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Craig Richmond Landscape Architects

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Silver Spring, MD
Craig Richmond Landscape Architects

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

10/30/2026

“Landscape architects don’t know anything about landscape construction; they just have the license and the stamp to get permits.”

This belief holds only for some LAs. Some are what we call ‘CAD Jockeys’. Of course no one wants to be called that, but I have lots of respect for them because we need their skills, too.

Because of my background, I’m very construction-oriented. When I’m designing, I’m also thinking about how a project will be built and maintained. As a teen, I worked at a nursery, mostly potting up plants and sweeping; in college, I worked for a full-service landscape contractor. So, I’ve got plenty of miles behind a 48” walk-behind Exmark mower and wheelbarrows. I learned how to dig holes from the best in the industry.

I’m proud to call myself a ‘grunt LA’. My green industry history gives me a lot of advantages. I understand the challenges landscape contractors face to stay profitable, so I show them empathy. I’m reasonable when it comes to construction administration.

But I also know every shortcut, corner to cut, and hustle in landscape installation. I know because I worked for shady landscapers as a student and professionally early in my career on the design/build/sales side.

My first boss used to have me and the other design/sales guy charge for removal and dumping fees for waste material and soil preparation. The crews were burying the waste on site and not doing the soil prep at all. I found out after one of my clients complained. I quit shortly thereafter.

I said all that to say that I might be a pain in the neck for a landscape contractor trying to skimp on materials, but I keep my clients from paying top dollar for shoddy landscape installations.

My client in the installation in this image got the compost, worm castings, and properly dug holes they paid for, and they know it because I was right there to document it.

10/29/2026

I lived in Los Angeles during elementary school. Whenever I go back to visit, a few plants always take me back to my childhood.

The Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) will certainly send me on a nostalgic journey. I was strolling through a park in Glendale on a beautiful fall day, geeking out on plants, when I found this patch.

Another favorite is Night-blooming Jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum). You could be walking down any street at night, and the sweet smell will make you pause for a moment.

If you live in the Mid-Atlantic, you have to soak up as much of that pleasure as you can before winter.

10/28/2026

In the DC area, we get just enough snow to cause problems, but not enough to plan for it seriously.

I’m originally from Cleveland's east side, Ohio. When you do a site plan, keep snow and ice management in mind. A driveway should not only be easy to plow, but also have places to store snow during prolonged snowstorms.

The plow operator damaged the fence on this DC property due to snow load. The post may not have failed while he was on site.

Even if your area gets very little snow, you should have a plan for where you’ll pile it when you do get that occasional accumulation.

10/27/2026

Confession: I can’t remember, but I think I’m guilty of specifying a River Birch as an accent tree at a house corner in Texas. I was fresh out of college, and my boss at the design/build company I worked for turned me loose on the world with no training. I knew maybe twelve plants, and I was working on high-end residential landscapes in the Dallas/Fort Worth suburbs.

In the early 90s, almost every client wanted a Yaupon or a Nellie R. Stevens Holly as an accent plant at the corner of their house. Those who didn’t want a holly wanted either a Crape Myrtle or (you guessed it) a River Birch. And to frame the doorway, you needed two pointy junipers. So yes, I am a terrible person because they asked for that stuff, and I gave it to them.

This post is an apology to those homeowners I didn’t push back on when they wanted to do something ill-advised. One more thing: I specified Gold Thread Cypress in front of windows on one of my first clients. They grew to five feet tall and covered the bottom half of the window after a few years.

When I went back to visit because they wanted to do more work, I saw the cypress, and I almost died. I said, “Oh, my Lord!” She cut me off and started talking about how much she loved their color.

10/23/2026

One of the most important things I learned in my landscape architecture design studio in college was never to specify river rock or heavy, round planters in urban settings. During civil unrest, people can use river rock as ready-made projectiles, and they can roll round planters into place to block streets.

Landscape architects are trained to consider public safety and welfare. Kiss one today! (LOL)

10/22/2026

This is what a Forest Stand Delineation Plan for the City of Baltimore looks like. They want information on the existing trees, soils, topography, and surrounding context.

When you remove trees from a site, you must replace them with trees totaling up to the caliper inches removed. In other words, if you remove one 30” caliper tree, you could replace it with fifteen 2” caliper trees on your site or somewhere else.

Baltimore has a pretty impressive urban tree canopy, and it appears to be doing everything it can to preserve it.

10/21/2026

It always amazes me how municipal planning offices provide specific landscape design guidelines for new commercial construction, and then come down hard on a landscape architect who tries to get site plan approval that doesn’t follow them. But once they approve the site plan, they don’t follow up or enforce the landscape plan.

I did a small restaurant new construction project about five years ago. For site plan approval, the county required 12 shade trees, a certain number of shrubs, and a masonry wall to screen the parking lot. The owner pushed back on the trees and the wall, saying the trees would block views of the restaurant during the plan approval phase. The county said he must comply with the landscape manual requirements to get the plans approved and begin construction.

The client didn’t start construction until months later and didn’t notify me so I could provide construction administration; they started and finished without my knowledge. I drove by the restaurant for the first time a couple of weeks ago; the masonry screen wall wasn’t built, no shrubs were planted, and not a single shade tree was planted. Instead of trees, they planted tall, individual ornamental grasses in the lawn and on the parking lot islands. It was the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen on a project that I was associated with.

When municipalities provide detailed landscape manuals with specific requirements but don’t enforce them, our neighborhoods end up ugly. These transformers in downtown Silver Spring are supposed to be screened. The owner removed the screening shrubs a few years ago, and now the public has to see the green monsters.

10/20/2026

I’ve worked on a few landscape projects that required a crane. One of my residential projects early in my career used one to install three 10” Hybrid Sweet Gum trees. We had to lift the trees from a flatbed truck over the 8,000-square-foot home into the backyard because retaining walls and steps blocked access. Just like in this video, the crane operator couldn’t see where he was placing the trees. It was communication through walkie-talkies.

You need nerves of steel to operate heavy equipment, but can you imagine placing large steel cabinets and machines inches from a historic building? Crane operators are a special breed.

10/19/2026

This is the Westminster Family Support Center; it's an adult daycare and residence in Westminster, Maryland, up along the Pennsylvania border. It sits on one of the most unique sites I’ve ever worked on. It’s triangular-shaped and surrounded by alleyways. That’s right: all the buildings' windows look out onto residential backyards. I’ve never seen anything like it, anywhere.

The modern building sits next to an elementary school converted into adult daycare. The new building will provide more services and apartment units. The building has secure indoor and outdoor spaces, with gardens and other amenities.

Although we shoehorned a building onto the site, we made it as “green” as we could. Stormwater runoff is cleaner than before the building, and we have more than twice as many shade trees. What satisfies me most about this project is the quality service it will provide the community.

Craig Richmond Landscape Architects
Proudly serving DC, MD, and VA!
301-920-0424

10/17/2026

I love Willow and White Oaks, but they don’t put on a show like the Hybrid Red Maples. I have about 7 different varieties in my plant palette.

Check out this DC suburb grocery-store parking-lot queen in Olney, Maryland. And I don’t think anyone thought I was strange for leaving my cart to take pictures of her.

In Baltimore, the City’s Sustainability office has asked tree specifiers to avoid them. They're overabundant in the tree canopy. You can see why, no?

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

Website

http://landarch1.com/

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