Episode 41: Landscape Architecture with Lauren Barnes of Hoerr Schaudt

Growing up, Lauren Barnes of Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects didn't always know she would make a career of designing residential and public gardens. In fact, when she entered Virginia Polytechnic University, she thought she would study architecture and design houses.

But gardening was in her DNA. "My grandmother and my mother were avid gardeners," Barnes explains. They grew all kinds of plants and SHARED plants with our neighbors. This is probably why I wound up being a landscape architect instead of an architect."

A family tradition of sharing plants also explains why Lauren Barneslikes sharing her knowledge of horticulture with residential clients so much, though she manages both public and private landscape projects for her firm. Ms.  Barnes tells us, "we have three clients actually, the architecture, the land and the owner. We want to be a good steward of all three."

She and her Hoerr Schaudt colleagues do this by asking a lot of questions, listening carefully, understanding the environment, and how the landscape will be used. "We design landscapes for longevity, for permanence."

Listen in as Lauren Barnes talks about her career trajectory, her job description, the Hoerr Schaudt company training program, the craft of horticulture and garden design that delights.

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