Paris Group Realty Interviews Our Landscape Designer
Paris Realty Group runs a nice blog with a recurring feature: "Five on Friday". The concept is simple, they sit down with someone local who works (in one way or another) with homes and ask them five questions.
Last Friday Paris Group sat down with yours truly. To read the entire interview please head to their blog. I also recommend following them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can be alerted to new posts!
Want just the highlights? Check them out below:
Landscape Designer Ben Bowen, Interviewed by Paris Group Realty
1. How do you consider the architecture of a home when you are designing a landscape?
...Sometimes the fit between the landscaping design and the house is seamless; other times you get a little more creative to make the styles work together in a way to make visual sense. If you do that well, it seems like you can make almost any style you want work...
2. Can you give an example of what techniques you use to accentuate or hide parts of a house?
... A lot of the newer homes infill homes are too tall for some of the lots they are on. It can feel like they are looming over you as you approach the house when you have a two-story house eight feet from the sidewalk on a 4000 square-foot lot, the proportions can seem off. You can help soften that transition by utilizing tall, narrow plants...
3. How do you balance a client’s lifestyle with their landscape ambitions?
...Knowing their lifestyle helps to figure out what is the most sustainable design for the customer... I find most people want to spend their Saturdays enjoying their landscape, not working in it...
4. Do you use edible plants in landscapes?
...There are lots of ways to work edibles into the landscape and I always try to do it in a way that works with everything else [the ornamental plantings] that we have chosen...
5. How do you balance budgets and requests?
... As we adjust the plan, I work with them to find their priorities and educate them about the costs and benefits of the different directions we could go with the design...
Bonus Question 1: The climate in Portland has been more extreme lately. How has that influenced your designs?
There have always been some plants that have been borderline evergreen for Portland but if we have more winters like this last one, they'll no longer be evergreen options...
Bonus Question 2: Are you seeing any changes in your client's requests recently?
...People are moving from Seattle and San Francisco and bringing requests for modern homes and modern landscapes to go with them. These designs are really low-maintenance and attractive with clean lines, plantings that are function first, and a lot of hardscapes...