Adam Woodruff LLC

04/27/2026

Profoundly saddened by the news of Nigel Dunnett's passing today. He had a huge influence on my work and the work of so many others. Nigel felt that when we design in a way that's tuned to nature, more ecological, more nature-like, that's what makes the work even more artful. Because that's when we reach deep connections with people. That's when we liberate powerful emotions and a connection to nature. Condolences to his family, friends, and the design community. Thank you, Nigel.

02/21/2026

https://www.bhg.com/landscaping-redesign-mistakes-11850778

These smart tips from professional garden designers will help prevent you from making a costly backyard blunder.

02/06/2026

Before plants, there's pattern.

Pattern is the underlying geometry—the quiet scaffold that gives a planting order before a single species is chosen. It's not always visible in the finished garden, but it's always there.

Without it, naturalistic planting can feel random. With it, even the most layered, intermingled composition holds together. You might not see the pattern. But you feel it.

This is the first layer I develop—the map of movement and structure that the plants will eventually inhabit.

Landscape architecture by Matthew Cunningham Landscape Design LLC.

02/02/2026

Naturalistic planting doesn't require a naturalistic setting.

This approach isn't limited to meadows or large rural properties. Here, the same techniques—layered planting, seasonal movement, intermingled species—sit against a stone balustrade, manicured turf, and crisp bed lines.

The hardscape and lawn aren't competing with the planting. They're framing it. Structure gives wild beauty a place to land.

If you have architecture, edges, and turf, you have a frame. The planting can still move.

02/01/2026

How do you manage weeds in a naturalistic garden?

It’s the most common question I get. And I understand the fear—you’ve seen gardens fail because they were overwhelmed.

Here’s the approach: plants are installed at 15” on center. Shredded leaf compost is applied around each plant to suppress weeds and retain moisture. That’s year one only—I don’t mulch after that.

Year one requires commitment. Frequent weeding, sometimes weekly. But by year two, the canopy starts closing. By year three, the plants have knit together into a community that outcompetes most weeds on its own. That’s not to say there’s no ongoing maintenance, because there is—grooming and editing take the place of weeding.

The work is front-loaded. The payoff is a garden that maintains itself.

01/28/2026

Sometimes plants are the solution.

Jones Road is 20,000 square feet of planting—no designed terraces, no elaborate infrastructure. Just grasses establishing rhythm. Perennials creating density. Shrubs anchoring the view. The planting shapes the space.

The site asked for it: a ridgeline overlooking pastures and woodlands. Clients who wanted immersion. Anything more would have competed with what was already there.

Jones Road has appeared in several books and magazines as an example of matrix-based planting and naturalistic design—including Landscape Planting Design, Planting in a Post-Wild World, Gardens Illustrated, and Fine Gardening, among others.

01/27/2026

Redstone Lane began as a conversation. Matthew Cunningham shaped the spatial framework—granite paths, terraces, the geometry that grounds the space. I focused on the planting—layered communities, seasonal depth, atmosphere that unfolds over time.

Two disciplines. One project.

If you’re a landscape architect seeking collaboration—or a client building a team—I’d welcome the conversation.

With landscape architect Matthew Cunningham. Featured in Gardens Illustrated, Better Homes & Gardens, Fine Gardening, and Phaidon’s The Contemporary Garden.

01/26/2026

How do you develop a planting scheme? It starts with the site—light, soil, moisture, hardiness. Then atmosphere: what should this space feel like? I source precedent images, usually from naturally occurring plant communities. A woodland edge. A meadow.

But selecting plants is only part of it. There's pattern—the underlying geometry that gives spatial order. There's compositional technique: intermingling species, planning for seasonal dynamics, balancing height and structure, managing rhythm and repetition. These are the moves that turn a plant list into a living composition.

Research shapes everything. I search image libraries—GAP Gardens, Marianne Majerus, Clive Nichols—to study combinations. I rely on plant trials from Mt. Cuba Center and Chicago Botanic Garden to guide cultivar selection. When working in a new region, I visit botanical gardens and nurseries to see what thrives. Sometimes I recommend a trial garden—testing plants on site before committing to a full scheme.

From there, I build a collage to visualize how species will work together before a single plant goes in the ground.

For more on the frameworks and techniques behind my work, visit the Planting Philosophy page. Link in bio.

Image: Redstone Lane. Collaboration with landscape architect Matthew Cunningham.

01/24/2026

A few of you asked about matrix planting after the last post. Worth going deeper.

In the wild, plants form communities. They layer vertically—ground covers below, seasonal perennials through the middle, structure above. They share space, compete for it, support each other. No mulch. No gaps.

Thomas Rainer and Claudia West lay it out in Planting in a Post-Wild World—a framework for designing plant communities rather than plant collections. You work in layers: ground cover that suppresses weeds and holds moisture, seasonal plants that carry color and movement, structural plants that anchor the composition year-round.

The result is a planting that functions. It fills in, knits together, evolves. Less maintenance, more resilience, and a cohesion you can't get by placing plants one at a time.

Redstone Lane is built this way. If you want to understand the approach more deeply, the book is essential.

01/20/2026

What was lawn became a destination. A place to linger before the harbor view. That's the power of planting design—layers that draw you in, texture that holds your attention, a garden that feels integrated with its surroundings. Intimate in scale, yet open to expansive views. Redstone Lane. Collaboration with landscape architect Matthew Cunningham. Swipe for the before.