 Would your kids rather spend a couple of hours watching TV or go outside and play? If the latter, hooray, you are one of the few! As a landscape architect, I hope to encourage kids and their families to spend more time outdoors and enjoy nature. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be outside and explore nature every day? Well, that’s easier said than done. For people living in metropolitan areas, parks and open space may be difficult to get to, or may not be safe to enter. That’s why it’s essential to promote and provide educational landscapes at our schools and neighborhoods. Thank goodness, we have the opportunity to help. I’m excited to announce that BauerCombs Landscape Architects is currently working on an interactive sensory trail for kids and families in Snoqualmie Valley. The sensory trail will also be an excellent resource for children with learning disabilities. Please re-visit our blog in late fall 2018 for updates. If you’re not quite sure what a sensory trail is, it’s a trail with a series of experiences that engage the five senses while interacting with the outdoors. Sweet! I’m just giddy about sensory trails and can’t wait to lead the first field trip.  If you, your school, or local parks district need help creating a sensory trail or educational landscape, I would love to chat. Give me, Susan, a call at BauerCombs (425) 496-7772, and I’ll walk you through the steps. To get the ball rolling, here are a few key concepts to keep in mind:
Here are a few more related blogs on our website that you may be interested in:
Add Outdoor Musical Instruments to your Community Park Four Simple Design Tips for Kid-Friendly Gardens Awakening Outdoor Spaces through Sensory Design About BauerCombs BauerCombs Landscape Architects serves the greater Puget Sound, Seattle, Eastside, and Cle Elum areas. We specialize in designing community parks and trails, senior living landscapes, and private estates. As a Northwest leader in sensory landscape design, our captivating landscapes bring refreshing life to outdoor spaces through the artistic balance of sight, color, scent, touch, taste, and sound. We are excited to say that our landscape work has been published in several magazines and continues to grow in reputation for creating healthy outdoor living environments for people and communities. Author: Susan Combs Bauer, Landscape Architect, Copyright © 2018 BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. www.bauercombs.com (425) 496-7772
A fun day judging ‘Arts in the Garden’ hosted by Bellevue Botanical Gardens. The above photo is our landscape architect, Susan Combs Bauer, with her pal Ciscoe Morris, gardener and horticulturist guru extraordinaire. In addition to judging beautiful artworks from local northwest artisans, the gardens, woodland paths, and hydrangeas were amazing! Over 30 artist displayed outdoor garden treasures for sale throughout the botanical gardens. The event also featured local musicians (Joe Fina Four, The Monroe Tiny Jazz Orchestra, Cascade Flute Circle, Sammamish Youth Chamber Orchestra, and Ca Gaze) providing visitors with entertaining music. For those of you not familiar with the Bellevue Botanical Garden, it is a well-loved public garden located at 12001 Main Street in Bellevue, WA. The fifty-three-acre garden opened in 1992 and has beautiful grounds and meandering trails through a woodland backdrop. The Botanical Garden is also well known for its educational seminars in horticulture and good gardening practices. The Top 5 Picks Choosing from over 30 incredibly talented artists is undoubtedly a difficult task! Every artist's works were intriguing and skillfully creative. But without further ado, here are the top five.  #5 Metal leaf and glass ball garden stake. Winfield Designs, Whidbey Island. Johnathan and Jandellyn Ward.  #4 Outdoor ceramic garden art. Madrugada Pottery, Ellensburg. Elizabeth Lee.  #3 Handblown glass garden art. Jesse Kelly Glass, Seattle. Jesse Kelly.  #2 Steel garden sculpture. Bob Prowda, Preston.  #1 Drum roll please, the top favorite: Copper and glass garden sprinkler. Hoppy’s Garden Art, Bothell. Steve Hopkins.  Close up of #1. This beautiful art piece is best shown in action. My video didn’t do it justice, so here is an excellent video created by Steve Hopkins (see below). All in all, a fun day at Arts in the Garden! I encourage you all to attend the August event next year. And if you’re lucky, the famous Cisco Morris will be there giving garden tours; he indeed is the ultimate #1 pick for the entire event!
About BauerCombs BauerCombs Landscape Architects serves the greater Puget Sound, Seattle, and Eastside areas. We specialize in luxury landscapes for private residences, resorts, and senior living campuses. As a Northwest leader in sensory landscape design, our captivating landscapes bring refreshing life to outdoor spaces through the artistic balance of sight, color, scent, touch, taste, and sound. We are excited to say that our landscape work has been published in several magazines and continues to grow in reputation for creating healthy outdoor living environments for people and communities. Author: Susan Combs Bauer, Landscape Architect, Copyright © 2018 BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. www.bauercombs.com (425) 496-7772  Creating rhythm in outdoor spaces, gardens, and landscapes is all about repetition, patterns, and movement. Dancing to the beat of a drum is one way to describe the experience of landscape rhythm. In design, it is not necessarily the choices in materials or features, but rather how they relate to one another in a rhythmic pattern.
Rhythm affects how fast you move both physically and visually. You may meander from side to side along a pathway, stop to pause, or be visually taken to a focal point far in the distance. Repetition is the most effective way to create rhythm in a landscape. It may be as simple as lining a driveway with evenly spaced trees or using the same colors, materials, or textures. Repeating similar elements helps to create a visual rhythm that leads you through a garden from one element to the next. One favorite way to create rhythm is with large boulders and rock columns. Placing repeating clusters within the landscape or along a pathway creates a familiar rhythm and beat. Patterns also generate a sense of rhythm. The most pleasing patterns are found naturally in landscapes such as curves, circles, and spirals. Repeating the same patterns throughout a garden or landscape provides a common thread and rhythmic unity. Keeping a beat, whether fast, slow, or intermittent pause can have a profound influence on the success of your outdoor space, garden, or overall landscape. When creating your design just remember to dance to the beat of your own drum! About Our Firm BauerCombs Landscape Architects serves the greater Puget Sound, Seattle, and Eastside areas. We specialize in luxury landscapes for private residences, resorts, and senior living campuses. As a Northwest leader in sensory landscape design, our captivating landscapes bring refreshing life to outdoor spaces through the artistic balance of sight, color, scent, touch, taste, and sound. We are excited to say that our landscape work has been published in several magazines and continues to grow in reputation for creating healthy outdoor living environments for people and communities. Author: Susan Combs Bauer, Landscape Architect, Copyright © 2018 BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. www.bauercombs.com (425) 496-7772  “Keep it simple and neat with plenty of red flowers” that is what my mother tells me! That’s a good place to start, but what does Aging In Place really mean?
Aging In Place is a term used when a homeowner’s goal is to live in their home well into their golden years. For outdoor spaces, it means easy accessibility, low maintenance, eco-friendly, and maintaining a well-rounded and colorful life outdoors. For many baby boomers, the thought of downsizing is a re-occurring thought. If you are anticipating a move in the near future, here’s a short checklist to keep in your back pocket:
When getting close to or already in retirement years, baby boomers tend to favor the practical side of outdoor living and their landscapes. A sensible place to start is to reduce the size or eliminate your lawn. Ground covers can make a beautiful carpet without the need for mowing and constant maintenance. My favorite online source for lawn replacement ground covers is at https://www.stepables.com/. Have fun; there is a wealth of information on that website. When selecting new plants or swapping out the old, choose native plants; you’ll be amazed at the selections and opportunities for seasonal color. If you enjoy flower gardens, incorporate raised garden beds, containers, or hanging baskets. When to Start Planning? If aging in place with ease is your goal, then now is the time to start. Take an inventory of your outdoor landscape environment and envision a practical and more enjoyable lifestyle in 10, 20, or 30 years. The essential conveniences for your garden are automatic irrigation with moisture sensors and LED outdoor lighting. Hands down, it will make your outdoor life much simpler and more enjoyable! Things to Inventory and Evaluate in Your Landscape
When creating your Aging In Place landscape and garden, just remember what my mother says, “keep it simple and neat with plenty of red flowers!” BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. specializes in senior living landscapes and northwest sensory gardens. We know and understand the importance of connecting people with nature to inspire joyful outlooks and healthy social lifestyles. Author: Susan Combs Bauer, Landscape Architect, Copyright © 2018 BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. www.bauercombs.com (425) 496-7772
When you are ready to start planting, just remember: Orange goes with blue; Purple goes with yellow; and Red goes with green. Orange and Blue Purple and Yellow Red and Green The most dramatic effect in a garden is often created with only a few colors. When incorporating complementary colors, it's important to keep it simple. Too many colors may create sensory overload! But not to worry, the most important element is to have fun! Experiment with a few colors to see what makes you smile.
Red and Green
Purple and Yellow
Orange and Blue
Author: Susan Combs Bauer, Landscape Architect, Copyright © 2018 BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. www.bauercombs.com (425) 496-7772  Image provided by Sonance If you spend a lot of time outdoors, love music, or want to mask city noise with nature sounds, an all-weather audio system may be just what you need. Audio speakers are becoming more and more attractive and fit beautifully in outdoor environments. You can choose speakers that blend into the landscape and even look like rocks or small boulders, but beware the quality of the sound varies greatly among manufacturers. If you are looking for an outdoor audio system with wi-fi, keep in mind the best systems still require a power source near the speakers for quality sound and low maintenance. For most circumstances, I do not recommend battery operated speakers for outdoor installations.  Image provided by Sonance In addition to personal enjoyment, outdoor audio is a useful tool to help influence our mood. Music can create an uplifting, calming, energizing, or nostalgic response. My favorite experience was seeing the delight of memory care patients as they listened to Frank Sinatra in an assisted living courtyard that I designed. Over last decade, residential outdoor audio systems have made many improvements such as smaller speakers and wi-fi capabilities. Did you know you can control individual audio zones with your smartphone, change volume, pause, search, and much more? There are several excellent systems to choose from, and the best selection will depend on the music source you use (such as Apple streaming, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Spotify, CDs, etc.). One of the most critical factors for a great outdoor audio system is quality and sound. The higher quality sound systems will have multiple speakers along with a subwoofer for each zone. I have found the essential design element to start with is to identify your zones and know your environment.  Define Your Zones
Begin by mapping out your landscape by activity. For instance, you will want a separate zone for your fire pit area, entertainment patio, bocce ball court, meditation garden, etc. The reason for this is that experience shows when you try to spread the sound out over a large outdoor area, the sound quality degrades rather quickly. Many homeowners are sensitive to sound drifting over that may bother the neighbors. By incorporating multiple zones, you can deliver quality sound to a smaller area where you want it. With higher quality sound, you can keep the volume down and provide a much more pleasant experience for your family and guests. Know Your Environment Here in the rainy Northwest, it is important to start out with a quality speaker. Know the difference between “weather-resistant” and “weather-proof” speakers. Weather-resistant speakers need to be sheltered from open areas exposed to rain, snow, and hot sun. Speakers placed near pools need to be enclosed and surrounding materials to withstand chlorine. Routine landscape maintenance around your new speakers and subwoofers could be a disaster. Weed whackers are the worst! If you have a maintenance crew, please inform them of the new system and equipment locations. The audio-visual technology is changing at a rapid pace and advances seem to happen monthly. We have found best results is to make sure your landscape architect or contractor has partnered with a reputable sound engineer and a designer who has hands-on experience installing systems with proven references and testimonials. Here at BauerCombs we work with some of the best sound suppliers in the business and bring them into our projects. We know we can count on their years of experience and with happy customers to prove it. About BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. Serving the greater Puget Sound, Seattle, Eastside and Cle Elum areas, we specialize in custom resort-style luxury landscape designs and rejuvenating outdoor retreats. As a Northwest leader in sensory landscape design, our captivating landscapes bring refreshing life to outdoor spaces through the artistic balance of sight, color, scent, touch, taste, and sound. With a deep appreciation for nature, our focus is to blend eco-friendly landscape design practices and materials into each landscaping design project. We are excited to say that our landscape work has been published in several magazines and continues to grow in reputation for creating healthy outdoor living environments for people and communities. Based in North Bend, we have brought the joy of outdoor environments to homes and local communities in western Washington and across the United States. Author: Susan Combs Bauer, Landscape Architect, Copyright © 2018 BauerCombs & Associates, Inc. Landscape Architects www.bauercombs.com (425) 496-7772 |
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