BIOGRAPHY

Three year certificate: Paier School of Art, Commercial Art, Advertising.
Bachelor of Science, University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Landscape Design.
Master of Landscape Architecture, Cornell University.
Owner of Land Design & Horticultural Sales, LLC, Meriden, Connecticut, designing, installing and maintaining commercial and residential landscapes since 1992.
Past member of judge’s panel for the Connecticut Flower and Garden Show.
Garden writer for the Connecticut Gardener Magazine and The Old Farmer's Almanac Garden Guide.
Former member of The Garden Conservancy hosting garden clubs and other organizations from 1996 to 2022.
Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut certified speaker on landscape design and horticultural subjects.

LANDSCAPE

CONSULTING

AND DESIGN

I will visit your site and evaluate it's potential. As a preliminary step, you could send me a completed client questionnaire available on this website. People sometimes show me pictures out of books, magazines or online or from gardens they have visited that they particularly like. Based on your input, I will come up with a general not-to-scale drawing showing possible improvements to one area, multiple areas or the entire property. This is not meant to be a detailed to-scale drawing, but a part of the creative process that could lead to one or more of the following:

1) A conceptual plan, 2) A detailed to-scale drawing, or 3) Physically laying out a design on site.

HARDSCAPE

We produce clean, elegant, creative solutions that reflect the businesses' or homeowners' taste and requirements and complement the plantings. Although natural materials are preferable eg: bluestone, granite, traditional clay brick, wood, we have used engineered concrete materials and other products which lend themselves to easier installation, thus being more cost-effective.

CLIENT GARDENS

So many choices: composition, style, plant types, varieties, colors, textures, arrangements, watering and exposure requirements, hardiness, low or high maintenance. Let's explore the possibilities. Unlike hardscape, the garden is a living, breathing entity. Immerse yourself in the process.

LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE & GARDENING

Every garden needs some type of maintenance depending on the hardscape/plant combinations and choices. There are many other factors that go into maintenance requirements, including weather conditions and neighboring properties. To over-consider these aspects sometimes takes away from the joy of the anticipated results. Unless you use artificial plants and huge areas of paving and aggregate materials there's no such thing as a maintenance free (or nearly maintenance free) landscape. Consider the time you will have to be able to keep up your investment. Many of my clients have requested a maintenance program on a regular or as-requested basis.

LAND DESIGN

GARDENS

After we moved here in 1956, the main focus was to clean up and maintain the property without any thought about gardens. The garden making came later in random spurts over a number of years with no master plan in mind. In 1987 the first major design and implementation project focused on an area in the backyard with an "L" shaped mixed border of shrubs and perennials. Additions of hardscape and plantings have continued to the present, lending to the overall continuity of the design. Older sections continue to be rejuvenated as needed. Owing to the relatively small size of the property (1/3 of an acre), hundreds of container plantings grace the gardens and the paved areas. Many tender plants are stored inside each fall. The site is interesting in that the front yard is sloping and contains four sets of stairways, while the back yard is relatively flat.