Concept design by BellCode · a sample of what we build, not a real company · See what we build
Verdant Atelier Book a site walk
Low sun behind trees over a mown lawn, deep planted borders of grasses and perennials, and a stone path curving away to the right
Garden design and build, Buffalo NY

Every garden here
was drawn first.

We measure the site, draw the plan to scale, and build what is on the paper. You see the whole garden, and the whole cost, before anything is dug.

Book a site walk Open a plan
ProjectResidential garden, Western New York
SheetL-1 Planting plan
Scale1/8 in = 1 ft
StudioVerdant Atelier, est. 2009
Scroll

A garden is a drawing before it is a garden. Ours are drawn to scale and priced line by line, so the only surprise is how good it looks in July.

Licensed and insured in New York State
What we build

What ends up on the plan

One studio draws it and one crew builds it, and the person who drew the sheet is on site the day the stone goes down.

Most people come to us with a slope, a blank rectangle, or a garden that someone else planted twenty years ago and nobody has edited since.

A clipped hornbeam hedge under a multi-stem tree, with a low bank of fountain grass in flower along the front

Garden design

A measured survey, a drawn plan, a planting palette and a build cost, all of it settled before a shovel comes off the truck.

Curved dry-laid stone retaining walls stepping down a hillside in evening light, planted with lavender, catmint and ornamental grasses

Stone, steps and terraces

Dry-laid walls, bluestone landings, gravel paths, and the low-voltage lighting that makes all of it usable after eight in the evening.

Frost on seed heads, faded perennials and pale miscanthus grass standing in front of a dark evergreen on a winter morning

Seasonal care

A spring cutback, editing visits once a month from May to September, and a November tidy that leaves the grasses standing for winter.

The plan

Three gardens, drawn at the same scale

Three sheets out of the studio drawer. Turn the drawing layers on and off the way we do while we work. Every figure here is a planning range, never a quote.

The Hillside Retreat

Private residence, Amherst NY

A back lawn that fell six feet from the fence to the patio, cut into three dry-laid terraces with a run of steps down the middle and a water runnel along the lowest wall.

Ballpark, design and build
approx 1,400 sq ft × $12 to $16 per sq ft= $16,800 to $22,400

Studio planning ranges only. A real number follows a site walk and a drawn plan.

Overhead planting plan for the selected garden, with drawing layers turned on and off PLANTING PLAN, THE HILLSIDE RETREAT SCALE 1/8 IN = 1 FT · SHEET L-1 N 010 FT HOUSE EXISTING GRADE, FALL 1 IN 6 EXG SUGAR MAPLE, RETAIN BLUESTONE TERRACE LAWN GRAVEL GARDEN STEPS 56 FT ACROSS CAL x14 HYD x9 SAL x22 HEU x16 12V CABLE RUN HOUSE EXISTING CONCRETE SLAB, LIFTED AND REMOVED EXG TURF, LIFTED AND COMPOSTED WALL, 6 FT CEDAR ON POSTS BLUESTONE, SAWN EDGE BASIN DOOR 24 FT BET, MULTI-STEM HEU x18 ITE x7 WALL WASH, 12V HOUSE EXG HEDGEROW, THINNED STONE LANDING MOWN PATH, 4 FT WIDE CAL x40, DRIFT AMS x24 SES x30, SHADED EDGE PATH LIGHTS, 3 ON ONE RUN
Drawing layers

Illustrated planning study drawn at 1/8 inch to the foot. Existing shows the site the way we found it. Plant keys are set out in full below.

Planting palette

The plants behind the keys on the plan

Eight we keep coming back to in Western New York. Every one is hardy here without protection, and every one has to do something for more than two weeks of the year.

KeyPlantWhere it goesWhen it earns its keep
CALCalamagrostis x acutifloraFeather reed grass

The upright note along wall tops and the back of every sunny bed.

Vertical from early July, and still standing over snow in February.

SALSalvia nemorosaMeadow sage

Front edge of the sunny beds, in runs of at least nine.

Violet spikes in June, then again in late August if we cut it back.

HYDHydrangea paniculataPanicle hydrangea

Massed where a bed meets the tree line and the light drops off.

Lime in July, dusty rose by late September, dried heads all winter.

AMSAmsonia hubrichtiiBlue star

The joint between a planted drift and open lawn.

Pale blue in May, then the best gold in the garden in October.

ITEItea virginicaVirginia sweetspire

Wet corners, downspout outfalls and the low end of a grade.

White tassels in June and deep garnet leaves that hang on past Thanksgiving.

BETBetula nigraRiver birch, multi-stem

One per garden, sited so it reads from the kitchen window.

Peeling bark, which is the only thing worth looking at in February.

SESSesleria autumnalisAutumn moor grass

Under trees and along shaded edges where turf gives up.

Bright green when everything else is tired, and it stays green.

HEUHeuchera villosaHairy alumroot

Shade edging, tucked against stone where it holds the line.

Cream spires in September, and leaves that sit under snow and come back.

We plant in odd numbers and in drifts, never one of everything. A plan with thirty species on it is a collection, and a collection is a lot of work to keep looking calm.

Seasonal care

What we do, and the months we do it in

The care calendar goes out with the drawings, so you know what is coming, who is coming, and when the garden gets left alone.

JFMAMJJASOND Cut back and edge the bedsMarch into April Compost, then mulchApril Editing visit, one a monthMay to September Irrigation check and adjustJune to August Divide and move what outgrew its spotSeptember into October Bulbs in, hoses outOctober into November
A close, low view across a sharply mown lawn to a clipped planted edge
Lawn is the quietest thing on a plan, so we keep it small and keep the edge cut.
December to February, we stay off it.

The grasses and seed heads are the winter garden, and the birds work through them until the March cutback. Anyone who tidies a garden in November is tidying it for nobody.

How a project runs

From the first walk to the first winter

About ninety minutes

The site walk

We measure, photograph, and dig one hole to find out what the soil is actually made of.

Two to three weeks

The drawing

A scaled plan, a planting list and a line-by-line price. Two rounds of changes are in the fee.

Two to six weeks

The build

Our own crew, one project at a time, and the person who drew it on site while stone is going in.

The first year

Settling in

We come back through all four seasons and edit. Some plants get moved. That is normal, and it is included.

The studio

A small studio, on purpose

Two designers, one build crew, and about eleven gardens a year.

We take on what we can draw properly and stand behind, which is fewer projects than we get asked for. Every plan is drawn by the person who walked the site, and that person is there when the first stone lands.

Most of what we plant is native or long adapted to Western New York, chosen because it will still look composed in the fourth year with less water and less fuss than it needed in the first.

Start a project
Wide stone steps climbing between planted banks toward a timber pergola, with the sun setting behind it
“
★★★★★
They didn't just plant a garden. They understood how we wanted to live outside, and gave us a space we use from April to October.
The Harrisons · The Hillside Retreat, Amherst NY
A gravel path curving through planted borders at dusk, with one low light picking out a shrub at the edge
Site walks

Walk your garden with us

A site walk costs nothing and takes about ninety minutes. You get our read on the space and a rough range, and no plan gets drawn until you ask for one.

Call (716) 555-0188Open a plan
Call (716) 555-0188