I have been blessed with an abundance of fascinating and exciting projects over the years, but one recently stood out as a favorite. It was not the most expensive, or lavish, in fact it was of humble scale, but it had several key characteristic that made it very special:

The design eliminated an environmental liability, increased the property value, gave it purpose and dramatically enhanced the aesthetics.

As seen in the photo below, the property was an unused lot and the stormwater regularly pushed fertilizers, road pollution and pesticides directly into the adjacent waterway.

The  owners of the abutting home were avid surfers and paddleboarders with young children. They were interested in creating water access and a place to relax. I suggested a beach style oasis with native, drought tolerant dune plant materials and sand. No turf to water or fertilize, no exotics needing insecticides. We added a Tiki styled outdoor bar and simple site furnishings and an environmentally friendly oasis was born.

Yes, the devil is in the details, so in part 4 of our series on outdoor spaces, let’s look at details.

If you are just joining us, you may want to rewind and start from with post #1 from my friend interior designerTammy Dalton – click here.

Okay, last time we talked, we reviewed project planning process from a distance, let’s now step a little closer.

The following sections (click to enlarge) are sketches that I developed by actually doing the work myself, I can say with confidence that most homeowners could handle all three of these projects over a couple of weekends with a very small budget.

Potted plants placed around a patio, pool or even tucked into a garden can offer color and contrast. The shape, form and scale of the pot can also serve as a way to visually define a space, draw attention or guide a person through a series of spaces.

Water features are always enjoyable. The sound is soothing and the water movement mesmerizing. While desperately trying to find custom, cost-effective, low maintenance fountains, I developed the system shown below. You pick a high quality, weather proof pot, urn or vase and then use it as a center piece for a “spill over” fountain. Large heavy-duty plastic tubs are easy to find online or at big box home stores. Install using the details shown and you will have years of enjoyment.                                       

Another favorite outdoor amenity is the fire pit. Even in Florida we can enjoy this staple of socialization five months out of the year. The truth is, fire pits don’t really project much heat, so most evenings the fire can be enjoyed. On warm nights, my wife will simply put candles in the bottom and the ambiance is achieved with ease. Below is a simple stone fire pit detail. I prefer to use native Florida materials like limestone. Tennessee and Colorado stone is beautiful, but I think a sense of place is the more important component of aesthetics. I built a similar pit in my back yard and it has worked really well. The only downside is you have to sit with your back to the wind because the smoke will getcha. Using Duraflame or similar products reduce the smoke problem significantly. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you find these tips useful as you embark on your weekend projects. 

Stay tuned for the next exciting post-in-series which will be delivered by Tammy Dalton in a couple of weeks.

If I may be of any help in planning your next landscape project, please call me –               772-419-0024 or email – landarchmike@gmail.com You can also visit my website at www.MikeFlaughLA.com where you will find more information on design and materials.

Continue scrolling down to see more about sustainable gardening and other landscape topics explored on previous posts.

Maybe you have a deficiency of garden area, maybe you are looking for a splash of color or perhaps you are trying to define a space, whatever the motivation, containerized plantings may be the solution.

The  color, style, material and size options are endless which can make the design process fun. However, with options come the opportunity to fail, and with containerized gardening there are a lot of failures. Let’s avoid that.

Success comes by following a few simple steps-

BROMELIADS AND PENCIL CACTUS

A lot of my time spent at the UF college of architecture was focused on stewardship of the land. To be honest, the subject matter didn’t give me goosebumps.  I was motivated more by things that were beautiful and inspiring.  As time passed, I continued to love things that were beautiful and inspiring but as I gained real-world experience my appreciation for forms and systems that were practical gained importance too. Then the Great Recession punished our excesses and the word cost effective became acceptable to actually say out-loud. Well, it’s a new day and I now find myself pondering sustainability. Perhaps it is the rapid passing of birthdays, I don’t know, but it is very clear that nothing lasts forever and it takes that grim realization to navigate us toward solutions. The good news it that there are solutions… all they need is a refreshed perspective to see them clearly.

Beautiful, Inspiring, Practical, Cost Effective and Sustainable. I believe that these five adjectives should be applied to every landscape project whether it has a budget of 500.00 or 500,000.00.

I posted this video a couple months ago, but it is so relevant to this conversation I have posted it once again. Please have a look and enjoy:

If I may help you with any outdoor project, please give me a call 772-419-0024 or email me:  landarchmike@gmail.com Also, my primary website has great information to help you get started with a project, the address is www.MikeFlaughLA.com 

For those new to blogs: If you scroll down past the bottom of this page there are previous stories and photos to browse, also there is an archive button to the right where you can see older posts. If you like what you see, click the follow button on the bottom right hand of the screen, or you can follow me on Facebook, either way I will try hard to make posts that are useful and interesting for you. Thanks!

Feel free to comment, a blog is a conversation, so lets talk!