For the past four decades, Richard Cording Sr. has taken great pride in helping homeowners all over North Jersey get more connected to nature. Whether it's an array of colorful flowers, a waterfall or an outdoor living space with modern amenities, his goal as the founder and owner of CLC Landscape Design is to merge creativity with practical knowledge and give people a reason to be outside, spending quality time with loved ones.

But the end result that homeowners come to love takes careful planning down to the last detail, an experienced team of professionals and collaboration with the clients. A licensed landscape architect is trained to see the property as a whole, with each facet working in symmetry and contributing to the overall style and function. CLC has nine licensed landscape architects/designers on staff, including Cording.

Cording shares his five essential tips for creating a backyard paradise.

1. Determine the landscape design styles that resonate with the homeowner.
At the first meeting, CLC will show photos to the client and start a conversation about their preferences. "We try to establish the best style for the client such as traditional, Hamptons or contemporary," Cording says. "Then we develop a theme that flows throughout the whole design."

2. Determine how the property will be used by the family.
Some homeowners like to entertain and others want to keep the space to themselves, adding a vegetable garden or outdoor living room with a fireplace, kitchen and pergola. Getting to know their lifestyle enables CLC to design a space that is uniquely customized to their needs.

3. Consider views from inside the house.
It is a must to take into account how the yard will be seen from certain key areas inside the home, and to draw the eye to focal points like an outdoor fireplace or rolling hills in the distance.

4. Integrating a pool into the backyard.
Pool companies that do not work closely with a landscape architect may just construct a pool anywhere on the property, without taking into account traffic flow, location of the sun and the pool's relationship to surrounding plantings. CLC's team carefully integrates a pool into the landscape, creating an inviting space.

5. Plant in masses and repeat masses of color.
Some homeowners pick out a wide variety of flowers and plants, leading to a spotty look. "But when you plant 25 of the same plant in one area and then you repeat that same plant somewhere else on the property, it creates a sense of harmony with splashes of color," Cording says.

Cording and his sons, Richard Jr. and Eric, welcome the chance to beautify more yards as we head into spring and prepare for summer.

"For human beings to feel really alive, they need to be part of nature," he says. "They can have a small yard and still have something designed by a landscape architect that is beautiful, inviting and inspiring."

CLC Landscape Design
Ringwood, N.J. | (973) 839-6026
CLCDesign.com

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 22, Issue 8 (May 2022). 
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