Sage Outdoor Designs » landscape design

Okay, it isn’t quite Thanksgiving, but in San Diego this week it is cool and cloudy and it is forcing me to admit something a little early this year: ’tis the season.

This time of year we all get ramped up for a lot of celebrating, and a whole lot of spending money. A lot of people assume that this season is pretty much a dead season for the construction industry, but in San Diego there is almost never a time when the industry stops or even slows down much. For one thing, a lot of people are facing their relatives visiting from far away and they look around at their yards and think, this needs something…

But of course, in the season of spending there isn’t a lot of room in people’s budgets for construction. It got me thinking about a question that people ask me a lot, “Why is it so expensive to build things here? All I want is a _____ (insert pool, patio, fireplace, whatever) and I had no idea it was going to cost _____ (insert the expected amount and multiply it by two, or three…)!”

I think a lot about why it costs so much and I think the answer is actually simpler than it might seem. Custom building costs a lot because it is all hand made, by Americans. Imagine for a second that you were buying a quilt at Bed Bath and Beyond. You wouldn’t expect it to be made here, and you wouldn’t expect it to be that expensive. But now imagine buying a hand-made quilt at a little specialty shop in a small town in America. Expensive? You betcha.

Maybe it is a little whimsical to look at it this way, but next time you think about having a ______ (insert pool, patio, fireplace, whatever) built in your house/yard, try thinking of it as an heirloom piece, made by hand, here in the USA. Individual, unique, art.

It is buying local at its best. 

(the photo is from the Venice Art Walk this year, found on Laguna Dirt in May 2011)

© Kate Wiseman 2010. Want your own waterwise landscape design? Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

Ask a landscape designer what it is that makes it fall in San Diego, and you won’t get a simple answer like the leaves changing color, because sometimes they do but mostly they don’t really. At least not spectacularly. At least that is what folks from the East Coast tell me, and I’m willing to admit they have a point (well, see past articles for my rant on that issue).

What does happen here in the fall is that the Aloes bloom and some of the aloes even change color to a lovely flaming red/orange. Many of them will last into the winter, so you’ll have plenty of time to catch them at it!

© Kate Wiseman 2010. Want your own waterwise landscape design? Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

These little aeriums are from Flora Grubb gardens in San Francisco. I love how delicate and whimsical they are, like tiny little worlds you could just stare and stare at. For those of us who don’t live in SF, you can still have them! They are on their web shop (and yes, they are tiny- the largest one is 2.5″ wide by 6″ tall).

Flora has her own rendition of the hanging globe terrarium that you have probably seen with succulents (say, at Mixture in Little Italy or Pigment in North park) only hers is a little more whimsical because she uses Tillandsia (aka Air Plants or Air Bromileads) instead of succulents. It comes as a kit and you place the Tillandsia yourself. Yes, I’d like to have one these! While you are on their web shop, take a look around, ’cause it is crammed with fabulous things.

© Kate Wiseman 2010. Want your own waterwise landscape design? Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

I love the clean, modern look of this swimming pool and its floating deck by Three Sixty Design. Especially because of the natural garden that surrounds it, it is reminiscent of one of those floating docks they have for swimming to (and sunning on) in lakes in the mid-west. The perfect spot for letting all your worries float away.

© Kate Wiseman 2010. Want your own waterwise landscape design? Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

The Brooklyn-based Future Green Studio designed this urban garden featuring the creative re-use of salvaged materials like wood from shipping palettes, tin ceiling tiles (see the bottom two images for how these patina over time as their steel backing rusts), mirrors (wrapped in chicken wire so that even if they break they still work in the space), and used cobblestones. The space is a central courtyard in what was once a pillow factory, but is now a hip shopping mall. They call the project “The Loom” and make sure to visit their website and blog to learn more about it and see a few before photos. 

© Kate Wiseman 2010. Want your own waterwise landscape design? Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.