Landscape x Design

White ‘Iceberg’ roses and spires of ‘Grosso’ lavender catch the setting sun in this Atherton estate garden.

What is a “landscape”?

Verdance believes that landscapes—whether private or public—are as complex as the humans who own them. They are places of joy, memory, inspiration, magic, and faith.

Even to speak of “owning” a landscape is misleading, because landscapes obey no master: they evolve from year to year, season to season, moment to moment.

Landscapes are chaotic systems, hurtling toward disorder, their entropy both restrained and hastened by our best attempts to manage them.

For those of us who feel closely connected to nature, watching this chaos is mesmerizing. We observe the interplay among plants, soil, climate, humans, and other creatures. We find that how we relate with each of these elements defines our relationship with the whole. And the more we observe, the more we marvel at the life force that can create such a beautiful mess.

In our view, the designed landscape is nothing more—or less—than a manipulation of the elements we can control, with proper consideration given to those we cannot.

After all, harnessing the uncertainty, the maddening unpredictability, of a natural system is the essence of why humans garden. It is precisely because roses are so damn temperamental that we exult at the perfect bloom.

Guided by this spirit, Verdance believes that the purpose of our work is not to dominate nature, but rather to dance with her. There is a time to lead, a time to follow, rhythms waiting to be discovered and celebrated.

And when we do our part, the results appear effortless…

…as though “our” landscape has belonged there all along.