(Excerpt from Going Native, by Philip Morris, Coastal Living Magazine, October 2002)

Reversing the norm, one landscape architect replaces a manicured lawn with naturalized plantings that highlight the seasons along the Chesapeake Bay.

The image of a smooth carpet of lawn down to water’s edge has its appeal, but landscape architect Jay Graham of Annapolis welcomes Chesapeake Bay-area clients willing to opt instead for naturalized plantings. In Jay’s design for property beside the potomac River, native flora gives the setting a dramatic seasonal cycle.

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(Excerpt from Spatial Magic, by Ivey Gunn, Traditional Home Magazine, September 2002)

Enchanted by the small but promising property surrounding their historic home in Annapolis, Maryland, Tom and Kitty Stoner had visions of ingenious landscaping schemes that would reveal more personality and usable space. They envisioned grand views and privacy, sweeping lawns, and intimate nooks. They had a special fondness for the romantic gardens of Italy, and they could picture elegant elements of old-world architecture around the swimming pool. Tom had always dreamed of managing an orchard and thought he might indulge his fantasy by planting fruit trees.

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(Excerpt from Nature in the City, inform Magazine)

Gradually, over the span of 15 years, this residential garden in the heart of historic Annapolis has taken shape. From the beginning of his involvement, landscape architect Jay Graham was charged with increasing the usable space on the lot, which had only a tiny rear yard. But because the house sits 85 feet from the street, he gained that space by carving a private fmily garden out of part of the front yard.

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(Excerpt from Chesapeake Tale, inform Magazine)

In this prominent garden at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, the landscape architects chose to tell a story about the region through an interpretation of the Chesapeake Bay. For travelers who pass on their way to and from the parking garage, the garden creates a strong sense of place by recalling the flora of the bay with large sweeps of grasses, and the fauna with an abstract sculpture of 150 geese.

Note: The garden has been removed with the recent expansion of the parking garage and roadway.

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(Excerpt from Garden Delight, inform Magazine)

A garden for the Maryland Governor’s Mansion covers a small parcel in the rich traditional setting of historic Annapolis. The landscape architects were asked to make the garden part of the public domain, a kind of stage set for the house. Designed as a series of episodes that occur along a path that sweeps behind the building, the project includes a private terrace, curving walk, rose garden and fountain garden.

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(Excerpt from A Masterpiece of a Home, by Hannah McCann, Architecture DC, Summer 2003)

Taking his cues from the house, Jay Graham, ASLA, of Graham Landscape Architecture is designing front and back yards that will extend the lines of the interior to the exterior.

A pool will stretch into the courtyard, continuing the north-south axis of the opened center bedroom. Also planned are a back terrace with a tree house-like screened in porch, a fountain by the front door, and the strategic use of bamboo to screen the oasis.

(Excerpt from Where Architecture and Landscape Entwine, February 2004)

Does architecture stop where landscape begins, or does landscape stop where architecture begins?

When landscape architects respect the integrity of the architectural design of a building, it is more readily extended into the landscape. Suggestive continuity is ensured by creating deliberate relationships among various features such as landscape structures, ornaments, and plants used in an architectural way. Ultimately, it is the layering of human features and natural features that gives a place its sense of harmony.

(Excerpt from: "Where Landscape Becomes Habitat", April 2004)

A Sanctuary on the Water: Panacea or Pandora's Box?

Through environmentally sensitive design and ecology, landscapes can be transformed into retreats rife with diverse habitats, enhancing opportunity for environmental sustainability. By carefully orchestrating the materials used, we can design landscapes that flourish with native wildlife, protect eroding shorelines, improve water quality, limit the need for pesticides and fertilizers, and contain the costs of property management.

(Excerpt from: "Where History Guides The Future", June 2004)

Historic Homesteads Strike Contemporary Chords

Suggestions inferred from the history of a landscape become preludes to progressive design, guiding decisions regarding what to preserve and what to incorporate into new designs. A successful response to the knowledge gleaned from historic underpinnings yields greater design cohesiveness and strengthens the expression of a site's unique character. Whether the goal is to transcend the century lines between house and pool, create new garden elements suggesting graceful aging, or restore an estate to its rightful grandeur, history remains a melodic progression.

(Excerpt from: "Where Details Engage the Senses", July 2004)

Impressions are the work of our senses. While a strong concept and a clear vision determine the intent of a garden, the details ultimately decide its success.
From bold gestures and subtle sounds to intricate colors, textures, and patterns, compositions are woven from a broad palette of materials and forms to express the desired character of the property.

By focusing on the details of the details, the landscape architect is able to engage multiple senses simultaneously, create a sense of "rightness" and effect people individually, throughout each season.

(Excerpt from: "Where Conservation Abounds", February 2005)

Landowners often want to know how to manage large properties without significant manpower capacity. Conservation plans can set the stage for natural resources to effect their own long-term sustainability. With goals such as healthier woodlands, wildlife sanctuaries, water quality improvement and shoreline protection, designs that incorporate natural ecological tasks can be put to work to enhance the way the land functions and make it more productive.

(Excerpt from: "Where Art Expresses Personality", June 2005)

Private gardens can be defining forms of personal identity, articulating something distinctive about the interests and lifestyles of the garden owners. By creating relationships between nature’s art and that of human artists, gardens are transformed into expressions of personality and individuality -- visually, emotionally, intellectually and aesthetically.

Juxtaposing the fragility of nature with the permanence of manmade objects, we are able to create inviting and distinctive areas within which people will linger.

(Excerpt from “Stewardship Returns Value”, November 2005)

With contemporary pressures from both agricultural interests and environmental concerns, one must make sense of cultural, economic, and ecological pressures and nurture relationships between people and land. Modern agricultural policy is evolving to promote new incentives that put financial value on non-commodity elements such as water quality, biodiversity, conservation of heritage elements, and recreation in the countryside.

(Excerpt from Idyllic Waterfront Garden, by Kevin Varrone, Chesapeake Home Magazine, May/June 2006)

Looking out from the pool house over the silver-blue shimmer of the water, its cool length drawing the eye along a stretched sight line to a sculptural Ginkgo (Maidenhair) tree centered perfectly in the middle of three doorways that shape the view, you could easily think, this is how to compose tranquility. You might even call to mind the perspectives and architectural arches of the metaphysical paintings of 20th-century artist Giorgio de Chirico.

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(Excerpt from The Country Home in Classic Style, by Dennis Hockman, Chesapeake Home Magazine, April 2004)

Designed in the grand tradition of 18th century country estates, this home in the DC suburbs explores a unique style that has come to be described as Scottish Georgian architecture.

(Introduction to “A New Country Place Ethic For A New Country Place Era, by Susan Hines, Landscape Architecture Magazine, December 2006)

“Situated on the banks of the Choptank River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Tidewater Farm’s 400-plus acres represent a new order of country estate where hundreds of acres are amassed not as a showplace of wealth but rather a showcase for the region’s distinct ecology and farming traditions. Typical of the Chesapeake Bay drainage basin, the landscape is both agricultural and coastal. Not so typical at this country place, the vernacular holds sway aesthetically, and the agricultural tradition is celebrated, even as the owners embrace more ecologically sensitive practices than their predecessors.”

Susan Hines’ complete article may be found in Landscape Architecture Magazine, December 2006, Volume 96, Number 12 on pages 44 through 49.

Graham Landscape Architecture received the following awards for this project:
    2006 Merit Award from Inform Magazine, an AIA publication
    2005 Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects
             Maryland and Potomac Chapters

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(Introduction to “Excavating the Past, by Susan Hines, Landscape Architecture Magazine,  January 2007)

“Land conservation and historic preservation are familiar to readers of Landscape Architecture.  But what if the history you are trying to preserve lies buried underground? 
What if conserving the land means creating a landscape design that leaves archaeological finds intact and undisturbed? 

The work of landscape architects at Wye Hall on Maryland’s Eastern Shore serves as an example of how design professionals can work successfully with clients and archaeologists not just to uncover history but to protect and preserve landscapes that hold potential clues to the past.”

Susan Hines’ complete article may be found in Landscape Architecture Magazine, January 2007, Volume 97, Number 01 on pages 72 through 79.

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Exceprt from “The Latest in Landscapes, by Carol Sorgen, Maryland Life, May/June 2007

“Environmentally-friendly – or “green” – landscaping is on many homeowners’ minds. Native plantings that require less watering and maintenance are increasingly sought after.”

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Excerpt from “Face-to-Face,” by Dennis Hockman, Chesapeake Home April/May 2007

Jay Graham founded Graham landscape Architecture in 1984. While Graham’s current focus is on residential design, the work is a broad interpretation of the term ‘residential’ with upscale guest resorts.

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Excerpt from “A Historic Property Reborn,” by Sally Quinn, Architectural Digest.”

“It is the most servene, peaceful, calm place in the world.” Sally Quinn

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Excerpts from “Vaulted Modernism,” Home and Design, November/December 2008, by Deborah K. Dietsch

“Renovations were undertaken slowly and cautiously… “We wanted to enhance Pei’s original concept and do things the Slaytons couldn’t afford at the time,” says Snyder. “

“More recently, Snyder and Breit have transformed the home’s front courtyard and back patio into entertaining spaces with the help of landscape architect Jay Graham. Raising the back terrace now allows for a smooth transition between the kitchen and outdoor dining area. Behind the wall at the street, the front yard has been turned into a dramatic, formal garden centered on a reflecting pool.”

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Excerpts from “Landscape Status,” Capitol File, Fall 2008, by Sherry Moeller

“To bring the outer area up to the status of the interior, owners Dan Snyder and Tom Breit turned to Jay Graham, principal of Graham Landscape Architecture… The planting had to perform more architectural functions, with crisp lines that start and stop… The new landscaping complements that architecture more purposefully than ever.”

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Excerpts from “Georgian Exposure,” Custom Home Outdoors, Winter 2008, by Shelley D. Hutchins

“Varying brick patterns with and without mortar add interest to the monochromatic material palette. Landscape Architect Jay Graham explains that historic patterns indigenous to the Mid-Atlantic region were alternated according to which areas are “stopping places and moving places”… Graham balanced the pool’s contemporary form by doing a traditional brick deck with a herringbone butt joint that hearkens back to the region’s colonial roots.”

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Excerpt from “An Eastern Shore Idyll,” Architectural Digest, March 2009, by Susan Sheehan

“Graham Landscape Architecture designed the pool area which is screened by trees and nestled in a relaxed garden.”

Gordon Beall’s photography also captures the new pier and natural shoreline that Graham Landscape Architecture introduced as part of an environmentally sound strategy to replace the failing bulkhead.

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Excerpt from “In Good Company,” by Christianna McCausland, Baltimore Magazine March 2008.

“Graham is the owner of Graham Landscape Architecture based in Annapolis, a firm that has built its reputation by creating landscapes that make a statement about place and setting and context without needing to shout. The firm, begun in 1984, builds landscapes that evoke the local vernacular, respect the architecture of buildings, and provide sustainable, seasonal outdoor spaces …”.

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Excerpt from “Crafted Elegance,” by Deborah K. Dietsch, Home & Design, Summer 2009

“Jay Graham replaced the remnants of a formal boxwood garden with a sequence of interconnected outdoor rooms. “It was important to integrate both traditional and contemporary elements to complement the designs inside the house,” says Graham.”We also needed to instill feeling of historical appropriateness…”.

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Excerpt from “Restorative Retreat,” by Christianna McCausland, Chesapeake Home, June/July 2009

“Graham thoughtfully preened the shoreline, thinned trees so that the water view is revealed through a veil of pines, and used a discreet selection of native plants to gently enhance the property’s natural beauty… The soft, naturally occurring colors that Graham worked diligently to preserve outside also informed the design inside… Bidnold was to be a retreat of soothing colors and simple furnishings.” …”.

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Excerpt from “Inside Out,” by Scott Sowers, Capitol File, Spring 2009

“We specialize in extending the house into the landscape so it looks compatible,” says Jay Graham. “You have to consider the architecture of the garden,” says Graham. “Otherwise it can end up looking wild and crazy.”

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Excerpt from “One With Nature,” by Sherry Moeller, Washington Spaces, Winter 2007

“Graham encourages the use of native plants when possible, as well as non-invasive plants. ‘Tyler [Abell] managed to develop the site without losing the image of old Potomac,” Graham says. “It looks like what outer Potomac looked like years ago with stables and open pastures.”

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Excerpt from “Path to Preakness,” by Sherry Moeller, Washington Spaces, Spring 2007

“For the owners of Hickory Ridge Farm, one major concern was to preserve the 250-year-old boxwoods surrounding their historic home, as well as to establish gardens that enhance the outbuildings, stone walls, and now extended driveway on the property. “We wanted to balance our 1789 home with complementary gardens that attract wildlife and provide a place where we could relax,” the owner says.

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