By Bruce Curtis

(Photos courtesy of Patrick Bones, used with permission)

While certainly successful enough, Patrick Bones was just never happy working in Corporate America where structure and convention are as stiff as a starched white shirt.

"I found the people in the green industry to be much more human and much more aware of enjoying what they are doing than the people in the corporate world whose main emphasis was making money and covering their (anatomy)."

If that gives you the impression that this landscape designer is some sort of rebel, his English roots probably wouldn't permit such an attitude toward convention, but that doesn't mean he can't create some seriouly out of the box landscaped spaces. Of course, Patrick's company, Brighton Landscape in Tulsa, Oklahoma is a great place to start for clients who yearn for that conventional, buttoned-down landscape design in general, or classic English garden, in particular.

"I certainly admire the formal look of the English style," he admits, "but then again I really enjoy the cottage garden look just as well. I think both forms are important and have their place. One reason I think many people like the more natural look is because they do not have to spend as much time caring for the plants or having to pay someone else to do so."

So, even with a passion for clean, orderly landscapes, Bones has no trouble keeping up the the current trend toward natural landscape design trend.

"I am not at all bothered. What I usually do is create a bit more formal look in the front of a home and then go crazy in the backyard as far as being more natural or certainly informal." He prefers designs that have a more natural feel and that's led toward more randomness, curvilinear shapes and lines. "However, in a contemporary design I really like sharp straight lines and angles along with minimalist plantings."

Exiting corporate America, Patrick took classes in landscape design, eventually receiving an associate degree, he became a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. His company, Brighton Landscapes serves clients in northeastern Oklahoma, an area labeled "Green Country" for its many trees and lakes. He specializes in residential landscape design, about 95% of his clientele and he uses professional subcontractors to build his designs.

A quick visit to Bone's website, www.brightonlandscapes.com, and potential clients immediately pick up on his penchant for order and symmetry in design. His portfolio features traditional, distinclyly formal landscapes with a decidedly eastern formality, even though the look is scarce as hen's teeth out here in the windswept Midwest. Once you're past the Missouri River, landscape feel evolves toward more rustic and random senses, as if property owners want newcomers to understand, 'this is the frontier, you're leaving civilization behind.'

Actually, the edge of civilization breezed through Tulsa long before any of us were born. Perhaps present day Midwesterners shouldn't apologize for building homes with a more traditional, dare we say, civilized landscape. Or, as Patrick Bones puts it, traditional, clean, well organized and easy on the eyes. He's had plenty of experience viewing Europe's best landscapes as president of the international Association of Professional Landscape Designers, (APLD).

"I do love structured beauty and I love to view sculptures in garden settings. Symmetry and order come natural for me, it is not forced." Bones admits it did take some years to force himself to work asymmetrically vs. symmetrically, but he says he now actually prefers asymmetry in landscape design.

Bones illustrates the point with a photo of the Southern England's Eden-like Kew Gardens, known for exquisitely manicured lawns, willows, colonial planters and tightly sculpted hedges.

Sample some more Brighton projects and you'll find the Yang to Patrick's Yin in projects. One, a Forest Park South residential garden, features a perennial nook centered around a bubbling rock water feature designed to attract birds and butterflies. Bones has placed the garden within the frame formed by the client's kitchen window, so she can enjoy the nature outside. Separating the other "room" in this perennial garden is an island planter bed defined by dry-stacked limestone. The bed features shrubs and Oak Leaf Hydrangeas.

In another challenging project, Patrick tackles a common older-home problem: what do you do with an aging swimming pool that has become a money pit? His client had purchased and totally remodeled an older home in a quiet midtown neighborhood. The pool had been filled with earth and the other landscape had been removed. Result: a great big bare area.

The solution: A large stone patio with an adjoining garden bed. The layout took advantage of an existing Japanese Maple, around which he planted Burning Bushes, Gold Mount Spirea and Rudbekia in areas that received the most sun. Like his other project, Bones used dry-stacked limestone to define this garden bed's border. Three Bald Cypress trees shade a natural garden defined by sandstone boulders, while moneywort is used for ground cover. Spring color is added by ostrich ferns, variegated hostas mass and newly planted dogwood trees.

So the difficulty is trying to discover what designs Brighton Landscapes specializes in. That's easy, says Bone; it's making people happy.

"I love to create landscapes and gardens that make people smile; I had a female client once say to me that her husband worked at a very stressful job and had never spent much time in the yard. After my firm created a 1/4 acre perennial garden for them with a shade garden, bench, water feature, etc. her husband would come home from work, pour himself a glass of wine and walk out into the garden and relax." That's the magic of any successful landscape plan, most would agree. "He actually started spending time in the garden and working in it and created a vegetable garden."

That's a definite success story for Bones and his firm but there is more to the equation, and that's where Bones' Yang, the nonconformist, steps up.

"I also like to entertain people with their gardens, I like to do the unusual if at all possible. People need to have fun in their gardens; why do it if it's not fun?" Bones explains he hasn't yet created landscapes with motion controlled water jets or a remotely activated fire pit or fire features, but he is excited about the possibilities in landscape design promised by emerging technologies like motion-controlled lighting. Most landscape designers and horticulturalists agree that such features represent the next wave.

Of course, no discussion about Bones would be complete without a salute to the traditional English Garden and the people who originated them; even the name of his company, Brighton, was taken from Britain's West Sussex tourist and day-tripping Mecca.

"I have always admired the tradition of garden design in the UK, because there is a difference there compared to the US. Garden Designers are revered in the UK."

Bones traces his roots to Etchingham, not far from Brighton, where his ancestors grew hops, which probably explains why APLD held its 2004 annual conference in London.

"I have always wanted to see where my family came from. I contacted a professional genealogist in the UK via e-mail and hired him to conduct searches on my family line. When I flew into Heathrow Airport I immediately caught a train to Brighton. The genealogist I had hired picked me up at my hotel and showed me the church where my great-great-grandfather was christened in 1810. I had always wanted to do this for as long as I can remember.

As president of APLD, Bones helps landscapers deal with legislative and other issues that affect the landscaping industry, and that puts him in a very knowledgeable position.

"Legislative issues can be very important; most members seem to ignore this issue until it becomes a concern in their own state," says Bones, "then they get very interested." While each state governs licensing and certification for architects and engineers, no real state licensing requirements exist for landscape designers. That's where APLD advocacy comes in. Sometimes legislators write laws that may have a good intent, but end up hurting the landscaping industry. The organization's lobbyist nowmonitors legislation and helps provide industry input.

The other reason the organization exists is to help members determine and set billing and work standards, which often vary, based on local cost of living. Bones has been active helping start and run APLD chapters in the various places he's lived, to advance the industry and maintain high standards of professionalism.

A gift he shares with other successful landscape designers is Bones love of what he does. Once in a while, he gets a chance to really indulge those creative cravings.

"I prefer to work with residential clients that have just built their dream home and want to finally enjoy their dream garden and landscape, those are the most fun type clients to work with," Patrick explains. "The ideal situation is someone that has seen my work and says 'here's your budget, now go to work,' however, I always spend time with my clients and get to know them before starting any kind of a design."

That's where he puts most of his effort. "I look at the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, the style and architecture of their home, the way the inside of the home is decorated, colors, etc. Many times one learns more by observation than by answers to questions.

"My position, as I see it, is to provide my clients with their dream landscape. It is not 'my' landscape but theirs. They must be happy with the final product or I am not pleased."