Dargan Landscape Architects

Create Nourishing Flourishing Home Utopias

dargan landscape architects

Design Your Own Utopia with PlaceMakers

landscape design Atlanta
Design by Dargan Landscape Architects

Over the years we’ve discovered that many homeowners are eager to not only have a gorgeous landscape, but also to learn how they can transform their property into their own piece of paradise. During her time as an instructor, Mary Palmer has taught students in both in design education and in landscape architecture and planning. Now you can learn her unique system that allows you to design your perfect and personalized home environment through PlaceMakers.

PLACE is an acronym created by Mary Palmer that stands for Potentials, Layers, Agenda, Create and Environmental Transformation. This unique system features five levels to meet your needs and help you make the best use of your land. The five levels are:

  1. PlaceMakers Sprout2Grow – Offered twice per year, with two months of Wellspring Sprout Galleries
  2. PlaceMakers Orchard – Enrollment is offered only during events and features two design studios and four months of Wellspring Orchard Galleries.
  3. PlaceMakers Live Oak – Enrollment is offered only during events and features two design studios, Wellspring Orchard Galleries, nine months design certificate and other benefits such as European travel
  4. PlaceMakers Grow Library – A 6-part comprehensive design library
  5. PlaceMakers at Landscape Your Life™ LIVE! – Receive priority seating, preferred status, special rates and tickets for a friend

To get started, join at PlaceMaker’s Sprout2Grow level. In this level, you’ll study the PLACE system through a three-month home-study program featuring video downloads, audio and DVDs, as well as a supported forum with Wellspring Galleries where you can interact and share inspiration with like-minded homeowners. You’ll also receive autographed copies of Lifelong Landscape Design and Timeless Landscape Design and a call from a PlaceMakers staff member to guide you through the forum and address your questions.

landscape design programs for homeowners

If you are a homeowner or landscape designer looking to take your knowledge to the next level, the PlaceMakers Orchard is the place for you. You’ll receive everything included in the Sprout2Grow package, as well as design studios with personal assistance and phone calls from Mary Palmer to discuss your project. You’ll also receive six webinar lectures on DVD and slides for each webinar, Pinterest board where you can share your process plus much more.

Are you ready to design the utopia you’ve always dreamed of? Visit our website today to learn more about joining PlaceMakers today! There, you can register as a guest to learn more about the program, as well as receive access to useful worksheets designed to help you organize your property, a sample of the Wellspring Galleries, and a forum just for guests.

Looking to Improve Your Property? Consider These Tips for Immediate Results

Many homeowners come to us looking for ways to refresh their property or landscape. Perhaps it’s looking a little dull or they could be looking for a way to improve its appearance and value. Whatever the case may be, many are surprised to learn that there are steps to take that can offer immediate results.

Ready to take the plunge? If so, here are our five secrets that can help improve your property immediately.

1. Curb Appeal – The first step to improving your property is to make it more visually appealing. One of the quickest ways to do this is with a pop or two of color from a patch of annuals placed near your mailbox or the entry to your driveway. Also, consider adding a shapely seasonal tree for more dimension and texture, as well as containers of seasonal color near your front door.

improving your property and landscape
Project by Dargan Landscape Architects

2. Fix it Up – Chipped pots, overgrown shrubs or uneven walkways are signs that your property could use a bit of maintenance. Oftentimes, these signs aren’t so obvious to you because you’ve grown accustom to seeing them, but visitors will notice. Routine maintenance, and perhaps a few detailed tune-ups throughout the year to trim plants and replace broken or uneven fixtures can offer a dramatic change in appearance.

improving your property and landscape
Project by Dargan Landscape Architects

3. A House Presented – If your home doesn’t appear to be balanced from the outside, others will not be as impressed with it as they should. I usually photograph a client’s home and then draw in plants and other features on the photo to gain a sense of scale and arrangement to see where improvements can be made to enhance its balance, and I encourage you to do the same. You may notice a new coat of paint or window boxes are all that’s missing!

improving your property
Project by Dargan Landscape Architects

4. Parking Perfected – Adequate parking is essential for any home, but in so many cases, there’s only enough room for the homeowners to park their cars, and visitors must park in the street or in the yard. This blocks the view of the home, and in turn, creates a visually displeasing scene. Parking must be functional, yet beautifully placed. I suggest only paving when you must, and using greenery to distinguish where cars can’t go.

improving your property with additional parking
Project by Dargan Landscape Architects

5. Places to Socialize – I love to dine and entertain outdoors. All of my homes have a space designated just for this, such as a deck, terrace or even a simple patch of grass with the right furnishings. Truth be told, though, all you need is a flat space that’s relatively close to your kitchen with enough room to comfortably fit a grill, a table and chairs – usually 12’ x 20’ is sufficient.

landscape improvement
Project by Dargan Landscape Architects

The information above just scratches the surface of what you can do to improve your property. For more information, register your name and email address in the box at the top right hand corner of the page to receive a more in-depth look at Dargan Landscape Architects’ secrets to immediately improve your outdoor space.

Consider the Benefits of Hardscapes for Your Garden

There are many elements necessary for a gorgeous and functional landscape. Yes, features such as colorful plants, trees, benches, chairs and perhaps a fountain are a few of the necessities. But one area that’s often overlooked until winter sets in is the potential of hardscapes.

Hardscapes are just as important as the living portions of your landscape, especially for functionality. In some instances, hardscape surfaces, such as rock walls, create the backbone of your garden. Most often, hardscapes help define outdoor rooms of a home, creating a seamless transition into nature where homeowners can cook and host guests. These features also allow you to enjoy recreational activities or to just sit and take in the beauty of your surroundings. Still, in other cases, hardscaping can be used simply to enhance visual interest through texture, or to create symmetry or proportion within the parameters of the area.

Additional benefits of hardscaping that are often overlooked include:

  • Decreases erosion on properties with slopes and/or uneven soil
  • Increases property value
  • Requires less maintenance
  • Makes your landscape and garden areas more accessible to all guests
  • Reduces the amount of water needed to maintain your landscape

Below are a few examples of functional and beautiful hardscapes. Take a look and get inspired for your next hardscaping project!

Atlanta landscape architects
Project by Dargan Landscape Architects

In this project, we used a variety of stones to create a focal point that captures the eye through texture. The arched openings create the right amount of mystery to draw the viewer closer to the structure.

Cashiers landscape architect
Source: The Garden Consultants, Inc. via Houzz

The brick walls in this hardscape create a nice frame for the courtyard, as well as the woodland views beyond the fence.

designing a hardscape
Source: Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association via Houzz

We love the contrasting colors used in the bricks of this outdoor fireplace and patio design. What a cozy spot to enjoy a cool evening!

dargan landscape architects
Source: Harmony Design Group via Houzz

This hardscape design creates visual interest with terraces for plantings, while also controlling erosion.

hardscape design ideas
Source: Designing Nature Inc. via Houzz

In this design, a brick pathway adds a traditional element to a more contemporary garden. Notice how the layout of the bricks pulls your eye toward the center arrangement.

 

Are you considering an update to your current hardscape, or are you looking to incorporate a hardscape into your garden? Contact Dargan Landscape Architects today. We would love to discuss how we can help you achieve the perfect look for your garden, complete with a hardscape that balances the rest of your area. Give us a call at 404-231-3889 to schedule an appointment. We can work with you virtually or in person.

 

Design Leaders Encourage Collaboration for Creation of Healthier Communities

Designing gardens that offer benefits to a homeowner’s overall health and well-being is an integral part of our work here at Dargan Landscape Architects. We attend events all across the country to participate in lectures on how homeowners can achieve landscapes that offer these health benefits. Because so much of our mission revolves around creating healthy spaces for individuals, we were especially thrilled to see leaders from major design organizations issuing a call for design professionals to focus on creating healthier communities at the recent 2013 ALSA Annual Meeting.

healthy landscape design
Design by Dargan Landscape Architects

Mickey Jacob, president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); Tom Tavella, FASLA, president of the ASLA; and Bill Anderson, president of the American Planning Association (APA), all shared their feelings on how “working from the understanding that design can encourage active lifestyles and contribute to community health and quality of life” can help build healthier, more sustainable communities. The trio related this to climbing obesity rates and increasing health care costs. Tavella shared that design professionals can help reverse this trend by keeping design principles such as walkability and spaces that promote physical activity in mind.

Anderson further noted that the relationship between these professions of planning and landscape architecture originally came from better public health needs. With that in mind, he shared, it only makes sense that design professionals should come together once again to transform towns and cities across America “in order to make them healthier.”

garden design for health and longevity
Design by Dargan Landscape Architects

We’re encouraged to see the leaders of these major design associations, once again, emphasizing the importance of working toward making our communities healthier places to live!

If you’re interested in making your own home and garden a healthier place to live, contact us! Dargan Landscape Architects can help you create a master plan or tune-up that focuses on transforming your garden into an oasis of health and longevity. Give us a call at 404-231-3889 for more information, and be sure to sign up at www.landscapeyourlife.com to receive worksheets and videos containing tips that will help you make your garden a place that enhances your health!

Essential Design Principles of Timeless Landscape Design – Part 2

As we previously shared, there are several design principles that must be taken into consideration in order to develop a timeless landscape. In the first part of this series, we covered axial relationships;  focalization; symmetry and asymmetry; and repetition and rhythm. Today, we’ll continue our discussion on the principles of landscape design by taking a look at light and shadow; proportion and scale; and reflection.

Light and shadow, like color, often establish certain feelings or emotions within a landscape. Oftentimes, these can occur naturally, such as light filtering through the leaves and onto a garden floor in a pattern that is ever changing. Playing with light and shadow is a great way to create a serene and peaceful area one can retreat to at the end of a day.

light and shadow

In residential landscape design, proportion is used to develop “harmonious spatial relationships between the parts of a design and the whole.” More simply put, proportion is what helps create cohesiveness within the landscape. Scale refers to the size of certain elements in the landscape in relation to where it’s been placed. Sometimes we notice that elements of a landscape have been under-scaled – meaning objects are too small for their surroundings – or that they are out of scale, or too big for the area. Choosing appropriately-scaled elements for a landscape is essential in creating a balanced space.

proportion and scale

Reflective qualities add so much to a landscape’s character and can also be used to set the area’s mood, bringing depth, mystery and drama to the space. The reflection of light in a landscape, especially when it’s reflected across water, instantly attracts the eye and adds life not only to the landscape, but the entire property as well.

reflection

The design principles of axial relationships; focalization; symmetry and asymmetry; repetition and rhythm; light and shadow; proportion and scale; and reflection are all necessary to create a timeless landscape design to enjoy for years to come. Contact Dargan Landscape Architects today to learn how we can help you develop a master plan or a tune-up for your property. We work with clients in all locations and can meet with you in person or virtually to discuss your needs and start planning your landscape’s new look.

For more information on creating a timeless landscape and to see further examples of these design principles at work, take a look at Mary Palmer’s book, Timeless Landscape Design.