Stephen Coan Garden Design - Landscape Design, Consulting, & Installation

06/16/2026

I’m honored that my garden will once again be part of the Collingswood Home & Garden Tour.
It is a long-evolving, plant-forward habitat garden and the showcase garden for the Collingswood Habitat Garden Project.
June 27, 2026 | 11am to 5pm
https://collingswood.com/.../art.../home_and_garden_tour.php

For Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/ccc-tickets-for-the-2026-home-and-garden-tour-of-collingswood

04/27/2026

I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Nigel Dunnett.

For many years, I have kept one of the deeper influences on my work somewhat quiet. Not because it was unimportant, but because it became part of the private language of how I think, design, observe, and install gardens.

Nigel Dunnett’s work changed the way I understood planting design.

I had the privilege of being taught by him, and his book Naturalistic Planting Design: The Essential Guide became one of the most important references in my own development as a garden designer and horticulturist. His way of bringing together ecology, horticulture, structure, seasonality, movement, and beauty helped shape the way I think about gardens as living systems rather than static arrangements of plants.

His influence is present in much of what I do: layered plant communities, planting that changes through time, gardens that are resilient and beautiful, and landscapes that feel alive because they are alive.

Nigel helped show that ecological planting does not have to look careless or wild in the ordinary sense. It can be composed, legible, emotionally powerful, and deeply sophisticated. It can serve people, wildlife, water, soil, and place at the same time.

That thinking has quietly informed my own work for years. It is part of the “special sauce” behind how I design, lay out, and install gardens in the field.

His contribution to contemporary planting design is enormous. His ideas will continue in the public landscapes he shaped, the books he wrote, the students and designers he taught, and the gardens influenced by his thinking around the world.

With gratitude and respect.

BBC:

The urban horticulture professor designed the wildflower planting in the Tower of London's moat.

02/10/2026

I've received a Best of Houzz Award for the 5th time for the nature inspired gardens and landscapes that I created for my clients last year. Thank you to all of my clients for your support.

12/02/2025

Winter's Hidden Glow ❄️✨
On winter nights, the garden tells a different story.
Fresh snow softens the landscape, and the right lighting transforms it-revealing subtle forms, gentle textures, and the quiet architecture that lives beneath the surface. Color becomes another layer of design, illuminating branches, seedheads, and the structure that keeps the garden beautiful even in the coldest months.
This is where lighting becomes more than visibility…
It becomes art.
It becomes part of the garden itself.
In my work-and within The Coan Method™-lighting is intentionally designed to highlight the bones of a landscape, extend the experience into the evening hours, and bring a sense of mystery and elegance to every season.
A well-crafted garden should enchant you year-round, day or night.
If you'd love a landscape that feels alive even in winter, I'd be happy to talk with you.
Stephen Coan Garden Design
🌿 Nature-Inspired • Ecologically Intelligent • Designed for All Seasons
📞 267.251.5855- Call to schedule your feasibility consultation.

10/28/2025

Late season blooming at one of my clients gardens.

08/26/2025

First spring after a fall planting of perennials, grasses, and a mix of spring bulbs in the clients new gardens.

08/21/2025

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c776kynn771o

We rely on honeybees to pollinate our crops and a new food could protect them from growing threats.

07/29/2025

First late spring after planting the new garden in the fall of 2024.

04/18/2025

The Green Festival is now Tomorrow! I'll be there with info.

04/15/2025

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/April-eNews-.html?soid=1102968923571&aid=mLKtFY49V0Q

Email from The Xerces Society Brush up on your ID skills! View as Webpage Bumble Bee Watch eNews April 2025 Spring has sprung, and the bees will soon buzz! Brush up on your bumble bee ID skills with t