Dargan Landscape Architects

Create Nourishing Flourishing Home Utopias

garden

Making Garden Waves with Water

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden.” Thomas Jefferson

Big or small, garden water features add a ‘wow’ factor like no other.

Here’s one from our Dovecote Porch & Gardens in Cashiers, NC.

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Simplicity at its best.

Connect with Mary Palmer Dargan at 404-231-3889 to have your outdoor oasis dreams come true.

a Rockin’ Success! PlaceMakers Atlanta 2013 : Create a Garden for Health & Longevity

A love letter to my tribe…

Dear PlaceMakers Atlanta 2013 : Create a Garden for Health & Longevity!

Didn’t we have a great time learning and growing into our future gardens for Health & Longevity this week ? I certainly did!

Atlanta 2013 Graduates anna smith anne brewer

I want to thank each of you for honoring me with your attendance at this wonderful event. It was a life’s dream for me ;  you made it come true.
You inspire me to continue with programs and training in “Home Based Sustainability” to coin a phrase offered by Lynne Nelson.
I share a great photo of Anne Brewer of Pensacola, FL and Anna Smith of Tehachapi, CA receiving their PlaceMakers American Certificates in Landscape Design…and hamming it up!  I’ll send more images linked to a gallery and also share in my next ezine.
Was not our support staff great : Lynn Cothran, Jake Dolci, Andrew Mullins, Curt Jackson and of course…. Hugh Dargan!
 Ozzie Johnson, Chelsea INternational plant of hte year breeder, brandishing a Japanese pruning knife
Ozzie Johnson’s project, The Joysuko Johnson  Exploration Fund, is reached by sending a check to The Atlanta Botanical Garden , The Joysuko Johnson Foundation, 1345 Piedmont Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. We raised $160 toward that purpose at our event! You never know when the cure for something will be found or the discovery of a plant so beautiful it brings you inspiration.
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Event DVD
We always have so much material than time packed into our binders!  It was impossible to cover everything I dreamed of sharing. The slides are printed for each lecture, so that is helpful for your studies, plus the material is well-fleshed out in the chapters in Lifelong Landscape Design.
Atlanta 2013 cfield trip chillin out
I’m headed to deliver the Garden owner’s gifts today  with 8 hugs and kisses for their generosity!
This week, I plan to film gardens studied and record talking points for each garden.  I’ll slow down the icons in the slide show and add a myriad of other things to make this event have lasting value.
It is a labor of love. Editing an event is a huge undertaking. All lectures, including lectures MIA, will be made into DVDs as well as the Garden Study talking points.
 Atlanta 2013 field trip measuring backdrop
Several of you purchased these, so please be patient as it will be at least a month to 6 weeks before I can create it. It takes about 80-120 hours of my personal time.
I’ll send a notice about this to you in case
you want to purchase one at the event price of $97.
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Were not our sponsors terrific? :
Chris Wakefield of http://www.TheOutdoorLights.com , Larry Borsage of www.southernoutdoorcd.com , Bob Scott of  http://www.irrcons.com ,  Walt Harrison of  http://www.habershamgardens.com/‎ , Steve Miller of Classic Landscapes Pat Boak of  www.boaklandscaping.com/ & Atlanta Water Gardens www.atlantawatergardens.com/‎ plus BOXWOODS’ Dan Perlman of  https://boxwoodsonline.com/‎  for our PlaceMakers GALA! And of course, Dargan Landscape Architects dargan.com
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The post event questionnaire was terrifically helpful. Please send me personal notes, late questionaires and epiphanies to [email protected].
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The take away for me from those returned: 
Loved food and event location, not being in a hotel, want coffee in pm, non-alcoholic offer at gala (my oversight, so sorry about that!),
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want to be with group for dinner because enjoy them so much,
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notebook was useful plus resources in back (one comment was that slides too small- I can print fewer to a page, however it adds 1/3 more pages to the binder and more paper…),
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majority of guest speakers got thumbs up, ( loved Steve Miller and Chris Wakefield), lighting needs to be improved & visibility of speakers ( yes, Ozzie decided to kneel the whole time!),
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event content led to break thrus and visualizations of that a garden of health & longevity looks and feels like (I’m so glad!), loved spaghetti noodle plan, loved the variety of teaching modalities, one suggested that I separate out Place from Lifelong and focus on them individually and not have Japanese gardens at this level, 
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loved the full days (two said a little long=sleepy afternoon), most loved construction site (please wear easy walking shoes to LYL events!  It can get “hairy”!)  I keep shifting around when we go outside and have tried it am, afternoon and pm…I get tired too!. Maybe am mornings are best, then lunch and lectures? Ahhh, food management! Or afternoon tour, then end up at a Gala? Any ideas???
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thumbs-up as price great for value received
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love sponsors being there
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home study would be useful
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music all but one thumbs-up, got some okays and greats on the chi gong & movement
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kill blue screen at the dinner ( I agree…it was a technical nighmare!)
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future events : equal split for Charleston and Cashiers, with most wanting both.
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Travel abroad: yes equally to England and Italy, 1 to France. (Would we want to combine countries???) Price seemed good to 2 respondents, so will need a few more to make it go!
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I’m off again at 4 pm to set up the PlaceMakers Certificate Booth at the Grand Hyatt lower level for Garden Bloggers…yes, it is a 3 day event with “my tribe”!
Thx for being such GREAT SPORTS!  … and  continue to Heal the Earth, One Garden at a Time.

Mary Palmer Dargan
Landscape Your Life™
Dargan.com

Charleston’s Magnificent 55 Church Street : The Ultimate Trip Down Memory Lane

Like a rock star who sings the same tune never tiring of the song, I feel the same about this garden at 55 Church Street, The Benjamin Phillips House, c1818  in Charleston, SC. Hugh and I were invited to aid in its transformation in the mid- eighties and today it stands as a proud example of a garden whose vision has been realized. Actually, it has looked great for 15 years! The owner sees to each detail and experiments with heat tolerant roses: such as climbing pink Cecile Brunner, whiite climbing Somruiel, and shrub rose LaMarne. Large flowered Clematis peep out to adorn a green wall and heavy white clusters of confederate jasmine hang around spectacularly for about 2 weeks.

It is a masterpiece, especially considering it was installed where a wasteland of concrete and chain link formerly resided.