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I
eventually left the nursery and branched out on my own. I free-lanced
for a large landscape company in Sacramento and again climbed up the
learning curve. It seemed that each new project presented something
never done before! The trick was not only to do it, but make sure it
worked and would continue to work. All the while my plant knowledge
kept building along with my how-to knowledge.
During the summer of 1999 I went to England to study their gardens. I stayed on a 1-acre estate that was landscaped from top to bottom. It was beautiful. I also visited many well-known gardens, including Christopher Lloyd’s home, The Great Dixter, and also many nurseries. What I came to know first and foremost was that in England gardening is a National pastime. Not so in America. Their gardens look the way they do because of constant attention or crews of gardeners. I felt that I now had the challenge of creating a beautiful landscape and at the same time making sure that it stays ‘low maintenance’. I feel that I can deliver a beautiful landscape and have it ‘low-maintenance’, although I am the first to point out to my clients where the maintenance lays. I have also introduced beautiful vegetable gardens into the landscape, making fresh vegetables and herbs a new experience for my clients. In Sacramento we have extremely hot summers, and water is not in abundance. More and more because of the water and maintenance requirements of lawns, my client’s are opting for a different landscape – one without a lawn. I have the experience and many examples of these landscapes, and also a landscape that is a xeriscape – no irrigation system at all. (As an interesting note, this landscape was done for Sacramento’s first straw-bale home). Gardening and landscape designing remains my passion, and it is my joy to share this with my client’s. I make a point of keeping in touch with them and photographing their growing gardens. Creating a landscape design is a co-creative experience between me and my clients. I feel that my work is not work at all – but pure fun!
 Meet
Kimberly Marshall, Landscape Designer. Kimberly has
an education in Environmental Horticulture with a degree in Landscape
Design and Nursery Practice. She worked for a wholesale production nursery
where she learned a great deal about plant identification, growth habits,
cultural requirements, etc. She stayed in this field for 6 ½
years before entering the Landscape Design field. After graduating in
Landscape Design, Kimberly came to work with Roberta Walker Landscape
Design.
For
a year she accompanied me on job sites, meeting clients and working
on designs. Kimberly has absorbed my ideas and plant combining to the
point where I feel completely confident about her designing skills.
Every landscape design that Kimberely works on has the same level of
quality, thoughtfulness and flow that I have become known for. |
My
background is in fine art and graphic design. It didn’t happen until
my mid 30’s that I developed a passion for gardening. I couldn’t think
of anything else. As I walked around my neighborhood I would re-landscape
everyone’s yard. I started working with a nursery in 1996. This was
a crucial time when I learned so much about plants and shrubs. At the
same time I had my own large organic garden, and watched what so many
of the plants that I knew about actually did…how they performed. Through
the combined efforts of the nursery owner’s knowledge about installation
and design, and my own knowledge about drawing and making a concept
become three dimensional, we started working together on landscape designs.
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