MY TOP 5 FAVORITE LANDSCAPE BOOKS

I have a descent amount of landscape related books and often find myself at the bookstore restraining myself from buying anything.  Then arises the issue of what to buy, even if I do decide to buy.  If you have experienced that scenario, then this is the post for you.  Below is a list of 5 landscape related books that I recommend if you are in the market for something new. 

The first, which is my all time favorite is 1000 Garden Ideas.  This book gives you just that.  1000 picture of garden ideas.  From paths to fences etc. this book has a lot of great info.  It also does not have much text. 

The second, is called Re-imagining The California Lawn.  This book is about exactly as the title suggests.  Thinking outside the cookie cutter box and doing something different with your garden, besides just lawn. 

The third, is California Native Landscape.  This book gives you lots of garden ideas and 300 ish California native plants to consider in your garden.  Great for anyone that is interested in California native plants and wants a starting point. 

The fourth, is Kiss My Aster: A graphic guide to creating a fantastic yard totally tailored to you.  This is a quirky gardening book, that gives you all kinds of tips and tricks about gardening.  It's somewhat cheeky, but totally useful. 

The fifth, is the Drunken Botanist.  This is great for the person that wants to make some drinks for the holiday season and geek out about alcohol and it's origin.  If you are into hosting friends and socially drinking then this is the perfect book for you. 

WATERCOLOR FLOWER PEDALS

Recently I painted some flower pedals and really liked what I had painted.  I was inspired by a picture that looked similar and had one of those I have to paint this moments.  So I drew it out and painted my slightly modified version of it.  As with any art it's totally natural to take some liberties and make minor changes to the original, or in this case do that and add a quote to it. 

The quote I added was something that someone posted on Instagram that I saw in my feed.  How fitting that it was there in a moment in time that I needed to read this. 

"Be patient with yourself, nothing nature blooms year round."  As far as I am aware there is not one single plant that blooms every season.  Now this could also be applied to real life.  Be it a goal or a relationship.  If you plant the seed, then it will germinate, but you must wait patiently. 

LAKE FOREST GARDEN UPDATE 2018

Two weeks ago I was driving to meet with a potential client and realized that she lived down the street from a garden that I had designed a few years ago.  So naturally, I had drive by, take a look and made an updated video about the garden.  I designed both the front and the back but only shot the front as the back gate was locked.  This is a quick video I shot about the project.