Beautiful room dissolves the boundaries between inside and outside

How do you throw a party if your house sits on the edge of a ravine? Easy, as architect Jim Manning proves with this elegant screened porch cantilevered over a creek. Warm wood divides the views into horizontal scenes, unbroken at the corners by mullion-less glass windows. Only the corners are glazed to protect the room from the elements--the rest is screened to let the breezes in (but not the bugs!). We can't tell you how many clients tell us they can stand the heat in Dallas but not the mosquitoes. We should take a tip from our grandparents and add a screened porch to every house!

All of the finishes and furniture are indoor/outdoor. And to make it truly a four-season space, a fireplace warms it up in winter. With a cozy spot like this, why ever go inside?

If you have any questions, you can contact Jim at

jim@jemarchitect.com

Posh spa-style landscape pays off for homeowner

Our client was pining for Palm Springs....so Patrick fixed him up with an elegant square pool, a beautiful stone patio and ipe decks for all his entertaining needs. A stucco wall for late night movie screenings completes the Californian theme, along with agaves, loquats and other bigger-than-life plants.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

A change in plans led the owner to sell the house--but thanks to a resort-style landscape that doubles the enterainment space of the house, it sold in two weeks!

Oh, we have to show you the "before" photo:

More Beverly Hillbillies than Beverly Hills....what a change! Thanks to a client with vision and Patrick's dogged determination to get it right.

New meadow opens up Lakewood property

For eight years now, Dave and the owners of this Lakewood estate have been working on restoring the landscape around their historic O'Neil Ford house. The original long meadow had been obscured by privet, bamboo and small trees. It was cleared several years ago, and trails through the privet were cut for kids, dogs and adults. Recently as they bushwhacked, they came upon these grand old cedar trees buried in thickets of privet, and an idea took root.

He and Dave considered different options and began clearing the woods around it. It looked like this to start:

As the thickets gave way, rolling topography and trees of great character emerged. Tying into the original long meadow designed in the 1930s, the new greensward opens sweeping vistas and beguiling views of the house from afar.

A shade-tolerant variety of zoysia grass needs only an occasional mowing for weed control. Now, family and friends have new vistas to discover, new trees to climb and new spaces for contemplation.

Summer break 2: Patrick in Atlanta

Senior designer Patrick Boyd recently checked out the new Edible Garden and Canopy Walk at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. He took a zillion pictures, only a few of which we can share here! His slow-food dinner group will be receiving the full report....

Edible garden designers see food plants as ornamentals,  letting you harvest your home landscape. The Atlanta Botanical Garden has green walls covered with herbs, fruit orchards and vegetable beds where area chefs wander the 'aisles' picking the best-looking produce--then turn it into sumptous feasts in the demonstration kitchen. Further blurring the line between art and food, the art of Cohn-Stone glassblowers mingles with real fruit and flowers.

The Canopy Walk is a rare treat in an urban setting. Like New York's incredible popular High Line park, it gets you airborne and looking at nature--and the city--from a different angle. It just feels cooler walking up there, with the leaves rustling in the breeze and your feet swaying ever so slightly. For those of us who haven't climbed any big trees lately, it's a reminder of how much fun that was!

Garden writers visit 2 Rolston gardens

Hundreds of garden writers from all over the country converged on Dallas last weekend. They held workshops on the art of garden writing, hobnobbed, networked, and visited all the gardens they could while they were here. About 300 came to Dave's house on Monday to hear him describe the process of developing his own personal garden over the years.

This is the view to the lower garden where the rainwater holding tank is hidden under the lawn.

The group then went on to an 8-acre estate in the heart of Lakewood, where Dave has been working with the owner for many years to clear invasive privet and ligustrum, open up paths and vistas and create hideaways for the kids.

 

Stone walks and stairs allow visitors to reach the two creeks on the property.

This garden has developed organically over the years, with new areas being created as the spirit moved us. With no map or master plan, the writers and photographers poured off the buses and scattered into the woods, each looking for their own story. Can't wait to see what they come up with!

 

Summer break: Cool things to do in NY

Dave just came back from a week's vacation in New York, where his brother opened a new restaurant. He declared the High Line, a linear park along the old elevated train tracks on the West Side of Manhattan, a "perfect park" for the city (first photo). The people, the views, the fabulous American smoke trees....a must-see if you're headed that way.

The temporary art installation atop the Metropolitan Museum of Art consists of thousands of pieces of bamboo tied together with nylon ropes. It's an evolving show animated by the artists and rock climbers building it, along with the visitors walking through it. A special tour takes you 20-40 feet above the roof. The Empire State Building might give you a bigger view, but it can't replicate the sense of being high in a forest rustling and moving in the breeze.

View from the Roof Garden, below.

Looking for inspiration? Check out our plant library

http://www.dallasgardens.com/plant_library