IAN ROBERTSON LTD

Description of Work: Detailed landscape plans for a yard surrounding a rustic house, surrounded by forest.

Description of Work: We had bought a 2-year-old house in a park-like setting, but it was completely unlandscaped -- hardly even any plantings around the foundation. We were just moving to Charlottesville after 17 years in London, England, so we were hoping to achieve English-looking plantings around the house. Ian looked at the architect's plan, and instantly suggested a small change to the layout which made the space work much better. The house sits on a hill, and the existing deck did not have access to the lawn below. We told Ian that we wanted to be able to get to the lawn, but we did not want a steep staircase; we wanted the deck to look as though it had grown organically out of the side of the hill. Also, we wanted there to be wheelchair access to the deck because there were steps at the front door so this would only be possible in the back. He took this odd selection of requests and produced a lovely graceful design that works both functionally and aesthetically. Then he surrounded the house with interesting plants and trees, which are now (7 years later) providing us with a rotation of flowering plants & trees throughout the year, set among foliage of interesting colors & textures. He also designed it to need reasonably little maintenance, for the amount of acreage involved, and to survive on our very shady lot despite the chronically soggy red Virginia clay. It was lovely when it was first installed, and has only grown more so with time. In fact, we have just engaged the firm further to create a hardscape in the one remaining corner of the property which we did not address seven years ago. I would never even THINK of using anyone else.