Stephen Coan

Stephen Coan, of Stephen Coan Garden Design is an independent Garden Design Consultant Specialist and award-winning Garden & Landscape Designer, Horticulturist, Plantsman, Craftsman, Artist, and Adventurer. He exclusively designs, consults, and installs bespoke designed landscapes & nature inspired fine gardens that are timeless, memorable, and meaningful for the discerning Client using his extensive experience with native and beneficial plants creating unique novel plant communities. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen helps discerning clients who are frustrated with trying to find horticulturally knowledgeable design professionals that create significant, beautiful, and sustainable pollinator attracting and supporting gardens. Their properties are transformed from high maintenance, time consuming, and costly lawn environments into beautiful multi-layered, sustainable, and low-maintenance butterfly attracting habitat gardens created for each client’s unique gardens and landscapes. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ In February of 2020 Stephen received another Best of Houzz Award for the nature inspired gardens that he created for his clients. It is the third year in a row. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ In November of 2019 Stephen received a Level 3 Certification in Ornamental Horticulture from the internationally renowned public garden - Longwood Gardens - in Kennet Square, Pa. studying over 1,800 plants and is one of only two or three others to hold this Certification. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ One client, Susan B. writes: "Stephen designed an absolute oasis for me. He has impeccable taste and extensive knowledge of plants and local wildlife. My goal was to create a backyard haven for people, birds, bees and butterflies. I got all of that and so much more. I now have a room outdoors in which to spend my most valuable time!" ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ The nature inspired gardens that he creates are beautiful, lush, have meaning, and are layered and intermingled with multi-seasons of flowering interest with overlapping flowering blooms throughout the growing seasons that attract butterflies, birds, and other pollinators and have structural interest throughout the winter. Many are based upon solar and celestial events and the passage of time using the fourth dimension in conjunction with and the reinterpretation of the new movements in garden design and ecological plantings. _____ They are ecologically guided and environmentally friendly using sustainable green practices and water drainage management with a combination of designed hardscapes and the use of native and ornamental plant species that are site appropriate for the soil, lighting, and environmental conditions, that are not considered to be invasive plants or harmful to the environment or local ecosystem. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ His gardens are in the realm between and uniting The New Perennial Movement, The Post Wild Planting Movement, The Layered Garden, Dutch Planting Design, The New American Garden Design, Ecological Planting Design, and Habitat Restoration with an emphasis on creating beautiful long blooming multi-season gardens that provide habitat and attract butterflies, birds, and other pollinators with an eye on knowing maintenance with minimal inputs and the cultural and communal interactions of the selected plant species within a given garden. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen is an ecological landscape design artist located at Ferret Hollow Gardens. He is certified by Longwood Gardens in Landscape Design and Ornamental Horticulture Levels 1, 2, & 3 and is a Professional Member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen provides garden and landscape consulting, landscape design, Master Plans, garden design, planting design, land art, sculpture, plant lists, native pollinator management, project installation consulting services, planting installation, and garden coaching for residential, commercial, institutional, and public gardens. Meadows, rain gardens, butterfly gardens, pollinator gardens, water features, custom stone, wood and metal work, benches, arbors, land sculptures, land forming, lighting, and wildlife habitat garden projects. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gail C. writes: "He was the first person I talked to who was willing to even let me be part of it--all the others said they would prefer to plan it themselves. His knowledge of plants is immense." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Richard A. writes: "Stephen's design is a knockout in every season, with flash in the summertime and a stark beauty in the winter." ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen is spearheading the effort to have the town of Collingswood, NJ, designated as a Certified Community Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ "A community Wildlife Habitat is a community that provides habitat for wildlife, butterflies, birds, etc, throughout the community. To be a certified Community Wildlife Habitat individual backyards, balconies, school grounds, places of worship, businesses, parks, multi-acre tracts of land, etc. must offer food, water, shelter, and a place for raising young to beneficial insects or animals. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen has been a garden writer for the Patch. Patch.com "a (national) community-specific news, information and engagement platform driven by passionate and experienced new media professionals" with over 1,000 different town websites across America and counting. His articles appeared in towns across Southern New Jersey and South Eastern Pennsylvania. "http://patch.com/users/stephen-coan">Garden and Landscape Articles. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ A conceptual land art/forming design project of Stephen Coan Garden Design is a large Equinoctial Labyrinth and Wildlife Habitat being done for the Montessori Academy in Delran, NJ. To read the article about this project: The Labyrinth and Wildlife Habitat Project ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ferret Hollow Gardens is a Certified Wildlife Habitat located in Collingswood, NJ designed, built, and maintained by Stephen Coan. Tours are available by Appointment Only. Please contact Stephen Coan to make an appointment. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Coan Stephen Coan Garden Design Landscape Design & Consulting 267.251.5855 www.coandesign.com ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Stephen Coan, a Philadelphia PA area-based landscape designer, artist and adventurer. Born in Philadelphia and grew up in Wallingford, PA. He’s a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art, where he studied under Ben Lifson, Alida Fish, Peter Rose, Ron Walker, Gene Baguskas, and Al Ignari. After college, acting upon a suggestion from photographer Burt Corman, he apprenticed under Seymour Mednick, a disciple of Alexi Brodovich of the Bauhaus. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ He has studied and is certified by Longwood Gardens in Landscape Design and Ornamental Horticulture Levels 1 & 2 and is trained in ecological and sustainable landscape practices. He is the creator, owner, and caretaker of Ferret Hollow Gardens, a certified wildlife habitat garden using many native and ornamental butterfly and bird attracting plants. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ As an adventurer, he has taken his still and motion cameras throughout North America, Central America, the Caribbean and Europe. He is a retired semi-pro downhill mountain bike racer, an accomplished ice climber, rock climber, mountaineer, backpacker, sea kayaker and has also sailed and crewed on historic tall ships. One of his favorite places to climb is The Bugaboos in British Columbia Canada, calling it an amazingly beautiful place." He now trains on road-bikes doing long-distance endurance rides, does extreme day hikes climbing mountains into alpine conditions throughout the year loving the challenges of climbing in extreme conditions, ice and snow, and is a long-time ski boarder. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ He has taught at the University of the Arts, been a guest lecturer at a number of other colleges and schools, and has been the mentor to numerous college students from around the country through college student intern programs. He has been and remains on the Academic Advisory Board for the Photography Department of the Philadelphia Art Institute for many years and had contributed to the development of their four-year BFA program in photography. He has also lectured for The Association of Professional Landscape Designers, APLD. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ As a classically trained artist he has worked with many different mediums depending upon the concept and what the execution of the ideas call for from jewelry to clocks, hand built clay, woodworking, furniture, land art, landscape design, photo, film, computers, sound, sculpture, etc. For many years now he has been focusing on land art and landscape design with his favorite project being done for the Montessori Academy of a conceptual labyrinth and wildlife habitat that is based upon the sunrises & sunsets of the equinox's and solstice's and the passage of time. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ He has received international recognition in both Communication Arts and Graphis and has received three Philly Gold Awards. He was an associate producer on an award-winning indie feature film "My Best Friends Wife" starring John Stamos, Michelle Monaghan, and Daniel London. One of his patrons writes, “Stephen Coan's 'works' capture the spirit of his subjects with style, substance and story that is uniquely his own.” _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ As a conceptual artist he has been working upon a large scale project since 2004 that is based upon the melding of the different concepts and philosophies of Chaos Theory, “M” Theory or Super String Theory, and Quantum Mechanics and how they relate to the inception, organization, and presentation of ideas and thought. He has published a signed limited edition book titled “QuantuM Chaos” that contains the allegorical imagery of these concepts using clouds to represent the formative, mutable, and transitory nature of thought and existence. https://www.coandesign.com/projects/quantum-chaos---a-book-by-stephen-coan/1 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ His work has been represented nationally and internationally in many solo and group exhibitions and is contained in many public and private collections. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ For a link to the fine photography projects of Stephen Coan: http://coanfinephotography.com

Land Art, Land Forming, Sculpture, Landscape Design, Consulting, Plant Lists, Native Plants, Native Plant Gardens, Wildlife Habitats, Meadows, Rain Gardens, Butterfly Gardens, Native Bees, Pollinator Gardens, Backyard Wildlife Habitats, Naturalistic Gardens, He now trains on road-bikes doing long-distance endurance rides, does extreme day hikes climbing mountains into alpine conditions throughout the year loving the challenges of climbing in extreme conditions, ice and snow, and is a long-time ski boarder.