Outdoor Oasis

From elan Magazine
by:  Donna Cedar-Southworth

The hot trend in landscape design is creating outdoor "living rooms," but Plant-A-Plant Landscaping Company President and CEO Lisbeth Prins, whose full-service landscape design/build firm has been transforming outdoor areas into award-winning living spaces for 23 years, prefers to expand upon the concept: "It needs to be an area in which the family can be comfortable because it's not just for entertaining--it's an everyday place for each family member to enjoy--so in a sense, it's a 'family room.' A garden should be lived in and should be visually stimulating. Moreover, if a client's goal is to have additional space for entertaining large, more formal parties or an intimate garden, we custom-design areas to suit their particular needs. Just as every family is different, so are their design requirements.

Plant-A-Plant not only incorporates hardscape features such as pavers, flagstone and brick into their outdoor living spaces, they also operate their own nursery where they grow 75 percent of the shrubs and perennials used in their designs. This practice, along with their dramatic water creations, dry stream beds and lighting and irrigation systems, has contributed to their earning 23 Keep Virginia Beautiful Landscape Excellence Awards, the National Landscape Association Design Award for Residential Landscape and the Landscape Contractors Award for Residential Landscaping.

With three landscape designers, 24 employees and several contractors she's used for 19 years, Lisbeth encourages her company to reach beyond the ordinary. "Everyone has different requirements for what makes them most comfortable. My designers and I are very good listeners--we find out about our clients and their wants by talking with them, reviewing our portfolio and getting a feel for how they want to use their outside space. Having worked o so many projects, we're exceptionally good at envisioning how the space will look when it's completed--incorporating focal points and elements that take our designs beyond the extraordinary to the truly spectacular."

the Big Picture

From elan Magazine
by:  Alice Ross

Loudoun-based design/build firm Plant-A-Plant Landscaping Company offers a wide range of quality services to meet their customers' requests. Plant-A-Plant's designers strive to incorporate the clients' wishes into a garden that meets their lifestyle, home and site requirements and ensuring that outdoor living spaces complement indoor rooms. Over the past 23 years, Plant-A-Plant has integrated everyday design elements into formal, theme, secret, woodland, water and under deck gardens. Their extensive repertoire includes pondless water features and propane-fired fire pots (both low-maintenance and family-friendly), along with stone bridges and custom arbor/tunnels. Plant-A-Plant grows approximately 75 percent of their own perennials and shrubs, which are designated as "Virginia's Finest" by the Virginia Department of Agriculture. According to Lisbeth Prins, President and CEO, "Our company reaches beyond the ordinary.... We do what we say we are going to do, we do it right the first time, and by listening to our customers, we create gardens that make their family feel like there is 'no place like home!'"

Beyond the Ordinary

From elan Magazine
by:  Donna Cedar-Southworth

Clients of Plant-a-Plant Landscaping Company come back to President and CEO Lisbeth Prins and say they are amazed because "there's always something happening" in their gardens regardless of the season. They also tell Lisbeth they are pleased because she actually "listened" to what they had requested. "We perform a site analysis to look at drainage, topography, views to enhance, areas to screen for wind, etc." she says. "Those are some of the things we look at prior to the design process, so we create a design that works--it's one thing to draw up a beautiful design, but whether it really works on the site is another story altogether."

Creating outdoor living spaces is no mere trend for Lisbeth. After 22 years in business, she's still serving many of her original customers and expanding her venture all the while. She earned degrees in botany, concentrating in plant cloning, and landscape design from George Washington University. After working at the Botanic Gardens and two nurseries, she formed her own company.

With three landscape designers, 24 employees and several contractors she's used for 18 years, Lisbeth says her company "reaches beyond the ordinary....We do what we say we're going to do, we do it right the first time, and we design gardens and outdoor living spaces to create pleasing views from inside the home as well as outside."

Plant-a-Plant grows 75 percent of its shrubs and perennials in its own nurseries and greenhouses in Aldie. Additionally, they maintain display gardens on site so customers can see how plants will actually look. Jobs range from $6,000 to several hundred thousand dollars, but part of each contract stipulates that clients agree they have an understanding of the maintenance involved after the job is done. "We want clients to understand that after we leave, there is something live to take care of." If they wish, they can hire the company's maintenance team. These principles reflects Lisbeth's love of plants and her commitment to see them thrive and flourish, long after her company has finished a job.

Recipients of 23 Keep Virginia Beautiful Landscape Excellent Awards, the National Landscape Association Design Award for Residential Landscape and the Landscape Contactors Award for Residential Landscaping, Plant-a-Plant employees pride themselves in "listening to their clients, " and through individualized landscaping, turning someone's house into their home.

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