THE GREEN MAN FINE LANDSCAPE DESIGN SPRING 2009 NEWSLETTER

The Green Man
Fine Landscape Design
P.O. Box 1272
Saratoga Springs, New York 12866

Spring 2009 Newsletter

The Spring 2009 landscaping season is here, and we at The Green Man are looking forward to an exciting, creative, and productive year creating beautiful environments for our clients.

First of all, in 2009 The Green Man Fine Landscape Design proudly announces the addition of 2 more landscape design consultants to the team to ensure that clients get a thoroughly comprehensive analysis of their landscaping site as well as an innovative design that addresses all issues. The mission of The Green Man is to assist clients in the optimization of their landscaping investment dollars.

The Green Man Fine Landscape Design is a member of APLD, the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, and The Garden Conservancy.

Landscaping Trends for 2009

1] The trend towards utilizing outdoor space as a series of adjoining “rooms” that are extensions of the house will become even more pronounced in 2009. Clients want to have sections of their landscaping site well-delineated for differing purposes and activities yet to have traffic flow smoothly through these areas. Hence, a design that optimizes the use of space gracefully is essential.














A French kitchen garden or potager

2] The trend toward “clean” food will witness exponential growth in organic vegetable gardens driven by cost concerns for fresh and healthy food.. To meet the demand, The Green Man is emphasizing the addition of an old and venerable garden enhancement called the potager or French kitchen garden.
The potager is simply an outdoor room that is formal, geometric, and symmetrical. A typical potager design consists of 4 rectangular raised beds that surround a center circular bed. Within the garden, vegetables and flowering plants grow together accented vertically with vines, dwarf fruit trees, standards, and statuary. Connecting walkways are covered with pea gravel and accented with bluestone squares and antique brick. A potager is situated where plants will receive 6 hours of sunlight daily yet close to kitchen accessways.
A well-designed potager provides multiple harvests per season as well as aesthetic pleasure and charm year round. Traditional potager plants include boxwood, medicinal and culinary herbs, lavender, pot marigold, catmint, nasturtium, iris, and apothecary rose.














Rosa gallica officinalis /Apothecary rose

3] Simple water features will increase in popularity. The Green Man is suggesting the incorporation of a simple recycling bubbler on or near a terrace where the refreshing sound of splashing water can be heard readily. Reproduction antique millstones make ideal water features for both traditional and contemporary settings. Simple wall fountains provide the same experience.















A reproduction antique millstone suitable for use as a water feature

4] Rain gardens will increase in popularity as a low-cost and low-management way to deal with minor run off issues and with areas of the site that tend to collect water and remain “boggy.”

5] Residential arboreta will grow in popularity as way to incorporate wooded areas of the site into the landscaping plan by means of well-delineated pathways, open areas, careful plantings, and seating.

The Green Man Fine Landscape Design team is ready to assist clients with the integration of these trends into their landscaping plans! In addition, The Green Man encourages the use of heritage plants such as historical irises and peonies, the incorporation of low management roses, and re-blooming daylilies to extend the color season in the landscape.


For 2009, The Green Man Fine Landscape Design has modified it fees to accommodate more readily the needs of clients.

The flat fee for an initial landscaping consultation and preliminary site analysis is $150 for a 2-3 man design team depending on the complexity of the job. Most initial consultations run no more than 2 hours.

Professional drawn-to scale design plans run $500 to $1500 or more for extensive projects.

Designers will work closely with clients' landscape contractors at an hourly 2-figure rate, dependent upon the complexity of the work, to ensure that the installation conforms to the plan.

Additional flexible work options are available. The Green Man's goal is to meet clients' wants, needs, and expectations.

Call today for an appointment with our design team. The Green Man Fine Landscape Design takes appointments by mail or phone at 1-518-423-1233, where you may leave a voice message for a return call.

Thank you and we look forward to working with you in 2009.

Visit our website for landscaping ideas and new plants for 2009!

www.thegreenmanfld.blogspot.com

The Green Man Fine Landscape Design team