Our Landscape designers are skilled at blending horticulture, design, and art into their projects. Understanding how to find balance in a landscape is of upmost importance, and few know this better than Weston’s very own Joe Desmond.
Aidan Bell spoke further with Joe about his work, to better understand the processes involved in creating a design for a landscape. Joe has been working at our Chelmsford location for 5 season and his prior life experience includes a formal education in graphic design, the arts, and authentic New England Yankee gardening.
A: What is it that initially piqued your interest in landscape design?
J: Nature has always been both a creative outlet and a restorative spirit elixir.
The desire to merge my two favorite passions (design and nature) has brought me down this path.
A: What is it about what you do that still excites you today?
J: Nature is always presenting new challenges. I enjoy the process of collaborating with customers, problem solving and helping them with their landscaping aspirations.
A: What is the first thing you want to do when you are not working?
J: When I get home I need to recenter. I disconnect from all electronic devices and utilize meditation practices.
A: Are there any artists or other designers in your field who you feel inspired by?
J: Gordon Hayward is a local New England Landscape Designer and author is someone I really connect with. He emphasizes the relationships between your dwelling, the land and the people who inhabit it – this is at the foundation of every project .
A: What plant trend do you feel should be re-visited?
J: The privacy screen mono-culture (green wall). There is a more interesting way to accomplish privacy both aesthetically and functionally by integrating it into the landscape as nature intended.
A: Is there a plant that you wish you could use more frequently when designing for clients?
J: I would love to see more clients with larger landscapes consider some of the stately, multi-generational trees that give a sense of place and history to a property. Some of these include the newer disease resistant American Elms, American and European Beech, and the many Oak species.
A: If you had unrestrained creative freedom, with no budget to hold you back, what type of garden/landscape would you want to design?
J: I am really drawn to the purpose of urban parks as a way to help people engage and connect with their natural environment. People rediscover and appreciate more of what this earth has to offer. I would love to be part of the planning process of a large scale project presenting vast ecological challenges – from construction of land use and waterways to architectural features and biologically diverse ecosystems.
