Experience and ideas will guide a narrative, and ultimately build the foundations that produces a finished product.

For me, it’s important to never forget that, process, is as much everything as everything else. This garden design came to me after my first meeting with the clients—I am a firm believer that the only thing I need to supply during the first meeting is my experience. 

The owners wished for a very low carbon footprint with all the building materials and fixtures for the house. It was pretty apparent that a lower maintenance, drought tolerant modern landscape would drive this design. 

Playing off the low carbon footprint idea, and having closer inspection of the light issues hampering the front yard, a modern take on an indigenous garden was only a matter of steps away in the thought process. 

The charred nursing log installation idea came about from inspecting the lighting hit burned out logs in the deep woods. 

My wish for this garden is for it to age with the house, and to allow the log installation to decompose naturally. The moss will take hold first, then as the logs begin to break down I hope the ferns and other saplings will find enough fertile space to call the nursing log sculpture a home. 

A garden that has a symbiotic relationship with its house, where they can age in tandem and be enjoyed as much in years to come as they are today. 

Chris McQuilkin