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continued from page 133 success of his many high-profile projects to his "army of 70 dedicated and remarkable staffers." Bergmann is renowned for his extraordinary gardens shaped with stunning flora that play to the land—not to mention the tough Chicago climate. "I don't think that I could live happily in a place that didn't have the drastic change of seasons we have here. It's a great but gratifying challenge," he admits. And for Bergmann, that challenge starts with that site and his raw materials, which explains why fellow landscape designer Julie Siegel reverentially calls him "the consummate plant-smith." Ultimately, he is a purist who pays homage to the land. "If you don't listen to the site, the site comes back and bites you in the butt," he says. So where does style fit in, as Bergmann's oeuvre includes everything from proper English gardens to green roofs? "It's not my primary focus because trends and styles come and go. If you design a garden space with good bones, it can be accessorized with trendy plants, or not," he explains. And judging from the projects he's had published in books and almost every national gardening publication, he starts trends rather than keeps up with them. "Ultimately, the plants are going to live in the Midwest, so they have to withstand the rigors of the weather as well as the soil conditions. My biggest purpose is to educate clients about what they can do, but also keep them connected to reality." Craig Bergmann Landscape Design, 847-251-8355; craigbergmann.com The Intuitive Artist: Maria Smithburg "When I create a garden, I think like an artist. I'm painting moving landscapes. The terrain is my canvas and the plants are my palette," says Chicago landscape architect Maria Smithburg. "Sometimes, I don't even have a plan. I have plants in my head, and I'm intuitive. It comes from years of experience and is very personal, but my mother says it's what makes my gardens magical." Her approach illuminates her choice of business name: Artemisia. "It means 'muse of the arts' in Latin, represents a genus of a perennial, and is the name of the first woman painter in the Renaissance," she explains. "All three apply to what I do." Yet artistry and intuition aren't the only utensils in Smithburg's tool kit. "I may use illusion and make a garden seem more significant by carving it into zones, or I match the architectural aesthetic of a house with one big gesture." Ultimately, she embraces two constants: The first is, "Think bold. You need that one big idea for each project." The second is to "consider a house and garden as a whole. They have to correspond with each other," she insists. In a sense, Smithburg was born into the profession. Her grandparents had a home in her native Argentina in a remote river delta outside of Buenos Aries. Her grandfather collected trees and taught her dad about them, and he passed the lessons down to her. "The place was a jungle by then, so we had to redo the grounds, and we freed this magnificent collection of shade trees. It was my first lesson on the power of designing in three dimensions in a garden," recalls Smithburg. The experience inspired her to earn an architecture degree in Buenos Aires, then a masters in landscape architecture from Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. But she credits her father's lessons as the motivating force behind her passion to practice her craft with her own hands. "I never do a garden if I can't execute the installation," she attests. "That's when a garden comes alive. You need to observe it closely in three dimensions to make adjustments and sculpt it." But Smithburg's biggest joy is tending those gardens, which include a healthy roster of high-profile names that can't be mentioned. "Each one is like a child that I see mature and grow as the years go by, and my clients become my friends. Our work is never finished because gardens change with the season and time as they grow and come into their own, so there is always something to modify," she notes. Artemisia Landscape Design, 312-654-1708; artemisia-landscape-design.blogspot.com continued on page 136 PHOTOGRAPHY BY LINDA OYAMA BRYAN HAUTE PROPERTY Craig Bergmann designs (FROM LEFT): Doublefile Viburnum behind a boxwood parterre with upright Graham Blandy boxwood spires; a sunken rose garden leading to an arbor and fountain. 134 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 133-136_MA_HP_Opener_SUMMER13_V2.indd 134 6/18/13 12:26 PM