Inspired by Nature - The Surrounds Blog

Photo: courtesy Ruppert Nurseries Because Three Wasn’t Enough This is part two of a conversation with certified horticulturalist Ronda Roemmelt talking about her favorite big trees. Her part one list of favorites includes classic shade trees native to Northern Virginia, plus an import or two. Roemmelt, a graduate of Penn State, has worked for 20 years...

The Big Beautiful Shade Trees We Love We all have our favorite trees. As landscape architects we have personal favorites (we tend to favor ornamentals) that reliably fulfill the aesthetic and functional goals of residential landscape architecture. Perhaps your favorites became fixed in your imagination during childhood—particularly if yours was a childhood...

Is the front yard just for show? Our landscape architects spend a lot of time developing front yard landscape designs and “arrival experiences” for our Northern Virginia clientele. But much of the attention we get from the press goes to our back yard landscapes where people can enjoy privacy and special time with family and friends. And, practically...

From 3D rendering to living breathing reality The homeowner tells us that landscape architect Howard Cohen’s design concept for this Herndon Virginia swimming pool, spa and waterfall design was “98% accurate.” The 3D renderings were beautiful, he said, and really helped him to visualize the final outcome. The finished outdoor environment turned out...

PHOTO: Creative Commons by Kevin Garden The Un-Lawn: Groundcovers Unlike some regions of the nation, the Northern Virginia area has no shortage of water resources and seasonal rainfall. So here, lawns actually make sense. It doesn’t require heroic acts of irrigation, fertilization and herbicide application to maintain a nice lawn. But what if you would...

Where Kitchen Design & Landscape Design Meet A successful outdoor kitchen follows the same design principles as an indoor kitchen, but combines those with a landscape design sensibility. If you are considering adding an outdoor kitchen to jazz up the entertainment potential in your backyard patio, here are a few things to think about that may help...

Mulching does for suburban landscapes what a forest does naturally. Each year at the change of season, leaves fall to the ground and provide a protective covering for tree roots. As the leaves and other cast off tree parts decompose, they nourish the soil with organic matter. That’s why mulching is on our basic garden maintenance task list. We are providing...

Aesthetic Simplicity Calls for Technical Complexity The minimalist aesthetic requirements of this Oakton Virginia landscape design, which included a greenhouse, “weeping wall” and koi pond, presented complex technical challenges. The assignment was to determine how these visually powerful features should interact with each other and where...

Renewal & Remembrance 2015: Landscape maintenance professionals donate their time to maintain and beautify Arlington National Cemetery. A Day of Remembrance Summer has finally given way to autumn. Our garden colors have passed from flower to foliage. It’s a time of endings that prompts us to reflect on the season past. One most memorable day this...

The desire for a lawn is so strong that lawns are frequently planted where they don’t belong Why are there lawns? Would your Great Falls, Virginia home be a sweet home without that welcome mat of uniform green spread out in front? For many, it would seem the answer is definitely no. The well-groomed lawn is a symbol of stability and prosperity...

Taking its cue from the architecture of the house, this landscape design uses repeating themes in the Roman style pillars, iron railings and stone work to achieve an elegant but not overly ornate visual style Designing from inside to outside We learned that landscape design is complex and, that to achieve successful results, many areas of expertise...

The centerpiece of the design: A show stopping porch, loggia and massive stone chimney perch on a raised patio Intelligent Design When landscape architect Howard Cohen first stepped into the Great Falls backyard of his new landscape design client, what he encountered was a mash up of pathways, hardscaping and structures that didn’t add up. It begged...

A Place To Call Home This is the final installment in our three-part series featuring discussions with Washington DC and Northern Virginia architects about the relationship between landscape architecture and residential architecture. This post features James McDonald of McDonald Associates Architects in Great Falls, Virginia. When I’m designing a home...

Set among tall trees in a wooded location, the interior of this home lets the outside come in through wall-length windows. PHOTO: Kenneth Wyner Photography The Spirit of Place This is the second posting in our three-part series of interviews with Northern Virginia area residential architects on the subject of landscape architecture. This installment...

Inspired By Place: Residential Architects Talk Landscape Architecture Mark McInturff heads an eight-person firm that specializes in highly crafted contemporary design. This is first in a series of conversations with three Washington DC area architects about landscape architecture, the power of place, and what it means to make a home. We landscape architects...

Creating Indoor Comfort Outdoors As a landscape architecture and construction firm, we create many different types of outdoor living spaces for our Northern Virginia clients. From time to time we are fortunate to collaborate with other design professionals such as residential architects and interiors designers. Leesburg interior designers Julie Hoffmann...

Designing Pollinator-Friendly Landscapes PHOTO: Creative Commons by William Garrett There are thousands of species of bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators that help your gardens thrive—and are fun to watch. There are a number of factors that make your landscape more –or less- appealing to pollinators: varieties of flowering plants layout...

Too Beautiful to Eat? Edibles are versatile plants that can be included in any type of garden environment. Edible flowers can be so pleasing to look at that it may seem a shame to pluck them out and eat them. To get past that feeling, try separately planting the ones intended for the kitchen in containers. Growing your edible flowers and other kitchen...

When Aesthetic Opposites Make Visual Harmony Architecture is more than just the design of the building. It’s the design of how the building fits in the landscape. Mark Kohler, Architect Modernism and Traditionalism are just steps away from each other at this Vienna Virginia residence. The main house, built by a national homebuilder, draws upon tradition....

Five Garden Plant Diseases: What they look like and what they do to your plants Anthracnose on Cornus Dogwood leaves Of the many types of garden plant diseases, Surrounds garden care specialist Margaret Miley says these five are the ones she sees most frequently in our Maryland and Northern Virginia gardens: Sooty Mold Powdery Mildew Anthracnose Cankar Needle...