Susan Walker

I studied landscape architecture at Ohio State's Knowlton School expecting to design public parks. Instead I was drawn to residential backyards; smaller scale, but harder, balancing structure, drainage, sun angles, and how a family uses ten square feet of space. I've spent the years building decks, pergolas, and fire pit patios for homeowners nearby. A lot of what goes wrong shows up later: water pooling where it shouldn't, a pergola facing the wrong direction for the shade someone wanted. Those are the failures I write about, the ones nobody warns you about until you've lived with them.