Well, Where should I begin? Before I took up landscape design, fifteen years ago, I made my living doing fine art, graphic art and teaching art to children and adults.  In my mid thirties I developed a passion for gardening and landscaping.  I traded my paints for plants and my canvas for yards, and I have never looked back.  Landscape design is an art - but a beautifully co-creative art. I do the initial design and nature carries it forth into a fullness and beauty that is truly remarkable.

In 1996 I worked at a nursery and learned the bulk of what I know about landscape shrubs. Up until then my experience had been with garden plants, which are mainly annuals.  I became obsessed with plants, flowers and trees.  I learned what grew where, how high, when they bloomed (if they bloomed), and studied plant combinations continuously.

During the summer of 1999 I went to England and studied their landscapes and saw gardens at their finest.  English plantings made a profound impact on me and how I do things.  I especially loved Christopher Lloyd’s home, The Great Dixter, which is definitely worth a visit.  I realized that here in California we don’t have the lovely mild summers with rain every few days, and that to have a garden that resembled those of the English we would need a very different plant palette.

I set out to create that plant palette in fact, and now use a very large variety of plants, all of them time-tested for their performance and durability.  The wholesale nurseries would groan when they saw my plant lists; but, as California came to face an increasing shortage of water, they also saw the need to bring in plants that looked good, are hardy and require less water.

Landscape design remains my passion.  I have had two of my landscapes (my own being one of them) in Sunset Magazine and also Sacramento Magazine.  I have done four episodes for HGTV’s “Gardening By The Yard.” I have produced two DVDs, one on creating a drought tolerant landscape and another on building a decorative, dry cobble stream. I received an award from Habitat For Humanity for the drought tolerant landscapes that I create for them. I give presentations at numerous venues on drought tolerant landscaping.

My mission statement is simple: “To Create Beauty” - what can be better? My work is my joy!