Dirt Talk

Garden Designer Influences

Nobody gets far working all alone in the desert. You need sage pioneers to show you how brilliantly desert gardens can shine. For fifteen years, Scott Calhoun has been paying close attention to the work of three Phoenix-based designers. Besides his wife Deirdre, these three designers are his favorites and have greatly influenced his design philosophy and aesthetics.

Click a design name to view photos of the design work.

Steve Martino, who once told Scott that all he does are “weeds and walls,” is internationally recognized for his work with leaning and curving walls, water harvesting and desert plants. Scott thinks Steve is a genius and Steve likes Scott’s writing.

Carrie Nimmer, who is the queen of wildflowers, has a keen eye for residential landscapes and has inspired many homeowners to rip out their front yard grass and replace it with seating, hardscape, agaves and penstemons. Carrie, like Steve, is not shy about using color in her designs.

Christie Ten Eyck, works with lots of circle-shaped hardscapes that recall Native American art. Her work at the Desert Botanical Garden, especially her sunken spirals that harvest rainwater, are the most elegant use of rainwater Scott has ever seen. Her larger sunken spiral at Steele Indian School Park is equally breathtaking.

Charles Mann, the nomadic Santa Fe-based photographer, is the person who began photographing many of the great Arizona gardens back in the early 1990s. His desert-tuned eyes helped many to see desert plants in a new light. Charles has helped Scott learn to wait for the right time of day to make a photograph.

  
For a landscape design quote, or additional information, please contact us.