Blog

• Landscape Architecture

  Apr 05, 2013

   
  
  Please enjoy a little inspirational video of what Landscape Architects can do.

  
  

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• Publication!

  Nov 13, 2012

  A quick note about our first publication!! We are excited to be invited as a part of this collection of wonderful gardens from around the world.

  GARDENS: “A collection of inspirational outdoor spaces from around the world”

  Description

  This highly illustrative garden title showcases some of the most impressive residential Gardens from around the globe. Each page features projects that will inspire the reader with amazing ideas on pool, garden and landscape design from the best professionals in the world. These up-to-date gardens are executed to the highest standards and share with the reader the secrets for successful garden design and construction. While the book is highly illustrative, the text is instructive, inspiring and empowering. It discusses each site’s needs, how to solve inherent problems and how to achieve a similar result in any part of the world. Every page breathes with an infectious commitment to good design and the pleasures of enjoying a great outdoor space.

  
  

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• The Art of The Mason

  Oct 17, 2012

  Admittedly, it has been a long time since my last blog. To those that check in on me, I apologize. Things have picked up on the design front, and I have to say it’s not a bad problem to have! Lots of new projects to display on the website soon.
  In my months of blogging neglect, however, I have had some interesting run-ins with old colleagues and new friends and thought I would introduce someone who I admire greatly for his skill with stone work.
  Like any art, working with stone is highly technical and takes a keen eye, much patience, and lots of experience…not to mention hands of steel, and on many occasions BIG equipment.
  I recently had the opportunity to meet Lew French, a Nantucket Island stone genius. He has an exacting quality to the placement of his stone and creates wonderful pieces of art, both functional and visual.
  Please enjoy some of his work in these photos. I hope it sparks some inspiration for you as it does for me!
  Www.lewfrench.com

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  

   

  
  

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• Back Yard Chickens

  May 29, 2012

  My wife and I have always talked about getting chickens at home, but have never really pulled the trigger. Just another something to care for when we already need more hours in the day for all our other commitments. However, digging deeper and doing more research we realized that it’s not such an overwhelming venture after all. With a San Diego law that has just passed allowing residences to have up to 5 Hens (no Roosters) we decided to go for it! We recently acquired a really nice chicken coop from a fellow friend and colleague who was up grading their own backyard coop and looking to pass this one on. And now we are just waiting for our 2 little Buff Orphington’s to get a little bigger before we bring them to their new abode: The Coop De Ville.

  After about the 5 month mark we will be getting about one egg per day per chicken! That’s a pretty good omellete every weekend I’d say. Not to mention we will be benefiting from there insect control when let loose in the garden, and the nutrients from their composted waste. I think our only speed bump will be getting Murphy the dog trained to see them as friends…not food.

  For more information on how to care for your backyard chickens, go to: http://www.backyardchickens.com/

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  
  

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• Wildflower Sidewalk

  Apr 02, 2012

  One of the toughest parts about renting a home and being a Landscape Architect (or garden lover in general) is balancing the amount of time, money, and permanence one puts in their landscape. For me, I want to make my garden spectacular and homey and fun and productive and lovely, and all those things, both for myself and my family. I also do this to inspire other neighbors in hopes of sparking that inner gardener in them too. One of our home projects that has recently gotten  a lot of attention and comments by passersby is our Wildflower Sidewalk. In an effort to help clean up our street side planting bed (but not spend much money on it) we decided to start new. It begins with a patch of gnarly weeds and ugly rock scattered about. After removing all of this, we purchased a package of drought tolerant wildflower seeds for $1.90 and added a bit of sweat equity by turning the soil and wah lah! A colorful, drought tolerant, low maintenance enhancement for us and our neighbors. Please enjoy and spread the word!

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  

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• Sculpture in the Garden

  Feb 14, 2012

  I suppose like any person who loves their profession the job is never really shutoff and left behind at the office at 5pm. As a designer, I am constantly looking, admiring, studying, oohing, aahing, and occasionally judging (though i like to limit that urge).  Today I was walking Murphy (the dog) and came across one of my favorite neighborhood gardens and it managed to spark the spirit of one of these oooooooooohhhh moments. I thought I would share with you this wonderful space that has been deemed worthy by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat! It’s a gem of a garden on a dead end road that we were lucky to find – I suppose i should thank the dog. What was particularly interesting in this garden to me were the awesome metal sculptures that adorn the mature succulent display. They are wonderfully hand crafted heavy metal and rustic in appearance, and against the wildly colorful cactus and succulents they seem to fit in right at home. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  
  

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• The Stone

  Feb 06, 2012

  Here at William Joyce Design we embrace stone as an integral part of any landscape. In every stone there is a geological and historical memory and in the right setting each stone can tell a wonderful story. We particularly enjoy how stone displays a sense of permanence, hardness, and heft which contrasts the constant movement and liveliness of other elements in a garden such as plants, birds, wind, and water. Stone can be the backbone of a landscape design creating cohesiveness with texture, color, and shape. It can be functional, protective, artistic, or all of the above.  A stone ceases to be a stone the moment one imagines a castle. Enjoy the following images of stone in our gardens and gardens we worked on with Isabelle Greene.

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  
  

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• William Joyce Succulent Art

  Jan 06, 2012

  While there are endless ways to hang, pot, plant, stick, and grow succulents I thought I would share some of the arrangements I create at my own home. All these are easily accomplished, some are even free, and all are very low maintenance!! Have fun with it!

  

  Converting a broken birdhouse into a hanging succulent pot

  

  Hanging Succulent

  

  Simple but elegant

  

  Outdoor potted succulent and pups

  

  Outdoor Succulent Arrangement

  
  

  

  Palm Frond succulent boats

  

  Palm Frond Succulent Boats

  

  Prefab Succulent Pocket

  

  Custom Redwood Succulent wall

  
  
  
  

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• Del Mar Residence 95% complete…

  Jan 06, 2012

  As this project comes to completion I thought I would update you one more time. We won’t be professionally photographing this site for another year or two while the plants mature and fill in to the desired design intent.

  Meanwhile you can get a glimpse of the hardscape and boulder work created! Please enjoy!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  
  

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• Under Construction – A Del Mar Residence

  Dec 05, 2011

  I wanted to share with you a new project that has just recently broke ground. It’s a small residence in Del Mar, California that needed an overhaul of the front yard landscape. With a few simplistic walls, a new pedestrian entry, a dry creek and some planting and lighting we are getting the homeowners to that goal. Please enjoy the dirty part of the job with these under construction photos. More to follow soon when we are done!

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  
  
  

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• The Real Story of Water by Surfrider Foundation

  Mar 17, 2011

  Enjoy this movie on the Cycle of Water and the Insanity behind how we got here!

  The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water from Surfrider Foundation on Vimeo.

  Enjoy!

  
  

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• The Conway School of Landscape Design

  Mar 17, 2011

  Conway Scool of Landscape Design

  A graduate program in sustainable landscape planning and design – making a difference by design.

  
  

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