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 was a missed opportunity; I would have killed to have this project. This had the potential to be a great project fo...
05/26/2026

This was a missed opportunity; I would have killed to have this project. This had the potential to be a great project for the firm that designed it. It's such a unique site, serving as the terminus of an urban bikeway that cuts through an upscale apartment building with a skyway. The coolness factor is off the charts on this one.

I really like what was done with the hardscape, but the plantings are where the project falls apart. What I predicted would happen a year or so ago is happening now. The Boxwood shrubs are suffering from being planted too close together and from not being the best plant for a walkway with heavy dog traffic.

I've preached this my entire career. The plants are just as important as the hardscape and the building. And unlike the built elements, the plantings are living things with their own needs and don't work with what impatient humans desire.

I'm not going to point any fingers, but I'm going to bet that a local landscape architect or designer didn't do the plantings. Just because you can arrange circles and hatch areas in AutoCAD to produce plans that get approved by planning department reviewers doesn't mean you can create a landscape project that improves over time.

It will cost around $200,000 to redo the plantings for a brand-new project.

Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland

This was a tennis court renovation for Suffolk County Community College in Selden, Long Island, New York. The existing c...
05/22/2026

This was a tennis court renovation for Suffolk County Community College in Selden, Long Island, New York. The existing courts needed to be demolished, the area regraded, and drainage structures installed and rebuilt. We have lots of experience in grading and drainage design. Contact us for your next project!

Call: 301-920-0424
landarch1.com

Sometimes I feel like people don't care about landscapes. This sad scene is in front of a hotel.
05/21/2026

Sometimes I feel like people don't care about landscapes. This sad scene is in front of a hotel.

Stepping down a full step immediately upon exiting your front door is a detail that I never cared for.My client wanted t...
05/20/2026

Stepping down a full step immediately upon exiting your front door is a detail that I never cared for.

My client wanted to put a stone veneer over their old concrete stoop. I proposed that we raise the landing on the stoop 6-7" so that they have a more flush relationship with the finished floor elevation, since they are doing the cosmetic improvement. So now there will be a group of three steps (risers) instead of two, with one more full step to enter the home.

The top of the landing will be slightly lower than the threshold to prevent wind-driven rain from getting under the door. The walking surfaces will gently slope away from the house to maintain positive drainage.

Of course, the big Azaleas flanking the entrance will be transplanted elsewhere.

Silver Spring, Maryland

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

I was leaving my client's house when this beauty caught my eye. This Camellia was putting on a show on a cool March afte...
05/19/2026

I was leaving my client's house when this beauty caught my eye. This Camellia was putting on a show on a cool March afternoon.

I don't specify many Camellias because we are at the northern extreme for the plant, but I think I'm going to start working them in more on my projects when I can find a protected location for them.

I call for mostly native plant species on my projects, but if a plant isn't invasive and is strikingly beautiful, why not bring it into a landscape?

Silver Spring, Maryland

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

These utility boxes were screened for years with 6' tall evergreens until they were removed a few years ago. Now we have...
05/18/2026

These utility boxes were screened for years with 6' tall evergreens until they were removed a few years ago. Now we have a sea of brown mulch, patchy grass, and green monsters. Typically, municipalities require these boxes and parking lots to be screened to obtain site plan approval.

The chances that someone from the County will require the property owner to replace the screening are slim, even though the approved site plan requires it.

There are also lots of empty street tree planting pits in the area. No one is enforcing the street tree requirements except for on new construction projects.

Municipalities create landscape manuals to set standards, but they don't enforce the requirements they claim to set. Just imagine how nice our city streetscapes would be if landscape standards were maintained.

Downtown Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland

05/08/2026

One thing I’ve always loved about the DC area is the emphasis on the urban forest. Big trees in the middle of the city are a quality-of-life thing.

Downtown Silver Spring, Maryland

The Baltimore/DC area has some of the most gorgeous American Hollies I've ever seen. This one in Downtown Silver Spring ...
05/07/2026

The Baltimore/DC area has some of the most gorgeous American Hollies I've ever seen. This one in Downtown Silver Spring has been limbed up and is surrounded by concrete, but it's still nice.

Conyer's Farm is an ultra-exclusive, gated community in Greenwich, Connecticut, where the uber-wealthy live securely and...
05/06/2026

Conyer's Farm is an ultra-exclusive, gated community in Greenwich, Connecticut, where the uber-wealthy live securely and privately on large, densely wooded lots with easy access to NYC. The client was an NBA superstar who played for the Knicks. I never got to meet him or his wife in the two years that I worked on the project.

The client bought one of the last lots available in the community, and the site was extremely difficult to build on. Because of the steep terrain, old-growth trees, and the building setback from Converse Lake, there was only a small area on the ten-acre site to build on. That area was about half an acre, and a third of it was a rock outcrop.

Because of the amount and hardness of the stone, they had to drill, blast, and move stone for an entire month before they had a large enough area to build the house and landscape on. The area in the grading and drainage plan where the contour lines are almost touching (lower, left side) is where the stone was blasted out.

Two large drainage structures were required to clean all stormwater discharge from our site. A lot of engineering expertise was required to build this project. My job was to make all of that freshly blasted rock and engineering invisible. Due to tight security, I wasn't able to return to the site to take photos, but aerial imagery shows the site as naturalized.

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

This Catalpa Tree was cut down by the County a few years ago. It was alive, but in decline. I'm amazed at how it has gro...
05/05/2026

This Catalpa Tree was cut down by the County a few years ago. It was alive, but in decline. I'm amazed at how it has grown back from its rotted core. I still have a close spot to collect Catalpa Worms when I want to use them for fishing.

Smaller understory trees like Red Bud and Sweetbay Magnolias are wisely being planted under the overhead power line. They'll have to keep cutting down this Catalpa, I guess.

Silver Spring, Maryland

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

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