Welcome to the homepage for the website of JJ Sweeney, Landscape Designer. I specialize in creating landscapes that are lower maintenance, beautiful year 'round, and incorporate Pacific Northwest native plants with site-appropriate non-natives. I also specialize in helping clients determine what it is that they need and want, and then helping them to achieve it.

On each page you will find links to the other pages that further describe the areas in which I specialize, including some photos. Below you will find additional information, plus links to other websites that you may find valuable. If you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation, please feel free to email me using the link at the bottom of each page. Thank you for visiting my site, and enjoy!

WHY HIRE A LANDSCAPE DESIGNER?

A custom-designed landscape can: *help prevent costly mistakes and save time, energy, and money *provide a blueprint that can be referred to over time if the installation must be done in stages *increase property value (by as much as 10%) and create a positive first impression *provide privacy, tranquility, and security, as well as a place to play, share and socialize *reduce heating and cooling costs *prevent erosion, conserve water, reduce pollutants, produce oxygen, and reduce noise levels *provide wildlife habitat *satisfy your aesthetic, functional, budgetary, time, energy, and spiritual needs

SERVICES PROVIDED ($75.00/hr, 2 hr minimum):

*Consultation Only: elicits your tastes, preferences, ideas, and goals; provides problem-solving, ideas, and recommendations; can identify existing plants and answer questions about plants, soil, light, water, organic gardening methods, composting, maintenance issues, etc.; provides resources, referrals, written information and complimentary items. *Consultation Plus: Consultation, plus organizing, printing up and fleshing out (adding ideas and suggestions) of all consultation notes/discussion for client's continuing use; selected plant lists; may include rough sketch if appropriate. *Single-Bed Renewal: Client-powered renovation of an existing prepared bed with Designer input. *On-Site Design: Client and Designer meet for an initial consultation; 2nd meeting Designer generates a rough plan and plant palette on-site and reviews with Client; subsequently Designer cleans up/tweaks design & provides plant list. Optional: Client & Designer go plant shopping together, Designer places plants, Client or Contractor plants. This only works for a relatively small space. *Plant Procurement: I will go to great lengths to get the right plant, can go to wholesale nurseries, have many resources, and can make appropriate substitutions if necessary *Plant Placement: can occur with or without a plan, for Do-it-Yourselfers or for a Contractor *Maintenance Schedules: a consultation about your existing landscape followed by a written schedule based on what needs to happen when, in YOUR landscape *Conceptual Plan: site analysis; before photos; accurately scaled basemap including existing features (structures, hardscaping, plants to be retained) and proposed new features and planting areas; presentation meeting before finalizing; design analysis which includes everything discussed at the initial consultation; plant lists; resources and information materials *General Plan: everything with the Conceptual Plan plus more specifics on plant placement, plant selection, and plant lists *Planting Plan: everything included with the Conceptual & General Plan plus full detail, most or all plants specifically identified, very specific plant lists, a purchasing list, and a post-receipt consultation *Oversight of all phases of installation, including communication with Contractors, plant procurement, and plant placement *Available for teaching and lecturing on several topics: Sustainable Landscaping Techniques, Lower Maintenance Landscaping, Landscaping for Year 'Round Beauty, Landscaping with Native Plants, Basics of Landscape Design, Organic Gardening, Naturescaping, Preparing the Soil, Water Issues, Seasonal Tasks, Best Plants for Specific Conditions, etc.

Hardy Plant Society	Berry Botanic Garden	Territorial Seed Co.

Autumn's glorious coat of colors... Golden fire through the looking glass The Birchbark Cherry is one of my favorite trees.  You can see why.  The rain of gold is gentle enough to just leave on the groundcover below, filtering through and eventually decomposing and feeding the soil.  And that beautiful bark is there all year!

bejeweled with late season flowers foliage and flowers brighten the day The foliage of the golden Hardy Fuchsia lights up shady spots nearly year’round while its flowers, beloved by hummingbirds, linger until December.  The chocolate Joe Pye Weed doesn’t even start to bloom until late Summer/early Fall, while the vigorous and sneaky Virginia Creeper beguiles you with her Autumn color.

is trimmed with graceful lines and feathers The wind whispers through the grass Ornamental grasses provide a delightful textural contrast while providing nearly year'round beauty.  Leave the old foliage and flowers up to provide Winter interest, the birds some nesting material, and to catch the glistening frost, then prune hard in late Winter/early Spring when they will immediately bounce back with new foliage; you'll hardly have any down time.  And the the way they flow with the breeze is lovely with a soothing sound.

and warms us through the darkening hours and signs of change come our way Evergreens with different foliage colors, different texures and shapes, bark, old flowerheads, seedpods and berries, subtle political signs (which need to be updated - should read "Obama/Biden"):  all of this helps to create an interesting and vibrant landscape.

Peace Container gardening is only limited by your imagination Anything can be grown in containers.  Even fish.  I'm no pond expert, but there are things you need to do to protect your fish over Winter - Hughes Water Gardens is a great resource for information and materials.  In these containers you see the lovely Euphorbia 'Tasmanian Devil' - a charming, low-maintenance and tidy evergreen, Lonicera nitida 'Silver Beauty' weaving it's way around and through the other plants, one of my other favorite evergreen shrubs - the lovely Loropetalem chinensis 'Razzleberri' (the newer 'Plum Delight' is an even better form of the red-foliaged Chinese WitchHazels) - and my favorite of the shrub Dogwoods, Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' that will retain its colorful bark through Winter while providing interest in the other three seasons as well.  And don't forget our little critter friends; it's more imperative to keep feeding them in the Winter than at any other time as they've grown dependent on us and that's the hardest time for them to find food and water.  I use an inexpensive birdbath heater that I got from Backyard Birds in my simple little birdbath when the weather threatens a freeze to keep water available.  My birds love me for it, for most folks forget and let their water sources freeze or drain and the birds need it in the Winter too.  I get more action in my simple little concrete birdbath in the snow and during ice storms than at any other time!

salamanderd@earthlink.net