Pottering Around

Flower cuttings - Home and Garden Style.

Rose by Nick Knight

A client has asked us to design and install a cutting garden in their backyard. This is very exciting and something we’ve been interested in incorporating into a landscape design. Even though our gardens always include plenty of perennials and annuals which can provide beautiful flowers for arrangements, having a dedicated area just for creatively useful flowers and vegetables is a lovely feature.

It's also a great opportunity to explore the craft of flower arranging!

Flower Decorator Constance Spry

As with most forms of arts and crafts, the degree of skill and mastery of floral arrangement varies from the casual hobbyist to the legendary artists. This, together with the natural beauty of even a single bloom, makes the genre interesting. You don’t have to be a professional to stroll into your yard and snip some ephemeral decor for your home.

Garden design becomes a contact sport at Chicago Flower Show.

Sporting feature show garden

The 2011 Chicago Flower & Garden Show is now on. As designers, we always look forward to the event because not only is it a chance to see lovely landscaping displays and ideas, it’s also a sure harbinger of spring. There is one thing however that always disappoints us about the indoor flower show, which is how difficult it is to photograph the designs in a way that really does them justice! We like to think we are okay photographers but haven’t quite figured out the art of shooting the show. So this probably means the only way to take in the design work and features in their full glory is to go see them all in person!

This year’s theme is The Sport of Gardening and we have a quick peek at some of what you'll find that make this event a great day out.

The Tropics, Oak Park, Illinois

The Oak Park Conservatory

This week we made the fifteen minute journey to the warmer climates of The Oak Park Conservatory. Even though we live near by and do a lot of work in the area, this was our first visit. Usually we are either too rushed to take in local sites after meetings with Oak Park/River Forest homeowners to present designs and plans or just too exhausted to walk another inch after overseeing (and pitching in) on landscape construction projects in the area.

We are delighted to have finally discovered this glass gem along the Eisenhower and will be stopping back often.

Plenty of snapshots and stories from the trip follow ~

Finding inspired places under two feet of snow.

Swinging Bridge, Riverside, IL

Northern Illinois, what a place to be landscape garden designers. Winters are always longer than summer and this year it looks as though we will be getting bonus weeks of bitter cold and record snowfall. However, if weather was going to stop us it would have long ago and our new online journey has begun. We’ve ventured out, the first pictures are in the can and fingers have thawed out just enough to poke away at the keyboard.

We hope you join us on our journey to discover the very best in creative design, art, craft and style in our local areas. Everything will be experienced in real life and shared here online.

Finding inspiration is crucial in the work we do as professional designers. Yes there are infinite places on the web to view beautiful design but it’s no substitute for actually seeing, touching and experiencing the true objects or meeting the real people behind the work. This is what we plan to do.

Starting in Chicago’s western suburbs, Riverside, Illinois to be exact, but who knows where we might end up once the temperature climbs above 10 degrees! The main focus will be design for home and garden but we’re also looking forward to finding exceptionally creative and stylish people, places and businesses of all kinds.

This journal may be new but we’ve been pottering around for quite a while. We are Jamie and Marina Berger and have operated a landscape garden design studio called Pottering Around for 8 years come this spring. Our landscape studio website has just been spruced up. Please have a look around and stop back here this Thursday for a wintery look at Riverside.

Currently doing some winter construction.

Pottering Around is a design studio based in Chicago's western suburbs. We specialize in landscape garden design and construction. It is no secret that winter in northern Illinois can be a brutal time. This is especially true in the green industry. To help us battle winter our company has also moved into other creative areas including graphic and web design.

We are currently updating this company website and will soon be launching an entirely new online environment. Although this blog is now live it is still currently being built. If you happened to stumble upon it in this current state please stop back soon when we hope it will be a more hospitable and interesting place to put up your feet and relax a few minutes.

Happy New Year! Please phone 708-447-6359 with inquiries or view our portfolio on our flickr photo site.