I maybe a complete horty dork, but I am found the trees in Westminster Abbey to be nearly as breath-taking as Catherine and rest of the procession.   Do you agree?

I can’t help but think that this eco-nature inspired take on the wedding will become a huge industry trend. (Yeah!)  And with trees being used in weddings, the obvious symbolism of planting it after the ceremony is sure to follow.  And then you have the tree which will continue to grow through a lifetime.  It’s a lovely thing.

images from: Crimson Canopy, and by Reggie Thomson.

What I wouldn’t give to be able to find sofa’s like this in their original state…..  Sadly, I think this style of furniture never really took a hold here in New England, so finding them in vintage stores is near impossible.  While I am quite smitten with the originals, I have to admit, that the painted makeover makes them really extraordinary.  The material is vinyl, so with a product called Createx the Rancho Reubidoux boys were able to paint away the plainness and replace it with a new bright modern design.   If you want to see more pictures and how they did it, check out their full post at  Rancho Reubidoux.

Impressive. — Is all I can say about this before and after.  Sure, it is a stunning and radically exciting transformation, but the biggest kicker of this garden was that it was done in just one year.  That just doesn’t happen very often.  Building a garden like this is a lot of work, and then you usually have to let it settle in and grow a bit before it starts to look this good.  Perhaps it’s a little over planted — but as a chronic over-planter myself (my philosophy is, if budget allows you can’t have too many — they can always be thinned and shared later)  this is a criticism I can’t throw around.   Dustin over at Non-secateur created this front garden and if you want to see more images pop on over to his blog.

Oh – and my favorite part — those completely cool ball stacks.  I wonder how those were made or where they came from? Don’t they look like they could have been handmade?

It’s rare that I find a good before and after by a designer that is so close to home (at least for me) .  The Durrants of Durrant Design live right here in my little town and this project is not far from my house.  So it is with extra special pride in my hometown design colleagues that I share this beautiful makeover.

I love this garden for it’s nice way of working with the landscape elements that were already there and quite likely unable to move (like the ledge that is sticking out) and turning it into an organized, natural looking space that fits with the local vernacular.

When I look out my windows I see the rolling, slightly wild, nature of a typical country garden….whose chaos can quite often make me yearn for the streamlined, organized, pristine, nature of gardens like this.  Don’t misunderstand, these take just as much work and creativity to bring to life.  Using fewer plants, sleek materials and minimalist design is not easy, but is sure is pretty when done right.

By Eckersley Gardern Design

The sleek serenity of this garden

If you have been to London, England for even 5 minutes you have probably noticed the Battersea Power Station.  It’s the big interesting looking set of buildings that is within eye shot of nearly every major attraction in the city.  So it is not without anticipation and excitement that its renovation into a mixed use of housing, hotel and shopping comes.  It’s an iconic building even in disrepair, so certainly it will be extraordinary when it is done. (We hope.)

But this level of ‘extraordinary’ is hard to believe.  Really,(?) when it is complete, central London will become home to exotic parakeets and rainbow macaws? And it will have an old growth ancient looking forest along the banks of the Thames river?  Really? Now that is something to be excited about.  If it fact that is what is going to happen.

If not, it leaves me with lots of questions, like, does the design firm responsible for the rendering have any idea about the ecology or biology of the region (as they should) and the fact that these birds don’t really frequent the area?   and  Is there some sort of new trick for making newly planted trees look like an old forest?   and  Is  ‘Ancient Forest’ really the look that best fits this site (smack in the middle of one of the most industrialized, modern cities in the world)?

I get that there is probably a significant amount of artistic license here and ok, I am willing to let some things slide, but I think that this type of presentation causes two problems.  1) Ridiculous expectations are set and disappointment is sure to follow, and 2) This firm is really opening themselves up to questions about their own skill level.  It reminds me of a recent interaction I had with a certain email campaign company.  I researched and tested, got quotes and went to great effort to sort out what I thought would be the best company to support my studio ‘g’ email list as well as my Harvard Farmers Market email list.  And then I got to the paying part…and they don’t have the ability to do online payment!?!  I had to use a Fax machine to send my credit card information!?!  I immediately questioned all my conclusions about the quality of their product. Can a good software product come from a software company who is operating with 1990′s payment technology?  I don’t know, maybe, but I’m not going to find out.  I moved on as I expect that we should with this landscape rendering.  Don’t expect this project to look like anything like this when its done, I’m going to break it to you now,  it just won’t.

I guess my point is that I think as Landscape professionals we all have a responsibility to educate people and doing this type of thing, particularly on such a high profile project, seems to me to put us all in a bit of a bad light.  What do you think?  Am I overreacting or do you agree?

image from bdonline.