Robert Davie is the founder of Robert Davie Landscaping

Something that inspired me at the show is what they do with water features. They have engineered everything to the last millimeter of the metal. They use things like black anodized aluminum that is absolutely so perfect that one edge is the same as the other edge, and they set in place to where three water troughs will spill into each other. It looks like pools of glass mirrors. It doesn’t look natural, and doesn’t pretend to look natural. These things are contrived and engineered because somebody is creating a non-natural water feature to become a focal feature. Whenever you take time to engineer that, you come up with a breathtaking water feature and arrangement.

Sophisticated displays of this nature take a great deal of planning, and of course money. You are inspired by these pieces at the show and things like this are expensive. Whenever you do have somebody that wants this level of creativity, it takes money, time, effort and engineering. I try to say, ‘How can I incorporate something like this into a project without all of the time and money.’ I really enjoy a project where I can incorporate some of these features and inspiration.

It is the garden show of the world. You go to this show for ideas, and also to extrapolate, ‘How did they do this? How did they engineer this? How is it even physically possible” Is it practical so it can be lasting?’ You ask yourself all those questions, and if there  is a way to adapt a partial concept and make it work on my project.

Robert Davie is the founder of Robert Davie Landscaping