vision

in practice

Align windows with trees, protect existing canopy, and give every shared space at least one view to green.

3. bring gardens inside

Indoor plants reduce stress, lift mood, and improve focus. They carry the garden into the rooms where we spend more than 90% of our time (Bringslimark 2007; Klepeis 2001).

in practice

Group plants into indoor gardens, and create green rooms where people can sit among plants and light.

4. enrich the edges

Porches, arbors, loggias, and courtyards soften the line between inside and out. They offer shelter, temper sun and wind, cut energy use, and invite people to linger outdoors (Kellert 2008).

prospect & refuge: how people find their place in a landscape

5. open views

We prefer views that let us survey our surroundings, and we are especially drawn to water, which for our ancestors meant clean water to drink and food close at hand. We also crave mystery: a bend in the path, a glimpse through foliage (Appleton 1975; Ulrich 1993).

in practice

Frame long views with planting, reveal water where you can, and use open plans and low partitions to bring prospect indoors.

6. provide places to sit

A seat with shelter behind and a view ahead invites rest, reflection, and recovery. Moveable furniture lets people make a space their own (Kaplan, Kaplan & Ryan 1998).

in practice

Place seats under canopy or overhangs with open views, and make outdoor seating easy to reach from indoors.

7. encourage twenty minutes

Twenty to thirty minutes in nature brings the greatest stress relief for the time spent. Regular time outdoors is linked to stronger immunity, increased serotonin, and clearer thinking. We design places people want to stay (Hunter 2019; Roe 2013).

in practice

Make garden entrances easy to find, add comfortable benches and engaging paths, and light gardens for safe use at night.

plant intelligence: what living things teach us

8. shake hands with plants

We protect what we know. We bring plants within reach so people can touch them, learn their names, and build lasting relationships. Shake hands with a tree and try not to forget its name (Wilson 1984).

in practice

Let plants spill into paths without blocking them, label trees and key plants, and highlight one plant with special meaning to the place.

9. breathe with plants

Smell is wired directly to memory and emotion. Crushed mint or a linden in bloom can calm us and fix a place in memory. Plants release aromatic compounds to communicate, defend themselves, and attract pollinators. Breathing in these phytoncides lowers stress hormones and strengthens immune defenses (Herz 2004; Li 2009; Park 2010).

in practice

Plant fragrance where people brush past it: along paths, at doorways, and beside seating.

10. embrace soft fascination

Swaying grasses, dappled leaves, drifting clouds, and light rippling on water hold our attention without effort and let the mind recover. Plants are always responding to wind, light, and water, and their motion is a quiet expression of that intelligence (Ulrich 1991; Basu 2019).

in practice

Place water between the viewer and the sun, use rills or small fountains where larger features won’t fit, and plant tall grasses to catch the wind.

11. reveal time

Plants keep time. Budbreak, bloom, fruit, fall color, and winter structure mark the seasons, while materials weather and patina. Revealing these cycles reconnects us to climate and place (Kellert 2008).

in practice

Stagger bloom times, leave seed heads and grasses standing through winter, and include at least one material chosen to change over time.

12. layer gardens

Gardens layered from groundcover to canopy create immersion and support the greatest diversity of wildlife. Tough native plants draw on millions of years of relationships with local insects, birds, and soil life. An orderly frame shows the wildness is intentional (Tallamy 2007).

in practice

Plant at least two native species in every layer, from groundcover to canopy, and frame them with crisp edges, hedges, low walls, or mown paths.

build resilience: every scale matters

13. design living sponges

Heavier storms and rising seas bring more flooding. Well-designed landscapes capture, slow, and guide stormwater, from a single rain garden to a waterfront district. Deep roots and living soil do this work every day.

in practice

Trade pavement for planting where you can, grade runoff into rain gardens and bioswales, and build soil that holds water.

14. flex with a changing climate

Summers are hotter, droughts longer, and hardiness zones are shifting north. We plant for the climate that is coming, with shade trees, drought-tolerant natives, and diverse plantings that adapt as conditions change. Every garden, street, and park is part of the response (Ziter 2019; USDA 2023).

in practice

Maximize tree canopy over paving and roofs, favor natives adapted to heat and drought, and diversify species so no single loss unravels a planting.

15. make it beautiful

Our work must be beautiful. Beauty draws attention, inspires wonder, weaves ground and sky, and changes over time. Fractal patterns, biomorphic forms, and colors drawn from nature read as beautiful across cultures. A landscape that is loved is a landscape that lasts (Taylor 2006).

“If it isn’t beautiful, then it isn’t sustainable.” James Wines

in practice

Build in branching patterns, natural forms, and colors drawn from nature, and design for how a place looks in every season.