Designing Eden's Landscape Design and Installation Blog
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Designing Eden LLC has been providing landscape design, installation and garden maintenance services in Fairfield and Litchfield County for over 30 years. Richard, the owner, holds degrees in Landscape Architecture and Horticulture. Check out our landscape design tips and information from the only nationally certified landscape designer in Litchfield County!

Preventing Vehicle Rust.
Owning a vehicle in a northern climate sucks. It really does. Vehicles are so much money and the chemicals towns put on the roads during snow events eats vehicles alive. It’s hard to keep a vehicle longer than 10 years in a northern climate without it showing signs of rust. Our landscape company doesn’t have

Prepare your garden space properly before planting
One of the hardest things to tell clients and potential clients who want to spend money of landscaping is that they’re not ready for landscaping. They’ve decided to invest in landscaping and I’m there to tell them no. There’s a reason to my madness. Gardens and landscaping is either moving forwards or it’s moving backwards.

Getting the Most Out of Your Garden
I see a lot of gardens created by homeowners and landscapers that leave a lot to be desired. Plants tend to be separated by seas of mulch with not a lot of variety in plant material or the exact opposite, the garden is a collection of plants with one of everything. To get the most

A Native Cultivar Worth Considering.
What do you get when two New York native plants cross? You get one cool plant. The plant I’m talking about Scuttellaria ‘Appalachian Blues’. I’ve been using Scuttellaria ‘Appalachian Blues’ for two seasons now. I’m not sure what draws me to this plant. Maybe it’s just because it’s another plant for the shade garden. Actually,

Groundcovers: The Glue That Holds The Garden Together
Groundcovers, low, ground hugging plants, have always been the most important plant in my landscape designs. Aesthetically, groundcovers play a huge role in the garden. They are essentially the glue that holds the garden together. Groundcovers help tie groups of plants together by connecting spaces that are typically occupied by seas of mulch. Beyond aesthetics,

Current Project: Washington Landscape Plan
The above picture is a current landscape design we’re working on. It’s a large property with a lot going on. This plan from the engineer shows the current structure, the existing driveway and a suggested new driveway location. The property is beautiful. 22 acres of meadow, a lot of beautiful, mature trees and western views.

Fall Containers in a Kent Garden
We took over a new garden maintenance client in Kent this year. It’s a project that requires a lot of man hours. This season, we averaged 25-50 hours a week. We are there on a regular basis doing the typical maintenance a garden requires. Weekly, we are pruning, trimming, weeding, watering and deadheading. The garden

Screening Planting
When people call us for a screen planting, they usually are wanting a row of evergreen trees. That is one option for screening an unwanted view. The problem is that type of planting can create some long term issues. For one, spacing is too close for long term success. A 10′-12′ Spruce or Pine will

A Welcoming Entrance For This New Milford Landscape
Here is a welcoming front entrance landscape we designed, installed and maintain in New Milford. There was a lot of opportunities to create a memorable experience for both homeowners and visitors to the front door. We decided to create a space that allowed 4 cars to park within 20 feet from the front door. Once


Using a Drone in Landscape Design
I had a design to do for a client that involved a steep slope with a lot of large stone outcroppings. A survey for the slope didn’t exist and I was hoping to create an accurate base plan I could have confidence in, so that plant quantities would be accurate and the estimate for landscape

Litchfield Landscape Before and After
Here are a couple before and after photos from our Litchfield project that we completed last summer. As you can see, the before pictures were prior to the addition that was built on the backside of the garage. The project included a set of stairs from the driveway to the new lower patio, the surrounding