Craig Richmond Landscape Architects

Craig Richmond Landscape Architects We are adept in all aspects of the design process including concept
design, permitting, contract documents and construction administration.

We provide commercial, and residential landscape architecture that addresses various elements, including drawings for site plan approval, forest conservation plans, GAR Plans, landscape renovation, site planning and design, and native planting design. We provide both residential and commercial landscape architectural services
addressing a full range of landscape elements including site planning a

nd design,
grading and drainage, paving surfaces, garden structures, recreational amenities and
planting design.

This property along the James River offers some of the area's most spectacular views. The house sat vacant for a while, ...
09/04/2026

This property along the James River offers some of the area's most spectacular views. The house sat vacant for a while, so the site needs a lot of attention.

As you can see from the image, there’s a serious change in elevation between the pool deck and the river. There’s a boathouse and dock below, but the wooden stairs need to be rebuilt. I’m envisioning a dramatic stairway with a deck area with seating to break up the journey.

The homeowners are wisely going to do the landscape renovation over five years. I recommend we develop a master plan for the entire property first, create construction documents, and build each phase as their budget allows.

Besides, when you have a challenging site that needs a lot of work, it's best to handle it in manageable portions. Without a general contractor, it can be a nightmare for a homeowner to coordinate several different trades at once and do their day job.

Chester, Virginia

I believe that we've learned our lesson on planting monoculture street trees. It started with planting American Elms on ...
09/01/2026

I believe that we've learned our lesson on planting monoculture street trees. It started with planting American Elms on every city block in the early 1900s, which were later wiped out by Dutch Elm disease, leaving many cities with treeless neighborhoods. Then we went to Green Ash, along with Canada, as a preferred street tree. In 2014, I saw block after block in Ottawa, Canada, that looked like a blast had occurred because the Emerald Ash Borer had killed all the mature Green Ash.

Around the time I started my career as a landscape architect, hybrid Pears and hybrid honey locusts were marketed in the profession as the perfect trees.

'Cleveland Select', 'Chanticleer' and 'Bradford' Pears were being pushed by every nursery because they bloomed early, had a long-lasting, glossy, green foliage that turned a brilliant red in the fall, and then had a decorative fruit that wasn't messy. Now, decades later, the weak, wooded Frankenstein tree has invasive, smelly, blooming offspring that sprout from seed and take over vacant lots.

The hybrid Honey Locust was perfect because it was tough and had fine leaves that didn't block sunlight, so a lawn could grow thick underneath it. The icing on the cake was that you didn't have to rake the leaves. After giving some nice yellow fall color, they fall off and blow away. Perfect, right? Wrong. I'm finding that even though they are supposed to be drought- and salt-tolerant, several other trees outperform them in urban conditions.

So now I'm making up for the hundreds of 'Bradford' Pears and 'Skyline' Honey Locusts that I have specified over my career. I bring a lot more diversity to my street tree planting layouts now.

I believe hybrid Honey Locusts are the only tree species in this entire commercial development in Beachwood, Ohio.

Proudly serving DC, MD, and VA
Call: 301-920-0424
landarch1.com

Every landscape architect needs at least one project in their career to test what they are made of. It has been more tha...
06/26/2026

Every landscape architect needs at least one project in their career to test what they are made of. It has been more than 5 years now since I was forced away from the largest residential project of my career. It took me a while to get over this one.

The first clue I had was that the 12,000-square-foot home had been under construction for five years. On my first day on-site, the builder was pumping and shoveling mud out of the basement because they hadn't properly graded the site for construction. They were installing a moisture barrier over rotting wood and bricking it.

There was also a county official checking the stormwater discharge from the construction after every rain.

I later found out that I was the third landscape architect on the project, well into my work. I talked with the homeowner almost daily because he kept adding more to the project. A new pavilion, sports courts, pond, fire tables, putting green, it's something new every other day. He would ask me for my opinion, and I would tell him things were getting busy, but he would still keep adding more.

I was still doing landscape construction drawings when construction started. The nightmare begins. One day, I was on a site visit when truckloads of hardscape materials began arriving. None of it was what I had specified. I had called for (with the client's approval) a native Virginia wall stone veneer to match the home's architecture. Instead, the owner decided to go with a more modern-looking thinset, marble tile veneer. I told the owner that the tile would fall off after a few freeze-thaw cycles, and he didn't seem concerned. The tiles were falling off during construction.

The concrete retaining walls had sections that were failing before they could get the marble tile veneer on. Still, the owner didn’t seem to care when I expressed my concerns.

There was a patio area off a basement game room where the contractor installed a trench drain (partially covered with pavers) at the base of a retaining wall, instead of installing the more centrally located catch basins called for in the approved landscape plans. Trees surround the home, and a trench drain would easily become clogged. Once again, the owner shrugged things off and said he would have the maid bleach the algae growing on the marble.

The final straw for me was seeing the treads on the steps. They were cut from marble and could split a human’s skull open if they fell on it. Given that the client had grandchildren and enjoyed entertaining, I stepped back from the project.

It wasn’t easy to walk away from such a grand project, but if a client doesn’t respect you enough to listen to you when you are looking out for their interest, you’ve got nothing.

I remember my first boss telling me never to use thin tile like pavers unless the project is in California or Florida. H...
06/25/2026

I remember my first boss telling me never to use thin tile like pavers unless the project is in California or Florida. He said, "You need the weight and the thickness of the paver to offset the frost heave in the winter." He wasn't the scientific type, but I carried that lesson with me for my entire career.

There are several examples where thin tiles have been used in Silver Spring, and they have all failed. It's very difficult to keep water from getting between the paver and the base material. When that happens in freezing conditions the pavers pop and slide.

My little firm's first significant job was renovating the gymnasium and aquatic center at Purchase College, State Univer...
06/24/2026

My little firm's first significant job was renovating the gymnasium and aquatic center at Purchase College, State University of New York (SUNY). I did the demolition, layout, grading, drainage, and planting plans. The civil engineer reviewed my work and sized the pipes and drainage structures.

Even though I had dozens of large commercial projects under my belt at the time, it's different when your company and your name are on the documents. I was nervous from the moment the excavator began excavating the site until the contractor installed all the hardscape and tested my design after a prolonged, sustained rain.

The project has been installed for several years without any problems, so I will consider it a success.

Proudly serving DC, MD, and VA
Call: 301-920-0424
landarch1.com

I have worked on a few projects that were never built in my career, but I was pulling for this one. A small congregation...
06/23/2026

I have worked on a few projects that were never built in my career, but I was pulling for this one. A small congregation had bought a small house and wanted to convert it into a church. The neighbors worked hard to stop the project, so I believe they eventually gave up.

The Long Island neighborhood was the notorious gang MS13's territory. I take pride in doing projects where other landscape architects wouldn't set foot.

Proudly serving DC, MD, and VA
Call: 301-920-0424
landarch1.com

I must admit that I've gone full-bore on specifying native shade and understory trees across all of my commercial sites ...
06/22/2026

I must admit that I've gone full-bore on specifying native shade and understory trees across all of my commercial sites for about 14 years now, but I'm starting to rethink that approach. I love Ginkgo trees because they can grow in the worst conditions, and they have beautiful yellow fall color.

I understand that the native plant movement is still going on, and I'm curious where everyone else is on the journey. Is anyone out there committed to a plant palette using only natives?

I'm from Cleveland, Ohio, and generally speaking, brown lawns are not acceptable.It's weird, but in the Midwest, we wate...
06/19/2026

I'm from Cleveland, Ohio, and generally speaking, brown lawns are not acceptable.

It's weird, but in the Midwest, we watered our lawns in the summer to keep them from going dormant. But in the DC area, brown lawns in the summer heat are the norm.

Between the established trees and the slope, this North Kensington, Maryland, home's lawn is dry as toast. It wouldn't be too hard to keep a small lawn area like this one green during the growing season.

Proudly serving DC, MD, and VA
Call: 301-920-0424
landarch1.com

This gets the job done. Architects and Landscape Architects prevent the built environment from looking like this. Kiss o...
06/18/2026

This gets the job done. Architects and Landscape Architects prevent the built environment from looking like this. Kiss one today.

The Malverne HouseThis Long Island, New York, home was one of my first residential projects when I started my firm in 20...
06/17/2026

The Malverne House

This Long Island, New York, home was one of my first residential projects when I started my firm in 2008. The client was a retired police officer who did all of the construction, except for the roof and electrical on the house and the landscape, himself.

The project involved a complete gut job of the interior, new siding, and a new garage space beneath the house. So a risky excavation was needed to provide access to the garage. The excavation creates a situation where the drainage design and installation have to be spot on, or you could easily flood the new space. My design has remained sound for a long time.

Sorry, all I have is a Google image of the finished job.

Proudly serving DC, MD, and VA
Call: 301-920-0424
landarch1.com

Address

Georgia Avenue
Silver Spring, MD
20910

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

Telephone

+13019200424

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