Hot New Project: Dawson Garden

Name: Matthew Klyn
Title: Designer, Owner
Firm name: Matthew Klyn / Garden
Project location: Atlanta, Georgia

How did you first connect with this client?
I built the next door neighbor's garden on 2.5 acres to be featured on the Atlanta Botanical Connoisseurs Tour.

What were the client’s primary desires for the garden?
My client had been through a few other designers and companies and none of them made any sense, or shall I say the designs were too complicated or lacked meaning or soul. I'm all about simplicity, lushness, functionality and lower maintenance--although I can't build totally low maintenance gardens--I think they are boring and cookie cutter.

Any interesting obstacles to achieving the dream?
Not many. The only challenge was a family wedding approaching fast. The wedding was to be performed in the garden, so the pressure was on. We generally do our best work in the 11th hour anyway.

What are your favorite elements of the garden?
The simplicity of it with all its elegance, the lush diversity of the plant material, the clean lines of the hardscape, and most of all, the family I built it for.

What does the client say now that the project is done?
Done? A garden is never done.