Photo Shoot

[JimLewis]

We installed this landscape a few weeks back. Today I went back to add another light fixture and also snapped some night time photos. I think we probably overdid it a little on the pathway lights. You can see that in the last two photos. But the customer loved the work. I was happy with it. Always room for improvement though, I know......

All of the light fixtures were Kichler Design Pro LED except for the Pagoda. The pagoda was a custom job. We ran wire through it and installed those small bi-pin sockets with Brilliance drop-in LED path lights inside each level.

By the way, I didn't alter the color temperature at all in Photoshop. These photos are just how my camera took them.

Well, enjoy....criticize....whatever....

[Richie@]

Originally Posted by JimLewis

We installed this landscape a few weeks back. Today I went back to add another light fixture and also snapped some night time photos. I think we probably overdid it a little on the pathway lights. You can see that in the last two photos. But the customer loved the work. I was happy with it. Always room for improvement though, I know......

All of the light fixtures were Kichler Design Pro LED except for the Pagoda. The pagoda was a custom job. We ran wire through it and installed those small bi-pin sockets with Brilliance drop-in LED path lights inside each level.

By the way, I didn't alter the color temperature at all in Photoshop. These photos are just how my camera took them.

Well, enjoy....criticize....whatever....

Nice job fitting all the Landscaping in a small rear yard and the Lighting looks great.

[Lite4]

Cool, simple asian design. Looks very clean. Nice job.

[starry night]

Love the features: the bridge, bench, pagoda. Nice look, Jim. Probably too many path/area lights for me but if your customer is happy, then you should be happy, too.

[The Lighting Geek]

I agree, nice, simple and clean. Nice lighting.

[steveparrott]

Awesome work Jim - especially like what you did with the pagoda.

[larryinalabama]

Looks great as usual.

Just curious why the mulch mixed with gavel,,,most Japenese garden would have coarse sand that could be raked accasionally?

[JimLewis]

The designer chose all of the textures. I can't comment on exactly what she was thinking. But I can add some insight that might help.

First of all, dark mulch (dark hemlock barkdust) is very common around here. The most common way to fill planting beds. It goes with what the client has around the rest of their property. So I guess the use of this ties into the NW style of landscaping and the rest of the property.

Second, I think the general concept was to use a lot of different textures, each in their own area. We have 3 different varieties of river rock, some fine gravel, and the barkdust - each lending a different texture and defining a different area. So I guess the barkdust was just part of that plan of using different textures.

Third, sand doesn't do well in the NW. It gets very messy looking very quickly. Especially in this case, the neighbor has several big fir trees dropping needles regularly. In fact, we had to do a 2-hr. clean-up right before this photo shoot because so many needles had fallen between time we had finished the job and the time we took these photos (2 weeks). It's much easier to clean up needles from barkdust. Or at least we're used to doing that anyway. So our workers are fairly efficient at it. Trying to keep sand looking perfect - the way you see in real Japanese Gardens - would have been a logistical nightmare. And the barkdust at least blends in with the needles well enough that you wouldn't need to be constantly cleaning it, like you would with sand. Even without the needles, though, sand just doesn't stay looking nice here. I installed a nice little sandy beach in my cousin's back yard a few years back, as we were doing more of a tropical look in his yard. Palm trees, bananas, lots of flowering plants, etc. And we ended up removing the blond colored sandy beach a year or two later because it was impossible to keep it looking neat and clean. It always looked dirty. Sand, for the most part, isn't used in landscaping much at all up here.

So those are probably the reasons we didn't go with sand and used mulch instead. It's not 100% a real Japanese garden. It's the NW version of that, I guess.

[knox gsl]

Glad to see some more of your work, it looks great.

[larryinalabama]

Looks real nice and thanks for the post. The Pacific NW. is a beautiful place. I visited Seattle in July and was utterly amazed to see pansies thriving, wouldnt happen here in Bama.