Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces A look at the design style of Jan Johnsen

Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces

by Nina A. Koziol

How do you shape a residential client’s landscape so that it’s both beautiful and serene, a place that uplifts them, and that is profitable for you? Landscape designer Jan Johnsen of Johnsen Landscapes & Pools in Mt. Kisco, New York, offered a master class at this year’s iLandscape to address those ideas.

“Our mission is to transform properties into outstanding outdoor settings that are truly enjoyable,” said Johnsen, who has 45 Jan Johnsen years of experience in landscape design and build and runs the company with her husband. “My aim is that you don’t know the project was ‘designed.’ That’s the hardest of all to do.”

When Johnsen was teaching, she said students would often ask, ‘what are the rules?’ “They wanted to know the rules, but I don’t call them that — they are design basics. [Landscapers] talk about rules for rain gardens, native plant gardens, pollinator gardens, and more, but we sometimes forget that we have to make them beautiful. I don’t have a list of rules — I think of them as design basics.”

The students’ questions led her to write Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces, (Countryman Press, 2019). The book has 135 design ideas, a blend of large concepts and small details. Her presentation was based on the book.

“Her talk was very inspiring,” said Allie Corbett of Clarence Davids in Matteson. Rachelle Frosch, horticulturist at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle, also attended the session. “I wanted some fresh ideas,” Frosch said. “It was a fun one to attend — she’s very personable and approachable.” Here are some features Johnsen discussed. The Mystery of the Unseen

“A half-hidden vista encourages people to explore a space because the mystery of the unseen is quite tantalizing,” Johnsen said. “If you see only a partial view of a landscape, you will invariably move forward to see what is ahead.” To make a small outdoor space more interesting or appear larger, you can use an ancient Japanese design technique known as miegakure or ‘hide and reveal,’ she explained. “This entails partially obscuring a view or features in a garden to create an illusion of distance.”

Gates

A unique metal gateway makes the entry into a garden special. “Right from the beginning, you know you are entering another world. So why not go on a gate hunt to find something distinctive for your client? It’s the power of the portal. Gates and arches add to the drama of the space. A gate stops the eye, making a small space larger.”

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Graceful Sweep of a Curve

The sweep of a curve lends a gracious air to a landscape. “Your eye cannot help but follow it around,” Johnsen said. “By laying out a plant bed or even a walkway in a strong, playful line, you invite people to explore. And a curved flower bed combines color and shape to make a garden more enticing.”

The Long View

“Long, straight views inexorably lead the eye and you cannot help but follow its line to the end. Therefore, grab the lengthiest straight line you can in an outdoor space and use it to its best advantage. A long view may involve looking diagonally across the space or down a slope.”

Standing Stones

Don’t overlook boulders as potential features of interest. “They can make a great theme.” Although Midwestern gardens rarely have the types of boulders found on the East Coast, Johnsen suggests using a few as accent pieces in or around a patio or placed in a border. Movable Chairs

“The flexibility of lightweight, moveable furniture makes an outdoor setting more user friendly.” Johnsen notes that public gardens are starting to use lightweight metal chairs so patrons can arrange the furniture however they want.

Pots and Urns

“When the plants are grown and the beds are filled, that is when you can place a large pot of flowers within that bed. The contrast of flowers above the foliage makes quite a lovely sight.” She is fond of using tropicallooking plants, such as cannas and caladium in containers as well as contrasting vivid colors. But, for some clients she’ll feature containers with plants of one color—all white or all red, for example. “You cannot go wrong when you combine flowers and foliage that are in the same color family.”

Yin-Yang: Opposites Attract

“Yin yang in the garden is the contrast between hard and soft,” Johnsen said. This Asian philosophy describes two opposites that form a harmonious whole. “A yang element is hard, lighter colored, or vertical. A yin element is soft, darker, or rounded. The contrast of these two attributes is at the heart of great garden design.” (continued on page 26)

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Paths

“A circular shape can be a unifying connector for walks in a landscape, as I designed it here. The contrast of bricks and bluestone also adds interest. When you lay out a walk, think about a spot where you might want people to stop and enjoy a view.”

Seasonal Color

Like many designers, Johnsen touts the virtues of offering clients the option of adding spring flowering bulbs, annuals for summer and fall, and containers created with winter interest. Alliums and tulips grace this border in early May, to be followed by annuals. One of her favorite autumn combinations is Bergenia ‘Winter Glow’ with amsonia. “What a display that is in the fall,” she says. Offer clients the option of adding spring, summer, and fall color around their patios or in their containers.

Pollinator Plants & Theme Gardens

Johnsen loves gardens with a theme, such as moon gardens, that are filled with white, silver, and gray plants, meant to stand out at dusk. “I do moonlight gardens and love Hakuro Nishiki willow. Prune it every two weeks and it stays white.” Native plant gardens, butterfly gardens, rain gardens, and pollinator gardens are other popular theme plantings. “Everyone should be putting a pollinator garden in,” Johnsen said. “Many theme gardens are designed to benefit the environment — what better reason is there than this to offer your clients a theme garden?” (continued on page 28)

(continued from page 26) Sculpture

“Sometimes a garden needs a vertical punch to add some drama,” Johnsen said. “It’s an exclamation point that’s needed to jazz things up.” She created a vertical accent with two trellis posts that she painted fire engine red. “They add a dynamic spark in this outdoor sitting room.” That vertical accent need not be a sculpture. It could be a group of stones, or an obelisk, a tuteur, a tall pot or urn, or a columnar plant.

Advice for Landscapers

Johnsen also peppered her talk with cautions especially for those new to the industry. “There are many common mistakes — overpromising and setting unrealistic expectations or underselling. If you set too high expectations and don’t meet them, you fail. Set the bar lower and when it comes out beautiful, everyone’s happy.” This can encourage repeat business as the homeowner phases in additional projects.

One of Johnsen’s biggest beefs is not paying attention to soil or maintenance when starting the project. “We’ve got it all backwards. Some [designers] pick out the plants with a lot of care, but once they’re in the ground, there’s no thought to the maintenance.” Explain the importance of soil-testing and ongoing maintenance to protect your client’s investment.

Johnsen laments that, for many years, landscapers were undervalued. “That’s changing. People are starting to under- stand how important it is — and it’s vital. We’re coming into an era where landscape construction is coming into its own. Before, it was about making the grounds look ‘pretty.’ Clients are becoming more sophisticated.” Those ideas can be reflected in your firm’s marketing and social media tools.

Johnsen works with a home builder in New York and suggested that attendees hook up with local builders. “He realizes he can sell a home much faster with our landscape services.” Connect with local real estate offices as well to offer curb appeal landscaping services that can help update tired foundation plantings and get potential buyers in the door.

“I loved her talk,” said Nate Bishop of Everetts Landscape Management in Grand Rapids, Michigan. “I’m focusing on urban landscape development and restaurants. A lot of the design that she talked about was really good.”

See more of Johnsen’s work: https://johnsenlandscapes.com