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Landscape Design Details: Pavers

Incorporating pavers into your landscape allows you to reduce your environmental footprint while also adding interest for a dynamic design. Available in various materials and styles, pavers can be used to design pathways or to create spaces for outdoor rooms while contrasting lush greenery and colorful flower beds.

Furthermore, pavers are a great sustainable hardscaping option for more eco-friendly landscapes. Permeable materials soak up rain and prevent runoff while naturally filtering water and adding to the groundwater table.

Whether you are looking to incorporate a dining table for eating and entertaining al fresco or lounge chairs for sunbathing and relaxing, pavers are the perfect way to achieve attractive and functional hardscapes for beautiful outdoor living spaces.

Atlanta landscape architects
Source: Stout Design-Build via Houzz

In this example, pavers are used to create stunning modern style living spaces. We especially love the interactive walkway design that extends over a pond with fountains jutting out from either side of the concrete retaining wall surrounding the entire space.

Cashiers landscape architects
Source: Huettl Landscape Architecture via Houzz

Pavers can be designed with grass, gravel, mulch or other materials in between based on your landscape and the look you want to achieve. This paver and lush grass design makes for a striking contemporary front yard design.

Charleston landscape architects
Source: Argia Designs Landscape Design & Consultation via Houzz

The size of pavers and pattern they are laid down can also be customized to your property and personal style. Here, long and narrow pavers are assembled in an artful design to add energy and movement to the courtyard of this contemporary home.

Atlanta landscape architecture and design
Source: Jeffery Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture via Houzz

Pavers can be traditional, too. The combination of natural flagstone and black gravel in this example are used to achieve a warm and rustic style walkway.

Cashiers landscape architecture and design
Source: Jeffery Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture via Houzz

No matter what the paver design is, you’ll have the peace of mind that surrounding plants and lawn areas will not be overwhelmed by runoff.

Charleston landscape architecture and design
Source: Shades of Green Landscape Architecture via Houzz

Are you ready to upgrade to a gorgeous, eco-friendly landscape or outdoor living space, complete with pavers? Dargan Landscape Architects offers an experienced team of designers that can help you achieve an exquisite landscape that heals the earth and enhances your property. Visit our website for more information on how we can help!

Ways Your Landscape can Reduce Stress

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Dargan Landscape Architects

Stress is detrimental to our health and well-being, which is why it’s important that we work toward reducing stress and reversing its effects by treating the “inner self.” One way to take care of our inner self and support our immune and digestive systems, which are also negatively impacted by processed foods and environmental toxins, is to spend time in nature. By creating a garden environment that provides a space for relaxation and rejuvenation, you can reduce stress and enjoy a multitude of health benefits.

Whether it’s a work deadline or a trying relationship, daily stressors raise the cortisol level in your blood resulting in a domino effect of issues that contribute to aging and, in turn, quality of life. But a calming environment such as a garden can help you to relax, lower your blood pressure and reduce the cortisol level in your blood.

Spending time in a beautiful natural environment also activates your senses and releases Endorphins in your body. These feel-good hormones have the power to reduce the need for medications that alleviate pain and other ailments.

A vegetable garden will not only give you organic produce but a chance to intimately connect with nature. CNN recently reported on a new study that suggests gardening as one of the most effective leisure activities for relaxing and relieving stress. In addition to being a great gentle exercise, “The sensory experience of gardening ‘allows people to connect to this primal state,'” as founder and executive director of Urban GreenWorks, James Jiler, told CNN.

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Dargan Landscape Architects

But even if you aren’t a gardener, a landscape that allows you to interact with nature can still be significantly beneficial to your mental and physical health. Your landscape, for instance, could have lush pathways that allow you to brush up against plants or a bird feeder that allows you to observe animals in nature. 

Better yet, your landscape can be designed to include a sauna or spa that is not only luxurious but advantageous to your mental health.

Dargan Landscape Architects can help you transform landscapes to become a stress-busting havens for relaxation, health and well-being. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you create a stress-free zone on your property. Or learn more about how to turn your yard into a relaxing oasis through our PlaceMakers system, or through Mary Palmer’s book, Lifelong Landscape Design.

The Landscape Your Life Winter Sale Ends Tonight!

Are you still searching for the perfect holiday gift for your garden-loving family or friend? If so, you’ve still got some time to take advantage of Landscape Your Life’s first winter sale! Santa’s Helper, Mary Palmer, has packed the garden shopping cart with a few bundles to make your holiday shopping a breeze. Here’s a look at our special gift packages available through midnight tonight!

Our Holiday Book Bundle includes Timeless Landscape Design, Lifelong Landscape Design and The Early English Kitchen Garden, all autographed by Mary Palmer, beautifully wrapped and ready to go! These books are perfect for those in need of a good read over the winter as they dream and make plans for their spring gardens.

landscape design book bundles

landscape design holiday book bundle

landscape design holiday book bundle

Also featured in our winter sale is our home training study, SPROUT in PLACE. This legendary course begins in January and will help you achieve the garden of your dreams with a virtual blueprint system and 90 days of support included! This system has helped hundreds of homeowners transform their landscapes into beautiful and functional spaces they thought were impossible to create.

holiday special

Our holiday sale ends tonight at midnight! Act now to take advantage of this special holiday offer.

Also, don’t forget about Mary Palmer’s free gift for you this holiday season – a complimentary training video and worksheet that will help perk up your indoor environment with the crisp white color and refreshing scent of beautiful Narcissus.

And for additional free worksheets and videos covering sustainable landscape design topics that will help you improve your garden into a space created for health, longevity and fun, be sure to register your email address with us at www.landscapeyourlife.com. We’ll send these freebies right to your inbox, so keep an eye out for the current worksheet!

From the Dargan Landscape Architects family to yours, Happy Holidays!

Fill Your Homes with Paperwhite Narcissus for Scent & Holiday Sensation!

During the holiday season, our homes naturally take on a more cheerful look with all of the beautiful decorations that adorn our interior landscapes. We love incorporating a few plants for an extra burst of fragrance that also generate a little extra oomph to our holiday décor. One of our favorites here at Dargan Landscape Architects is the Paperwhite Narcissus because they offer a spectacular look and scent for several weeks!

garden and landscape design in Atlanta, Cashiers and Charleston

Paperwhites are a type of daffodil that is a perennial plant native to the Mediterranean. This fragrant plant features white flowers that come in clusters. What we love best about Paperwhites is that the bulbs can easily be found at your local nursery and are relatively inexpensive, easy to plant and come into bloom within three to four weeks of planting. Because of this, Paperwhites are easy to “force” into a planter of your choice to be used as holiday décor or as a gift! They’re perfect for your gardening friends and family, or to give as a thoughtful hostess gift!

And speaking of holiday gifts, our own Mary Palmer has a special gift just for you! She has created an informative video and whitepaper filled with all the information you need to know about planting Paperwhites in the winter to provide scent and sensation in your home throughout the colder months – complete with planting instructions! Mary Palmer has also included an example of Paperwhites grown by her friend, master horticulturist Virginia Almand, that are in full bloom and ready to display or to give as a gift.

To take advantage of this special gift, visit our website today to download the whitepaper! You can also find Mary Palmer’s instructional video on YouTube!

P.S. – Don’t forget about our first winter sale! The shop closes at midnight on December 18. Check out our special holiday gifts for the gardeners in your life.

P.P.S. – If you would like the opportunity to discuss your garden or landscape design needs with Mary Palmer, send her an email at [email protected]. Our legendary SPROUT in PLACE workshop will begin in January!

Join Mary Palmer Dargan on January 15 at Bellingrath Gardens

We’re pleased to share that Mary Palmer will be lecturing at Bellingrath Home and Gardens on January 15, 2014. We invite you to join us for this “Super Wednesday” program – a part of Bellingrath Gardens and Home’s Winter Wednesdays series – to learn how to get your garden ready for spring!

Atlanta landscape architects
Mary Palmer will be lecturing at the beautiful Bellingrath Gardens and Home on January 15.
Source: Facebook.com/bellingrath

During the lecture, Mary Palmer will share easy problem-solving and landscape design tips that will help you solve your most pesky landscape and garden issues during both morning and afternoon sessions. Participants are encouraged to bring along a picture or drawing of their landscape issues, so Mary Palmer can provide suggestions and advice.

Lunch will be included with the cost of the event, in addition to these informative sessions. Mary Palmer will also be selling and autographing copies of “Lifelong Landscape Design: Environments for Health and Longevity.”

We look forward to a great session on January 15, and we hope you’ll be able to join us from 10:30 to 2 pm. Invite a friend to come along and learn with you, and be sure to stick around and explore all the gorgeous gardens among Bellingrath’s 65-acres of blooms. Reservations are required for this event, so call 251-973-2217 extension 110 to save your spot. The reservation fee is $10 for Bellingrath members and $20 for non-members.

For more information on Dargan Landscape Architects’ events and appearances, or if you’re interested in learning more about our services, please visit our website. We’d love to meet with you – virtually or in person – to discuss your landscape’s needs and how we can help you create a master plan or tune-up to transform your space into an energized, nourishing and stress-free living space.

Also, don’t forget about our first holiday sale, happening now through December 18! Check out our special offerings that make perfect gifts for the gardener on your list.