow planning to make roof water useful without creating foundation, mosquito, ice, or maintenance problems.

Design a water-wise landscape by matching plants to site conditions, reducing unnecessary turf, grouping irrigation needs, protecting soil, and planning for shade and seasonal…

Decide whether clover, microclover, a clover-grass mix, or another lawn alternative actually fits your climate, traffic, pets, pollinators, maintenance, and neighborhood conditions.

Use rain gardens, swales, and dry-creek strategies to slow and absorb runoff while protecting foundations, paths, utilities, overflow routes, and the rest of the…

Design a pollinator garden as functioning habitat with bloom succession, host plants, nesting opportunities, water, reduced pesticide pressure, and a clear relationship to how…

Blend fruit trees, berries, herbs, vegetables, and edible flowers into the landscape by planning structure, access, harvest, irrigation, wildlife pressure, and seasonal gaps from…

Use raised garden beds as part of the landscape plan by solving placement, access, irrigation, soil depth, pathways, materials, harvest, and off-season structure before…

Replace low-value turf with a meadow or wildflower lawn by planning establishment, paths, seasonal mowing, invasive control, neighborhood edges, and how the space will…

Plan a permeable patio that manages water without sacrificing furniture stability, circulation, comfort, maintenance, or the visual coherence of an outdoor room.

Design a small front yard around arrival, privacy, planting, storage, seasonal structure, and curb appeal without sacrificing the route to the door.

Design a native landscape around structure, mature size, bloom sequence, water needs, habitat value, maintenance, and the way the yard is actually used.

Build a small patio garden with layered heights, fewer larger containers, useful circulation, seasonal structure, and planting chosen for real light and maintenance.

Plan an outdoor kitchen around circulation, landing space, storage, shade, utilities, weather, seating, cleanup, and service routes before choosing appliances.

Plan irrigation around plant zones, water pressure, maintenance, seasonal shutdown, visible hardware, and the way people move through and use the landscape.

Use biophilic design through daylight, views, natural materials, ventilation, seasonal change, organic forms, and selective planting instead of filling every surface with houseplants.

Use reclaimed wood, vintage hardware, reused stone, architectural salvage, and repurposed furniture where the material improves function, texture, history, or durability—not simply to perform…

Build a French- or Italian-inspired courtyard through proportion, paving, planting, shade, furniture, water, and enclosure without turning the space into a costume set.

Create a cottage-style patio with layered planting, weathered materials, useful seating, paths, boundaries, and seasonal interest instead of relying on decorative nostalgia.

I cannot afford to replace the siding I dislike. Planting changed how much of the front of the house it gets to dominate —…

A week every year putting flowers back into the outside of the house. In Montana the growing season is short enough that I am…