Award Winning Landscaping
Article reprinted from The Daily Breeze
There is a special magic shared by individuals who are truly creative – an artistic electricity that charges the air around them. The dress designer who sees beyond the color and thread count of fabric to envision an evening gown, the interior decorator who deftly turns the shabby to chic, the painter who recreates the perfect sunset on a blank canvas, the master chef who transforms simple ingredients into a culinary masterpiece.
Multi-award winning landscape architect, Deborah Richie, has that magic. Her creativity pleases the senses through color, shape, the soothing sound of running water, and the fragrance of flowers. Winner of the HGTV Landscape Design Challenge for both 2003 and 2004, Richie is a "hands on" landscape architect whose work can be seen in homes, commercial sites, and golf courses from Santa Barbara to San Diego and throughout her native Kentucky and the U.S. southeast. She has had a wide variety of career assignments, each with its own challenges and rewards. Her work at the Louisville Zoo, a Robert Trent Jones golf course in Virginia, the Getty Villa in Malibu, the Warner Center and Los Angeles Center Studios as well as private estates in Rolling Hills and on Catalina Island demonstrate her versatility and well-earned reputation for excellence.
Her projects include both new construction requiring complete outdoor design – plants and the infrastructure to maintain them, pools, patios, complimentary brickwork, lighting – everything to compliment the architectural motif of a residence or a commercial building, and renewing or refreshing an outdated landscape. Riche takes particular care to create a landscape that can be easily maintained. Working directly with the architect to ensure the landscaping reflects elements of the structure and with the gardeners who will be responsible for maintenance, she takes great pleasure in ensuring her clients realize the look they desire for the outdoor area with a design that needs little attention beyond basic weeding to be preserved.
Mindful of the environment and the need to conserve, she uses native, low water plants liberally, but admits many clients relish tropicals and the seemingly endless possibilities that Southern California's temperate climate and welcoming soil permit. "With the indoor-outdoor lifestyle of the South Bay, I am actually creating outdoor rooms," she noted, "spaces for people to enjoy and really live in. I try to ensure that my landscape designs blend with the physical space in the most practical way, but always with the goal of creating a visually pleasing, inviting whole."
As featured in Peninsula People, March 2009.
Richie-Bray Inc. has received numerous accolades, displaying our continued success in meeting clients needs and exceeding expectations. As a two-time winner of HGTV’s Landscaper Challenge, we have proven success that our designs exceed expectations.
Palos Verdes Estates Beautification awards, Hollywood Riviera beautification awards,
Numerous publications with the cover story, Peninsula People showcases Deborah and her garden designs.
As well as her gardens being showcased in the Daily Breeze numerous times.
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