Blueprint earth
guides
We plant the water first
Everything we build starts underground. Before a single plant goes in, we're thinking about where water moves, what the soil is doing, and how the whole system will hold up in year thirty, not just at install.
These are the same guides we use with our own clients.
OUR GUIDES
BEFORE YOU PLANT ANYTHING GUIDE
The homework we ask every client to do before their first design meeting.
Most landscape projects start in the wrong place: inspiration photos and plant lists, before anyone's asked how you actually want to live outside. This guide walks you through all three layers that determine whether a project performs, not just photographs well. How your family really uses the space. How water moves across your land after a real rain. What's happening in the soil beneath it. Work through it before you sit down with a designer, and you'll walk in with clarity instead of a mood board.
THE HOME BUILDING SOIL CHECKLIST
Fix the soil, and most of the rest fixes itself.
A step-by-step walkthrough for building living soil, whether you're starting from bare ground or working with an already-planted landscape. Includes what to test for, when to till (and when never to), how to top-dress an existing bed, the regenerative construction practices that protect soil during a build, and a list of native cover crops by Pacific Northwest ecoregion, plus what to ask if you're growing somewhere else.
PNW LANDSCAPE RESILIENCE GUIDE
Fire resistant, drought-ready design, region by region.
Drought and fire risk have arrived in the Pacific Northwest, and what works in the Willamette Valley isn't what works in the Columbia River Gorge, the Coast, or the High Desert. This guide breaks down defensible space guidelines, verified fire-resistant and drought-tolerant plant lists, and water strategy for five PNW ecoregions, all sourced directly from OSU and WSU Extension research, plus a directory of free local resources: extension offices, conservation districts, and demo gardens.
If you're planning something bigger than a checklist can cover, we'd love to talk it through.