Garden Design Lessons From Fifteen Years on Aquidneck Island
Updated: Sep 28
Fifteen years of designing and building on this island have taught me a few things.
I started out as a gardener at sixteen, working for a local botanist, and I have been designing and building landscapes in Newport, Middletown and Portsmouth ever since. Along the way I have learned a few things, often the hard way. These are the ones I end up sharing with almost every client.
Walk the land before you draw
The site will tell you most of what you need to know if you take the time to look. Where the sun lands in the afternoon. Where the wind comes from. Where the water sits after a storm. Which trees are worth saving. I walk a property several times before I commit to a plan, and then I design how you will move through it: the path from the kitchen to the dining terrace, from the driveway to the front door, from the pool to the house. Good flow is invisible. Bad flow is all you notice.
Let stone be the bones
Plants grow, change and sometimes fail. Stone stays. Walls, steps and terraces give a garden its structure through every season, including winter. Invest in good stonework and the rest of the garden has something to lean on.
The day we finish is the least beautiful the garden will ever be.
Right plant, right place, room to grow
Most garden problems come from a plant in the wrong spot: a sun lover in the shade, a thirsty plant on a dry slope, a delicate shrub facing the salt wind. Put each plant where it wants to be and it will reward you for years. Then give it room. That little tree will be twenty feet wide one day, and perennials should be spaced for the size they will reach, not how they look in the pot. It looks a little sparse at first. In two or three years it fills in.
Repeat yourself, and be patient
Using the same few plants and materials in several places ties a landscape together. A lot of variety in one small area feels busy; a few things repeated with intention feels calm. And the best gardens take a few seasons to come into their own. I tell every client that the day we finish is the least beautiful the garden will ever be. It only gets better from there.
Beginning your project
If you would like help seeing what your property could become, you can read about our four-element design process, or call me at 401-619-1607 or request a consultation.
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