Verdant
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0.VERDANT · A LANDSCAPE PRACTICE
VOL. III · MAY 2026

Twelve seasons
of growth, recorded.

Verdant is a landscape design-build practice in Marin and the Peninsula. Twenty-three projects since 2014. Eleven still under year-round stewardship. We take a small number of commissions; the work is in the seasons that follow.

A first conversation See the projects
23
Projects
since 2014
11
Sites
still under stewardship
$280k
Median project
design + build
9 mo
Median timeline
consult to handover
Verdant project · meadow with stone paths
FRONTISPIECE
A meadow at first light · Marin County
I.SITES · THREE PLATES

Three plates
from this volume.

A walled garden in the Berkshires. A meadow in Marin. A courtyard in Atherton. Three of the eleven sites still under our stewardship. The plate viewer expands the plant schedule for each — Latin names, intentionally.

A walled garden in the Berkshires
PLATE 01

A walled garden in the Berkshires.

Stockbridge, Massachusetts
  • Site2.3 acres
  • Built2024
  • Maintained sinceYear-round, since completion
Materials

Granite (local quarry) · Ipe decking · Fescue lawn · Yew hedges

Plant schedule · 5 species
  • Fagus sylvatica · European beech
  • Carex pensylvanica · Pennsylvania sedge
  • Hakonechloa macra · Japanese forest grass
  • Hydrangea arborescens · 'Annabelle'
  • Asarum canadense · wild ginger
A meadow in Marin County
PLATE 02

A meadow that looks borrowed from a state park.

Marin County, California
  • Site1.1 acres
  • Built2023
  • Maintained sinceSpring + fall walk-throughs
Materials

Salvaged redwood · California field stone · Native grass meadow · Decomposed granite paths

Plant schedule · 5 species
  • Stipa pulchra · purple needlegrass
  • Achillea millefolium · yarrow
  • Eschscholzia californica · California poppy
  • Bouteloua gracilis · blue grama
  • Sporobolus airoides · alkali sacaton
A courtyard in Atherton
PLATE 03

A courtyard for a small house in Atherton.

Atherton, California
  • Site0.4 acres
  • Built2022
  • Maintained sinceQuarterly
Materials

Bluestone pavers · Black-stained cedar · Carex meadow · Single Carpinus tree

Plant schedule · 4 species
  • Carpinus betulus · European hornbeam
  • Carex divulsa · gray sedge
  • Rosa banksiae · Lady Banks rose
  • Lavandula × intermedia · 'Provence'
The full archive · 23 plates
II.PRACTICE · HOW WE WORK

Three
convictions.

Three convictions that hold across every project. The first determines whether the site reads as a garden or as a problem solved. The second determines whether it ages well. The third determines whether the budget makes sense in twenty years.

  1. i.

    Site, restored to its grade.

    We start with a topographic survey and read the land before drawing. The first design move is almost always a grade correction — water flow, drainage, where the eye rests.

  2. ii.

    Plant palettes that hold a season.

    Our gardens are designed to read as one composition through summer and another through winter. The plants are chosen to work together; we don't shop a catalog and assemble a list.

  3. iii.

    Materials, considered for the long term.

    Granite over concrete. Ipe over composite. Local stone over imported. The first decisions cost more; the twentieth-year decisions cost less. We bias toward the long horizon.

III.THE PROCESS · CONSULT TO HANDOVER
9-MONTH MEDIAN TIMELINE
  1. Wk 0

    First conversation, on the land

    We come to the site for an initial walk · ninety minutes · no fee. The brief begins here, not on a phone call.

  2. Wk 1 — 8

    Schematic design

    Topo survey, schematic plan, plant palette, materials sourcing. Three deliverables: site plan, plant schedule, material specification.

  3. Wk 9 — 16

    Design development

    Detailed drawings, lighting, irrigation, drainage. Cost estimate. Permits where needed (most projects).

  4. Wk 17 — 36

    Build

    Verdant runs the build with two foreperson teams. Stonework, planting, hardscape, irrigation. Weekly site review with the client; daily logs.

  5. Wk 36+

    Stewardship

    Year-round caretaking on most projects. Monthly visits in growing season; quarterly thereafter. The garden becomes itself between years two and four.

IV.A FIRST CONVERSATION
NINETY MINUTES · NO FEE

Take the
five-question consult brief.

Five questions. We’ll read the site, suggest two scopes, and book a ninety-minute first walk if the work fits the practice.

THE BRIEF · CHAPTERS I — V

Five questions, written in chapter form. Your answers compose the brief shown to the right; we read it before our first call. We don't do template designs — this is a starting vocabulary, not a destination.

I.

The site is —

II.

The vocabulary should feel —

III.

The lot, in size, is —

IV.

The budget, approximately —

V.

The timeline begins in —

V.COLOPHON · MAY 2026

Walk the site
with us.

A first conversation See the archive
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