Michael R. McCleese - Landscape & Garden Design, L.L.C.

Questions asked many times over the years

Why would a client choose you as a landscape designer?
What is your background and how did you become a landscape designer?
What Are Your Five Favorite Plants?
Who is your most admired designer (dead or alive?)
Where is your favorite garden and why is it your favorite?
What design style do you admire most?
What’s new at Michael R. McCleese Landscape & Garden Design?
What does your garden look like?
What do you see as the future for landscape design?

Why would a client choose you as a
landscape designer?
There are many landscape companies and landscape designers out there and I appreciate that choosing a designer who is a good fit is a difficult one.

Clients who are interested in working with a landscape designer who will meticulously and passionately create an artistic vision of their outdoor living space and then bring some of the best craftspeople in Cincinnati to build it should consider hiring me. I am committed to creating gardens which are sustainable, using a mix of native and exotic plants in an environmentally friendly design. I have a great love for the natural environment and I have always loved connecting with people, two good ingredients for creating beautiful gardens.

Life is art, as such, the gardens I design are meant to be visually appealing but also to be lived in and enjoyed. I work with my clients to produce a custom design which is meant to create natural beauty and intimacy with the environment; in essence I like to think I help my clients create a garden sanctuary. The best way to judge whether or not I am a good fit to design your garden is to see my work (HERE) and read comments from my clients throughout the site. (top)

What is your background and how did you become a landscape designer?
I graduated from Miami University of Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts degree in the social and biological sciences. After college, I served in the U.S. Peace Corps in the Central African Republic and began a career in social services. In the early 1990s, I discovered a dormant passion; plants and gardens. From that time forward I began a course of formal and informal study in horticulture and landscape design. I studied landscape horticulture at Cincinnati State College, and attended workshops and seminars around the country including design workshops with renowned British garden designer, Robin Templar Williams, Julie Moir Messervy, author of “Outside the Not So Big House”, and Mike Linn, founder of the Mike Linn Graphic Workshop.

In 1996 I started A Guy & His Dog Landscaping, LLC, a design/build business which is currently transitioning to a chemical free, organic land care operation. I started Michael R. McCleese Landscape & Garden Design, LLC in 2007.

I am a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), the Ohio Nursery and Landscape Association (ONLA), and NOFA (Northeastern Organic Farmers Association – Organic Land Care Program). I recently earned accreditation with NOFA as an Organic Land Care Professional. As a member of the APLD, I have toured and studied gardens throughout the U.S. and Europe. Current interests include stone and water in the garden. (top)

What Are Your Five Favorite Plants?
It’s difficult for me to call any one plant a “favorite” since there are so many wonderful specimens in the world but if I had to narrow it down to five I would choose: 1.) Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum), 2.) Paper bark maple (Acer griseum), 3.) Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), 4. ) Any type of woodland trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), and 5.) Green moss (all woodland species). (top)

Who is your most admired designer (dead or alive?)
Historically I would choose Frederick Law Olmsted. As the genius behind the design of New York City’s Central Park, Olmstead was a visionary who foresaw the need for national parks and gardens which fit into the natural order of the environment. (top)

Where is your favorite garden and why is it your favorite?
The Moss Gardens of Kyoto Japan. These gardens are stunning in their simplicity. Lovingly designed over 500 years ago, generations of Buddhist monks have added over 100 species of moss to a garden which recreates nature through sustainability, beauty, and spirit. (top)

What design style do you admire most?
I admire all landscape styles – modern, Italianate, English Cottage, Japanese, etc., but I think I prefer naturalistic gardens most of all. Mother Nature has a way of building fantastic, awesome landscapes which we can only humbly attempt to copy. I love to study the way stones and plants and water arrange themselves in the natural landscape. (top)

What’s new at Michael R. McCleese Landscape & Garden Design?
In April of 2008 I’ll be exhibiting a display garden at the Cincinnati Flower and Garden show. I will design and manage the installation of a garden with the collaborative effort of artists, stone masons and carpenters. The theme of the flower show is “Wonders of the World”. The design and theme of my garden is still a secret but please stop by in the spring and see what my idea of “wonder in the world” will look like! (top)

What does your garden look like?
I just bought a house in the spring of 2007 so my garden is a work in progress. The property has three heavily wooded acres and two streams so I have been afforded a wonderful opportunity to study the land and see what develops. I’m certain that the garden which I uncover will have lots of stone and water and native specimens. (top)

What do you see as the future for landscape design?
I believe that sustainability and environmental responsibility will be the way of the future for landscape designers and the entire Green Industry. As people become more aware of the environment and the effects of global warming they will desire sustainable gardens and landscapes. Non toxic lawn and garden treatments will become the standard maintenance response and not the exception. (top)