Are you tired of maintaining your lawn and paying the associated costs with maintaining a lush carpet of green? There is another option. You can shrink the lawn and transform it into a vibrant wildflower meadow? We did a meadow in Kent a while back that has become pretty famous. Pictures of the meadow we installed in Kent, CT has appeared in multiple articles, in multiple languages around the world. Because of that project, we receive a lot of calls from people who like the idea of exchanging lawn and more flowers and wildlife. With talking with over the years, I’d say that the biggest misconc ..read more

Our last step to putting a construction project back together is to repair the lawn areas damaged from all the construction equipment, material storage and foot traffic throughout the project. There are plenty of ways to repair a lawn after construction. Most companies will repair the damage by spreading some topsoil, seed and hay and call it a day. We like to take an extra step before seeding. We like to break up soil compaction as much as possible be seeding. What we use to break up surface compaction and creates a nice bed for grass seed is a Toro Dingo with an attachment called an Aeravato ..read more

We’ve been in the landscape industry for a while. Over that time, we’ve definitely created some confusion with the services we offer. It is true that we offer only three main services; landscape design services, landscape installations and garden maintenance/detailing/garden care. Where these service offerings cause some confusion is that we have never offered landscape design services without a landscape installation project and we have never maintained a garden we didn’t create. We have a lot of people call us because they are just looking for a landscape design. Although we have made some c ..read more

Last week, we swapped out the fall decorations at one of the properties we care for in Kent and installed the winter decorations. We typically fight the weather on this last swap out. Once the fall containers are past their prime, we pull the plants and remove quite a bit of the potting soil and store it in a warm place while we wait for the winter greens to arrive. That’s the goal anyways! If that doesn’t happen early enough, mostly because we try to get a little more life out of the fall containers, it’s inevitable that the soil and plants freeze in the container. Here are a couple pictures ..read more

Last week, we swapped out the fall decorations at our Kent property and installed the winter decorations. We typically fight the weather on this last swap out. Once the fall containers are past their prime, we pull the plants and remove quite a bit of the potting soil and store it in a warm place while we wait for the winter greens to arrive. That’s the goal anyways. If that doesn’t happen early enough, because we try to get a little more life out of them, it’s inevitable that the soil and plants freeze in the container. Here are a couple pictures of the process and end results. The post Wint ..read more

Above is a before picture of Stonegate, an Eric Rossiter house in Washington. We were hired to upgrade the tired landscape. The first thing we did was free the granite stone chimney and siding from English Ivy. We then transplanted and/or removed all of the existing boxwood that were haphazardly planted without a consideration to the structure. Once that was completed, the plan was to renovate the front foundation plantings and create a dog run that was tied to an exterior door. Along the way, I suggested that we should create a more appropriate front entry experience. I love how it has come ..read more

I’m excited to see this project we just completed at Stone Gate, an Ehrick Rossiter House in Washington, age and mature. The first couple of pictures were the existing conditions behind the house before we got started. A beautiful shingle style residence complete with a granite foundation and steps throughout the structure. Because of this, I felt it was important to honor the past by continuing with a new granite patio and seating wall that would match the existing materials that were used before us. defaultThe house after a new, lighter color combination. Below is the newly installed patio ..read more

Owning a vehicle in northern climates sucks. It really does. Vehicles are so much money and the chemicals towns put on the roads during snow events eats vehicles alive. It’s hard to keep a vehicle longer than 10 years in a northern climate without it showing signs of rust. Our landscape company doesn’t have trucks on the road during the height of winter but we are at in late fall and late winter. Unfortunately, our trucks do see chemicals in the 1st and 4th quarter of the year. I’m doing my best to protect our trucks from rust damage. Below is the process we’re trying to do one each truck befo ..read more

I see a lot of gardens created by homeowners and landscapers that leave a lot to be desired. Plants tend to be separated by seas of mulch with not a lot of variety in plant material or the exact opposite, the garden is a collection of plants with one of everything. To get the most out of your garden, it takes a lot of plant variety. Most flowering plants, besides annuals, will only flower for a couple weeks. To create an aesthetically pleasing garden, there are some rules we follow at Designing Eden llc to maximize a gardens visual impact. First, it takes more than one plant to make an impact ..read more

What do you get when two New York native plants cross? You get one cool plant. The plant I’m talking about Scuttellaria ‘Appalachian Blues’. I’ve been using Scuttellaria ‘Appalachian Blues’ for two seasons now. I’m not sure what draws me to this plant. Maybe it’s just because it’s another plant for the shade garden. Actually, it grows in full sun to shade. Maybe it’s because the plant seems relatively easy to grow. Maybe, it is its short stature. Whatever the draw happens to be, it’s a plant we will be using more of in the future. Some descriptions say Appalachian Blues might need moisture in ..read more