What to expect from an expert designing an outdoor sanctuary
Like meandering trails or a remote campsite, a backyard can be a refuge . . . or a disappointment. If you’ve tried to DIY your backyard escape, you might’ve found yourself swatting ants, amid withering plants, in heat throwing off your chill, or gathering around a pollen-covered table. Sometimes, you just need to call in the experts.
Landscape design is an art and a science, pairing the wild with the tame, facilitating gatherings, and installing features to enhance outdoor beauty. After 32 years as a landscape architect, Graham Kimak is an established expert in his field. As the president of Graham Kimak Landscape Designs, he’s working with a team who designs and contracts the installation of backyard sanctuaries.
If you’re considering consulting with an expert to design an outdoor oasis—a place to decompress, gather with friends, or dip into a pool—here’s an overview of what to expect, as explained by Kimak himself.
Finding the purpose
The ultimate goal of landscape design is to create an outdoor space as comforting, enjoyable, and valuable as an indoor living space. Kimak explains it’s “really about creating a space people can enjoy, and it makes them happy to be outside.”
What defines an enjoyable outdoor space is, of course, different from one family and context to another. The Clemson alumnus shows his (orange and purple) colors: “If someone wants to watch the Clemson football game . . . . They’re sitting outside by the fireplace, eating and drinking and watching the game. It doesn’t get better than that.”
Whether clients are looking to dip into a pool, cook at an outdoor cook’s station, unwind beside blooms, or gather for a game, a landscape designer helps them to determine their goals—and then develops plans to meet them.
Keeping the Backyard Design Practical
There are also practical elements of landscape design, like the sun’s direction, the slope of the land, the need for drainage, pest control, materials, budget, and maintenance. Pruning for one person might be relaxing; for another, it might be a dreaded chore.
“There’s always some maintenance,” says Kimak, referencing plant matters. “Some people are full-out gardeners and can take care of it,” he explains as he alludes to a garden with 20-30 perennials, which would require a green thumb . . . or a budget to hire a green thumb.
A conversation about budget and maintenance is built into landscape design drafts, packages, and installation. If you don’t want to maintain a garden or add routine maintenance costs, a low-maintenance ground cover like Asiatic jasmine will be the best bet.
Considering the style
Landscape design’s artistic side shows in its tendency toward a cohesive style scheme. “If you have a modern style house, we’re going to go towards a modern style landscape architecture, and then the same thing with accessories,” explains Kimak.
One purpose of matching the styles is to make the outdoors feel like an extension of the indoors. “We’re designing a big terrace down in Greenwood right now,” says Kimak. “I want that family to come out and feel like their favorite room in the house has been extended to the outdoors.”
Describing his own backyard oasis, Kimak explains, “I decompress, I come home from work, can sit, relax, have conversations with family and friends over a meal and dinner.” An expert landscape design is a retreat and a luxury customized to fulfill an individual or family’s personal vision of the good life—whatever that may be.
For more information about Graham Kimak Landscape Designs, go to grahamkimaklandscapedesigns.com.
