Design By Nature

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Jaime

Let the natural landscape inspire your garden!

Memorial Day Weekend offered many of us time out of the city and in nature. Were you as inspired as I was by the natural beauty of our Oregon Landscape? Here are some wonderful scenes from my hike over the weekend that offer some great ideas for your own landscape project.

8 design lessons I learned exploring the Willamette Valley

1. Use simple plantings with distinct form and a path to create a little garden mystery.

Oak Savanna

 

2. Plant it! I discovered Oso berry with berries. Somehow I had only seen Oso berry in the early spring with new leaves and blooms, or later in the fall. I was delighted find the berries so beautiful and delicate in color and form. What a gardeners treat.

Oemleria cerasiformis - Oso berry

 

3. Cow Parsnip: Plant it but don’t eat it. What a fabulous white cloud on earth. 

Meadow with Cow Parsnip (Heracleum maximum)

 

4. Poison Oak: Don’t plant, or touch, these leaves of three!

Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)

 

 

5. Create layers of color and texture with mass plantings and borrowed landscape views.

Meadows and Fields

 

6. Lupine is a fabulous native perennial for the garden.

Lupine and Oregon White Oak

Lupine and Oregon White Oak

 

7. Natural elements make for beautiful, sculptural, and playful landscape focal points.

Standing inside a hollow snag.

Standing inside a hollow snag.

 

8. Frame an interesting view.

View from inside a the snag.

 

8. Make your garden explorable, interactive, and delight in its surprises.

There's a tree hugging me!

Posted in Inspiration, Jaime's Favorites, Planting ideas, Retreat | 1 Comment

Summer Camps & Retreat Centers Large & Small.

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Jaime

I’ve gotten to do a lot of great work in 2011 that has been inspiring to the Kahoots Mission.  Our tag line, “Landscapes for the imaginative soul” rings truer than ever. Camp and Retreat master plans, large and small, for quiet, play, or inspiration, have become my passion and here’s why:

 

1. The natural environment. Camps and retreat centers have natural resources that are invaluable. A beautiful camp keeps guests coming back.

2. Interaction with the natural world is a critical piece of child development. To engage with nature is to engage and develop all of a child’s senses.

3. Engaging with nature is an intrinsic component of spiritual awareness in societies and religious traditions around the world.  Integrating natural features in a beautiful and functional way supports a guests’ engagement with the spiritual experience of retreat.  

4. The creative inspiration that results from a day spent in nature can fuel a month of my design work. For this same reason I love knowing that the places I am helping to design and nurture will offer similar inspiration for other guests. Can you imagine the possibilities of a world filled with people carrying a light heart full of creative inspiration?

My New Year’s resolution: To help organizations develop a master plan vision that supports their long-term goals, then use that plan to leverage the funding they need to make those goals happen.

 

 

Want more information?

Wondering if your Summer Camp or Retreat center needs a master plan? Here are 5 signs to look for.

Read more about what a Master Plan is here.

Posted in Jaime's Favorites, Retreat, Services | Comments Off on Summer Camps & Retreat Centers Large & Small.