Your custom landscape design should create a "personal Eden" for you, says Phil Thornburg, lead landscape designer at Winterbloom.
Ask Phil Thornburg, founder of custom landscape firm Winterbloom near Portland, OR, about his biggest complaint about his industry and he’ll tell you it’s other landscapers trying to buck the system “for a buck.” He takes issue particularly with firms that cut corners or pay workers under the table to keep costs low.
Inexperienced homeowners are often enticed to hire “landscape design” from the lowest bidder, not necessarily from landscape designers who offer the best quality, he says.
“It is surprising how many calls we get from homeowners who have done this and want us to come in and fix it,” he says. “By then it is very expensive. It costs much more than it would have if done correctly the first time.”
Not the Cheapest Landscaping Design
Thornburg’s mission for Winterbloom is not to be the cheapest landscape firm around, but to design a landscape tailored specifically for the individual client. “We believe that we are here to help homeowners create beauty in their lives,” he says. The company’s motto is “Creating private Edens… one home at a time.”
Thornburg explains this philosophy through the experience of a particular client of his. A woman with five acres of mostly sloping, weedy land couldn’t decide what to do with it all, and the maintenance was overwhelming. After looking at the Winterbloom brochure, the homeowner realized the photo on the cover was of a friend’s home and yard that she truly admired.
“Suddenly she could see how beauty could be created out of challenges,” Thornburg says. “We talked through how we could make the area close to the house more domesticated and work out into a pastoral, natural look as we went away from the house.” The homeowner was able to visualize the idea, and three years later, the design and installation is complete. Her home has since been featured in magazines and newspapers and on Winterbloom’s Web site. “She really feels her home is now a private Eden and she is one of our biggest supporters,” he says.
French Drains Solve Landscape Drainage Problems
While some of Winterbloom’s challenges are of the large scale like the five acres described above, some are a little less romantic, but still as challenging. One of the common problems Thornburg encounters is landscape drainage. Thornburg’s firm recently installed French drains in an elderly client’s back yard that had basically turned into a swamp.
“The neighbor was piping his water onto her lot,” he says. “She didn’t want to sue him, so we had to direct as much of the water back into infiltration rather than overland washing,” he said.
“At Winterbloom, we strongly believe in protecting environment and working to uphold the integrity of our beliefs,” Thornburg says. The company strives to recycle or reuse anything it uses on the job site or in its shop.
The company is also certified by Eco-biz, or Eco-logical Business, as one that is practicing methods to reduce the ecological impact on the Earth. Eco-Biz is a collaborative effort in the metro-Portland area to prevent and minimize solid waste, air and water pollution of both landscape and automotive services businesses.Thornburg discovered that as young people in the area move out of condominiums and into single-family homes, they are more dependent on the services he provides than generations prior. “When they do purchase a house with land, a 10’x20’ back yard is overwhelming to them,” he says. He finds that younger people are less inclined to understand the basics of landscaping and are turning to experts for help.
This is all the more reason for homeowners to ask the right questions and get all the facts and credentials about the landscaper they choose to create their outdoor oasis. “Winterbloom combines the homeowners ideas with our knowledgeable approach. The result is a tailored, beautiful, functioning landscape just for you.”
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