Most homeowners fail to appreciate that they are paying up to half of their property taxes on land that may get looked at, but rarely gets used. Now, more than ever, people would like to be spending more time outdoors with their family and friends. But they typically have no incentive that draws them out. The benefits of outdoor living with respect to physical health, social bonding, and mental well-being are well documented. Collectively, they were a strong incentive behind why many of us moved to the suburbs in the first place. And yet, we rarely take advantage of them. We'd like to help you change that.
McMillan Garden Designs creates personal outdoor spaces that are unique, dynamic, and tailored to each individual client. Prior to design, we meet with the client to discuss goals, the site conditions, and the scope of a proposed concept. We then spend additional time familiarizing ourselves with the land in question. We are firm believers in the concept of Genius Loci, or “Genius of Place” that motivated great designers like Frederick Law Olmsted, and those who inspired him. Once we are satisfied, we draw one-of-a-kind master plans, and we manage all aspects of installation, to ensure that they are faithful to the original design concept. And we develop supportive personal relationships with our clients, which help us help them improve and enhance their outdoor spaces as they and their families grow, and their needs change.
What sets McMillan Garden Designs apart is our extensive plant knowledge. There is no designer working regularly in the Greenwich area who is as comfortable working with so comprehensive a plant palate. We are also firm believers in the idea that the best plant is always a healthy plant -and that understanding the specific conditions of each unique site dictates what will and won’t thrive there. We design and install paths, patios, and driveways, but we appreciate that it is ultimately the plants that matter. A good planting design can save, soften, and mitigate a bad hardscaping mistake. Even the best hardscaping cannot repay the favor for unhealthy or inappropriate plants.
McMillan Gardens pays particular attention to the fact that there are twelve, not six, months in the year. We want you outside -enjoying a morning coffee, or dinner with your guest or family. We want you walking through your garden alone, reading a book in the sun, meditating, exercising or practicing yoga. We want you trying your own hand and some light gardening -or something more ambitious. We want you playing with your kids, or introducing them to nature through the visit of a butterfly or hummingbird. With more people working from home, many of our clients have come to appreciate the fact that a bit of fresh air, and a change of perspective, can be very productive. Accordingly, our gardens tend to feature plants with multi-season interest: Perennials, shrubs, and trees that flower at different times (or continuously) throughout the season, rather than all at once. Ones that have excellent fall color. Ones that attract and support non-migratory songbirds in the wintertime. The best designed gardens are works of art that exist in four dimensions, not three.
Hiring a designer from a local nursery to do design work is almost always a conflict of interest. Nurseries are, first and foremost, in the business of selling plants. Preferably the ones that they already have in stock. We can and do drive for hours to look for the perfect tree. Your nursery has a sign for employees (hanging out of the public eye) that says "Sell what's in the yard today" -rather than waste time finding the ideal plant for your unique property. Hiring a landscape contractor to plant something can be a similarly unsatisfactory choice. Landscape contractors have no background in design at all. They are almost entirely in the business of mowing lawns, blowing leaves, and spreading fertilizer. They very rarely plant anything. We often find ourselves being asked to correct that mistakes that others have made: Costly errors of the wrong plants, the wrong trees, the wrong layout and defective hardscaping. Poor design work.
McMillan Garden Designs designs and installs a wide range of outdoor spaces, from extensive perennial gardens, orchards and hedges to ponds, fountains and bridges, or walkways, patios and driveways. We advise and construct on furniture, and containers, paint colors, textures, art installations and lighting. Our objective is to take to overlook no detail. Our mantra is that a well-designed outdoor space should always look like it happened "Perfectly by Accident." We are fully insured and licensed, but we operate as a bare-bones consulting and design/build firm, which makes our pricing schedule is extremely competitive –typically significantly less than our competitors. We understand that "if you can dig a hole, you can plant something," and we can and do take projects in Greenwich and elsewhere throughout all four seasons.