Creeks, in almost all of my landscapes involve connecting functional parts of the water feature itself. In the picture above, we went for a long, slowmoving and quite deep one, owing to a wide landscape which was not particularly deep, in terms of room. The falls is to the left and rear and the water courses down to a catch basin pond, where it meets the pump and gets recirculated. There is a series of falls which are not apparent in this photo, and, while they are not high, they do aerate the water and make for some nice sound and motion. Lights make this shine at night, as well, as we employed numerous underwater lights to give a practially phosphorescent look.

The picture above features some very rustic-looking pavers surrounding a swimming pool. I often go for a more rough look around pools just to blend with the surrounding landscape. This particular home was hard by the mountains in Reno, Nevada and was subject to some pretty hideously awful Winter weather. Snowfalls, rains, freezing and thawing meant pavers were a much better idea of a surface than pouring cement. However, one can use the glossier, multicolored and elegantly-placed and lined pavers just as easily. There are some marvelous results from this as well. A glossy sealant makes it even more attractive. The pavers were also used vertically, attached to the jacuzzi as a wall. This was a very satisfying project.

Paths and walkways are delightful opportunites to establish a winding discovery zone to a garden and landscape. Trees and earthen berms and hills can provide privacy and isolated spots in even small landscapes and which can supply surprises to the eye as one discovers “what’s around the bend”. As well, curves are so entrancing and gentle to the eye. I love constructing new and varied routes for folks to manage making a small garden bigger and, conversely, a large garden more human. Winding pathways can provide a meandering and gentle entree to all of this, putting everything on a more human scale.

Walls in a landscape typically follow functional guidelines. Foremost, they usually retain some grade change behind them, as in a slope of some kind. Walls create useable space on hillsides, reducing a sloped hillside, for example, to flat, useable, liveable space. In this, they also thereby create promising attractions for landscape designing. A pretty garden wall can enhance the look of any landscape and is an opprotunity to have a gorgeous feature, complete with a pretty wall itself and plants cascading over it. The materials used are as varied as paving surfaces. Garden wall blocks come in an incredible variety of forms and colors. They can be huge or reasonably small. Rock walls are another category of walls I will address later and are yet another form of grade changing and expansion. I view all wall structures as marvelous opportunites. In creating more space, and by inserting these horizontal lines in a desgin, the eye feasts on the results. It is a very prominent feature, any time, and walls can add so very much.