What Makes the Winter Garden Beautiful

A sunrise in the orchard

Ornamental Kale frozen in time

(A play on words with this festive Winterberry) Winterberried in ice

Or your two dogs just enjoying life on the terrace - romping and taking in the winter sunshine.

When you step into your  December garden ready to absorb nature, you're bound to find the landscape's true winter beauty. Just be careful of the snow and ice.

Enjoy this final day of December and may your heart always find this peace on earth. Happy New Year to all.

© All Images – Property of Bilowz Associates Inc.   

If you like this blog, check in for your daily share's worth of garden inspiration, landscape architecture and design tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architects/Landscape Design/serving Massachusetts and New England.)

"Tis the Season

Believe in the magic of the season. Happy Holidays!

Gratitude makes Thanksgiving the best Holiday of all.

Happy Thanksgiving. Safe travels.

© All Images – Property of Bilowz Associates Inc.   

If you like this blog, check in for your daily share's worth of garden inspiration, landscape architecture and design tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architects/Landscape Design/serving Massachusetts and New England.)

A Pre-Thanksgiving Checklist

As we approach the Thanksgiving holidays, this check list reigns from a previous November 2010 post. Though unrelated to design, landscape thoughts, garden chores or anything even close to the outdoors, as we enter into this season of gratitude, this checklist deserves a reprint, especially with all that dwells heavy in the world. It helps to stay focused on what’s important. To add a +one to the list, here's one of my own. Always make time for what you love. Then the last on this list will surely be yours. 

 

Always make time for what you love...

Curiosity leads to creativity.
Trust your positive instincts.
Faith is always stronger than failure.
Success without conflict is unrealistic.
Never let a problem become an excuse.
Always look at what you have left, not at what you have lost.
Don’t miss the best things in life.
You will never win if you never begin.
Fix the problem, not the blame.
Share the credit.
When the going gets tough – laugh.
Never make an irreversible decision in a down time.
Treasure time like gold.

For those of you who might be missing the daily posts, it's been a conscious decision to do more of what I love. So some other things that I love to do, well, it's been chopping into that morning time once solely devoted to a daily post. And although being curious and creative is something I hope to never lose, letting social media drive the boat was not where I wanted to go anymore. I don't want to miss the best things in life. Treasure time like gold.

© All Images – Property of Bilowz Associates Inc.   

If you like this blog, check in for your daily share's worth of garden inspiration, landscape architecture and design tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architects/Landscape Design/serving Massachusetts and New England.)

 

Nature Advice

I applaud the decision of REI, the Seattle-based outdoor recreation and sporting goods store, to close on Black Friday to  #OptOutside. It’s about a company living their philosophy rather than just touting a catchy tagline. 

That's an important point for our own business as we try to live rather than just talk about our own company philosophy as it relates to landscape design. For anyone who follows us, yes, you may be noticing a shortage of garden, design, and inspirational daily blog posts this past year.  Part of that reason is catching the morning sunrise rather than opting to write daily advice. #OptOutside became a priority in my own life - living rather than just talking the talk now gets the best of my time.

Catching the morning light on an early morning bike ride.

Opposite side - the sunrise light.

Fall foliage in the morning light.

With so many New Englanders traumatized by the past two winters, every single perfect outdoor moment will soon be lost to the winter months. Want to do something worthwhile? Pledge to #OptOutside. For us, it’s about living a philosophy rather than just touting a tagline. Getting outside, being connected to the earth and nature, if it's part of your business model,it should be more than words, it should be part of your everyday life. 

I challenge everyone in the green industry, especially landscape architectural firms to take the pledge and make everyday room for #OptOutside. Being connected to nature should be inherent to each design.  

© All Images – Property of Bilowz Associates Inc.      

    

If you like this blog, check in for your daily share's worth of garden inspiration, landscape architecture and design tips; always original, not cookie cutter and copied. Just like our design work, we strive for unique! We invite you to contact Bilowz Associates, Inc., or to browse our portfolios. Like our Facebook follow on Twitter or subscribe to the blog to receive posts daily via email or a feed. You can follow with visuals on Pinterest and find us on LinkedIn and Houzz, too.  And you can also find us back on our Google+ Business Page. (Landscape architects/Landscape Design/serving Massachusetts and New England.)