I am at heart a perfectionist, so I have read or tried just about everything I could in relation to landscaping. Because the field is virtually unregulated and without as much expertise as it deserves, I decided to learn as much as I could. I became an avid reader on plants, landscapes and design and have a library of 200 beautiful books. (My husband used to laugh at how much pleasure I got from studying even plant lists.) I tried many experiments in my own garden to find some of the best techniques and plants for different situations.

I started my consultation service to educate and help clients to have the most beautiful, functional landscapes possible and to save them money on future landscape expenditures. I visit you at home, where I can see your entire landscape. You have time to ask every question you’ve ever had, and I have time to give you suggestions on plants and design that could delight you and meet your goals.

I HAVE SPENT MANY YEARS

-- becoming certified as a landscape designer

-- running my own design/installation/maintenance business

-- studying plants in depth and helping clients choose and care for them

-- trying to understand clients’ landscape goals and designing gardens to meet them

CREDENTIALS

I have taken many, many courses and seminars, the most notable of which were:

The extensive MASTER GARDENER course in Montgomery County, MD. Over a period of months, I learned from the county Extension Service the nitty gritty of landscapes: soils, pests, plants, turf and much more, as they applied to our climate and soils here in Montgomery County.

I wanted to know much more about specific plants, their characteristics, needs, care and use. I enrolled in the most useful course of all, “WOODY LANDSCAPE PLANTS” (George Washington University), an in-depth study of 400 trees, shrubs, groundcovers and vines that are grown in our area. I studied the trees and shrubs up close at the National Arboretum and Brookside Gardens. The course took a year, and I wrote about and photographed all of the plants, filling 5 large binders. These have been invaluable in all the work I’ve done since (and the teacher asked for them, too, to use in her own work).

To move professionally into how to use these plants, I began to take LANDSCAPE DESIGN CLASSES, first at George Washington University, then, more comprehensively, with the College of Garden Design in England. (The English are very serious and advanced in design, as you can imagine.) My teachers designed for the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show and other distinguished venues and wrote books on design that are standards in the field.

I came to have some favorite techniques, one of which was pruning. I enjoyed the artistic and beneficial effects that pruning lent to the garden, so I studied pruning, took seminars and read read read, experimented experimented experimented until I could sometimes be heard saying, “Pruning is my life!” Give me a laceleaf Japanese maple and an ice-cold bottle of diet soda, and I can entertain myself for hours.