Dana Davidsen
Day Landscape Studio
Dana is a landscape designer dedicated to creating spaces that inspire excitement, awe, and reflection. Her practice balances function and beauty with an ecologically-informed approach to design.
Dana is also an author and believes in the power of words to build a deeper connection with the landscape and foster environmental stewardship.
She is originally from the Midwest and studied journalism at the University of Iowa before moving to the east coast to continue writing. She moved to California in 2016, following her passion for design and ecology, and holds a master degree in landscape architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.
Dana was previously a designer at Surfacedesign Inc. in San Francisco, CA. She is currently based in Redding, CA and works on projects throughout the country.
Affiliations
Association of Professional Landscape Designers; California, Sacramento & Bay Area Chapters
California Native Plant Society
Beyond the Garden, pub. Princeton Architectural Press
In 2022, Dana published her first book exploring innovative ways residential design can engage, celebrate, and participate in local ecosystems.
Beyond the Garden shares the compelling backstories of eighteen residential gardens to reveal the transformative power of thoughtful landscape design. Organized into four themes—engaging natural systems, restoration and conservation, building biodiversity, and environmental stewardship—this collection presents lessons in living lightly on the land, from stormwater conservation in the high desert of New Mexico to native woodlands restoration in coastal Maine and land stewardship in Hampshire, England.
Set across a variety of scales, geographies, and climates, Dana interviews leading designers to understand the story behind the garden—from the initial vision to the stunning outcome—connecting broad strikes to details, and beauty to sustainability.
Featuring the work of landscape architects and designers in the United States and United Kingdom, the book explores how their work came to be, and why. Each designer candidly shared the project’s context, the constraints and opportunities; the iterations, successes, mistakes, happy accidents, and of course, the moment it all came together.
The introduction by design and ecology writer Timothy Schuler reminds us that we are not separate from nature and that how we design and care for landscapes must reflect the realities of our changing climate.
"[A] rewarding 'glimpse into the creativity of some of today’s most artful and innovative landscape designers.'...The most fascinating part of the book is seeing methods at work in so many different ecosystems. Armchair gardeners will eat this up."
– Publishers Weekly
"This book is an inspiration from innovative designers who focus on restoration of the land, conservation, and rewilding the landscape with use of native plants and green roofs."
– Library Journal