Piante Design

This office parking lot was bare bones when we were consulted and needed a little bit of life brought to it. Because it is a commercial property, the biggest concern was keeping it low maintenance. We proposed a more xeriscaped approach using mulhy grass, agave, clusia, sea grapes, and green island ficus , things that can tolerate low water and bright direct sun as there is very little shade. Washed shells instead of mulch compliments the planting scheme while also maintaining a lower maintenance landscape. The brilliant purple of the native muhly grasses really pops agains the greens and textural differences of the other plants. The course textured agave and sea grapes adds balance while still allowing the landscape to thrive under more challenging conditions.

Check out the last photo to see the difference of what it was before!

We love revisiting past Garden Design projects just to see how much everything has grown!
This beautiful contemporary home had a tired landscape that didn’t match the architecture or fit our client’s aesthetic. Our client’s wanted something more modern, low maintenance, and a place for the family to gather and enjoy time together outside. We proposed a paver patio courtyard with modern pavers and Mexican beach pebbles as a place to put a fire pit and seating. The courtyard is surrounded by soft muhly grass for both privacy and low maintenance landscape. The grassy areas are punctuated with agaves for textural contrast. As a final accent, L shaped planters were added in the corners to elevate cacti for more sculptural features and pay homage to the client’s Arizona roots.

Our ready to go planters are back! Hand crafted here in the studio, each one unique and meticulously arranged, representing the design element in our business. Which one is your favorite?

As we grow in our business, work in challenging, but rewarding projects, and succeed with things we never thought possible, we often think “How’d we get here?” Well, it all started with one man.
Today we are featuring the founder of Piante and creative director behind our Garden Design Services, Gary Li. With over 25 years of combined experience in design, Gary offers a unique approach shaped by his diverse background.
Gary’s expertise in design blossomed from his work in the floral industry, allowing him to bring a fresh perspective and a sharp eye for color, texture, and composition. His extensive education, including undergraduate and graduate degrees in Horticulture and Crop Science, as well as a Post-graduate Diploma in Garden Design from Inchbald School of Design in London, further elevates his skillset.
Today we thank you Gary, for inspiring us all and making people’s vision a reality; by bringing the love and creativity you’ve always wanted to share, right into their homes.

A garden that grows with us. This client’s garden has been one that has been with us from the beginning! Much of the garden’s structure had long been established, but we’ve come in and out throughout the years adding our signature touches like the wire trellises, framing areas with intentional design elements and adding in beautiful flowering plants when needed. It has become a garden that has allowed us to explore unique planting combinations, get creative with design challenges, and grow our knowledge of plant care while remaining true to the aesthetic of the original garden and client’s personal preferences.

This garden had a wonderful beginning point but needed some help to fill in the gaps and provide some structure, balance and cohesion to the garden. The bench was the main feature they wanted nestled into the garden to feel immersed among the flowers. We framed the backdrop of the bench with pinwheel jasmine and azaleas and added in drift roses in front for consistent beautiful blooms. An additional rounded loropetalum was added to frame the bench. Hostas, more drift roses, and pentas filled in the spaces for continuous color and textural contrast. Asiatic jasmine was added where needed to create more defined bed lines. To complete the garden and frame the driveway, two spiral topiaries with boxwood globes, pentas and asiatic jasmine was also added.

This client’s backyard had a great foundation but it needed an element to make it “pop”. The existing pool needed a backdrop so we proposed and installed a decorative screening panel that now is home to a wall mounted fountain and planters to provide some softness to the screen as well as bursts of color. We enhanced a blank wall by the pool with Gary’s signature wire trellises for Bougainvillea to grow on and provide a gorgeous color. They are planted in modern narrow planters to still allow for flow around the pool.

Our client’s beautiful contemporary home needed a landscape refresh. Blending a modern contemporary style with a slightly wild and organic look was quite the task. To keep the garden in alignment with the traditional forms in the neighborhood, we proposed some boxwood parterres in a modern rectilinear form with muhly grass and gaura for a bit of a natural and wild look behind the structure of the boxwood hedge. Eugenia globes with contemporary concrete spheres add structure and visual interest near the entry way. They also break up the parterres to add some rhythm and balance. Pinwheel jasmine and gardenia are also incorporated for beautiful white flowers and fragrance.

We will be going through many of our older Garden Design projects through out the month for some updates, and earlier this week, we revisited a beautiful property here in Winter Park, which our Garden Design team helped shape. We go twice a year to redo planters and a bit of maintenance in the garden, so make sure to swipe and look through the pictures!

Our team went back to this property for some quick maintenance and we were happy to see the Jasmine flowers in bloom! Take a look at two of the trellises that we have installed in one of many our Garden Design Projects.

These climbers are trained on aircraft cable wire and a wall trellis system. The geometry is inspired by the espalier trees trained on a garden wall , except this is so much easier and quicker to do using vines. The first one is Star Jasmine and the second is the purple Queen’s Wreath. It just a matter to twinning and tying the new growth to the wires. Once the desired shape is achieved, it can then be pruned back to shape like one would trim a hedge.

Stay tuned for more Garden Design updates as we will go back to our older projects to see how they are doing!