Legends Design
Dana Point, Calif.
San Juan Capistrano, Calif.
The owners wanted a landscape that would provide proper drainage, as their home has experienced a devastating flood. Amenities designed included a graded swale, dry water bed with catch basins to drain water across and around the site, a 50 foot stream with ponds, drought-tolerant El Toro Zoysia turf, drought tolerant plants, a butterfly garden, an olive tree transplanted from the front yard, a fireplace, a second story balcony with iron railings and spiral staircase. The balcony helps enclose an outdoor dining room below it.
Irvine, Calif.
This installation included an extensive outdoor kitchen with many features, and a large, heated eating and entertaining area. Special touches were added throughout such as the lights on the main structure, which are high-end copper sconces from a specialty lighting manufacturer from Hawaii.
The principal is Yvonne English, M.S., a registered landscape architect, landscape contractor, and LEED AP, and the founder of Legends Design Studio, Inc. She is assisted by a landscape designer and a CAD support person. The firm has 10 years in business. Their focus is all facets of landscape design and project development, including preliminary design, site planning, planting, irrigation, lighting and water feature design, construction drawings and specifications, construction support. The past few years they have specialized in high-end residential design, especially designing outdoor rooms by analyzing circulation, task spacing, views; creating specialty water features and pools, including perimeter overflow pools, vanishing edge water/fire features; and well thought out landscape lighting, rather than just adding up lights and step lights. Their philosophy is very straightforward--it is to create outdoor environments that are specifically designed for each client by personally exploring and then merging three key factors: the building's architecture, the properties of the outdoor space itself, the client's goals.
Truly creative landscape design requires real sensitivity to the client's wishes and awareness of the overall character of the property. Furthermore, our intelligent lighting designs enable us to create landscape legends that enhance the nightscape, thus creating landscape designs for both day and night.
As seen in LASN magazine, November 2019.
