{"id":28,"date":"2011-06-05T23:12:49","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T06:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stellarchoice.com\/blog\/?p=28"},"modified":"2011-11-07T17:34:24","modified_gmt":"2011-11-08T01:34:24","slug":"working-out-various-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stellarchoice.com\/blog\/2011\/working-out-various-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Developing Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

What view did I wish to have?\u00c2\u00a0 What view did I want to block?\u00c2\u00a0 How would the space feel?\u00c2\u00a0 Where would we sit and when we were sitting what would we see?\u00c2\u00a0 Using chairs, containers, trash cans, tables, a rug and a garden hose I laid out a rough design on the front yard for the new garden and patio area.\u00c2\u00a0 Tall chairs represented tall plants, the hose outlined the garden area while small pots and other containers represented smaller plantings.\u00c2\u00a0 The bamboo floor mat gave me an idea of the patio space and its possible location in relation to the house and garden.\u00c2\u00a0 With this set up (and a lot<\/em> of imagination!) I could walk around and sit in the space to get a better sense of what it might actually feel like, something I couldn’t know just by looking at a design on paper.<\/p>\n

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Dave and I attended Planning Your ‘New California Garden’<\/strong> a series of workshops at Madrona Marsh Nature Center<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Through in class presentation and our personal work between classes we learned the practical steps to design a landscape plan for our gardens. The topics were:<\/p>\n

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  1. What are Your Assets? – Site\/Self Assessment<\/li>\n
  2. Water, Landscape and Hardscape<\/li>\n
  3. Themes, Melodies & Garden Rooms – Design<\/li>\n
  4. Choosing Your Plants with Confidence<\/li>\n
  5. Student Presentations: Landscape Plans<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Even with the information gained from these workshops I was a overwhelmed with knowing my next steps to really get the project moving.\u00c2\u00a0 Selecting plants, pulling out old plants, deciding on a design for the hardscape and landscape, collecting materials, repairing the windows and repainting the woodwork, moving sprinklers, adding a drip system, adding electrical outlets…friend and Landscape Consultant Kathleen Brown<\/strong> helped me bring order to this chaos.\u00c2\u00a0 Based on her input I developed a prioritized action plan with a timetable and a way to capture estimates and actual costs.\u00c2\u00a0 Kathleen continues to be a sounding board and valuable resource especially as I get to plant selection.<\/p>\n

    Initially I intended to use 12″x12″ slate I had been given.\u00c2\u00a0 Using cardboard pieces the size of the slate was easy to work with and play with different design layouts.<\/p>\n

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    My concept sketches:<\/p>\n