From Art to Arboretums: Creative Recharge Through Travel
- Mardi Dover
- Sep 8
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 9
By: Mardi Dover
Finding Design Inspiration in Unexpected Places
As landscape designers, we are often so immersed in the details of plant palettes, grading plans, and client meetings that it can be easy to forget the importance of stepping away. But the truth is, stepping away is part of the work.
Travel - whether across the globe or just out of town - is one of the most powerful tools we have to recharge our creative batteries. It’s not just the obvious places like renowned gardens or arboretums (though we love those!). It’s also the texture of a centuries-old stone wall in a historic city, the color palette of a painting in a quiet museum corner, the rhythm of live music echoing in an old theater, or the flavors of a dish you’ve never tasted before.
These are not just memorable experiences - they’re seeds. Seeds that get planted in our subconscious and emerge later as innovative design ideas, fresh plant combinations, more confident use of form and texture, and new ways of thinking about how people move through space.
Every sensory experience you collect while traveling has the potential to make your work more layered, more personal, and more alive.
Travel isn’t just time off - it is time in. Time in connection with beauty. Time in observation. Time in imagination. Time in wonder.
When we return from these journeys, we bring back more than souvenirs - we bring back perspective. And that perspective helps us become not just better designers, but more whole, more grounded, and more visionary creators.
So the next time you're debating whether to take that weekend away, visit that museum exhibit, try that new cuisine, or catch that play - say yes! Your creativity will thank you.
What’s the last place that sparked your imagination? Comment on this blog - I’d love to hear how travel and experiences have influenced your design work.
Five Tools & Resources to Spark & Document Travel-Inspired Creativity
Carry an Art Sketchbook. Have a way to easily collect ideas you find along your travel journeys. Whether you are gathering your thoughts about a catchy rhythm of a song or drawing the paving pattern in a public park, notebooks are useful companions for our creative minds!
Here is my favorite sketchbook - the design is classic and durable, and it easily fits into my crossbody purse or backpack.
Create a Photo Inspiration Workflow. Create a digital album (Google Photos, Apple Notes and Photos, etc) where you can organize travel photos by theme: paving patterns, outdoor seating, water features, etc. This is a design treasure chest for later, to be used in your design boards for projects or newsletters!
Use Garden and Museum Companion Apps. Enhanced audio guides apps will deepen your understanding of visual composition, movement, and color use - skills that translate directly into landscape design.
Make a Creative Recharge Checklist. Deliberately guide your travels with a checklist (a delightful little game!) for sparking creativity. Use prompts like:
Photograph five non-plant textures.
Notice how people move through a public space - observe the flow, pause points, interactions? What invites movement? What causes people to linger?
Take a "details hunt" to look for varieties in a single type of design detail: fences, drain covers, edges, paving.
Notice what is missing. In any space, ask: "What would make this feel more complete? (A seat? A tree? A sound? A scent?)
Listen to a local music performance. Note the rhythm, mood, and setting. How would you design a space to match that feeling?
Take a Trip that Specifically Combines Travel and Professional Growth. Consider study tours, design residences, garden travel or hands-on workshops offered by organization such as:
Pacific Horticulture offers several excursions a year, both nationally and internationally, that offer unique glimpses into the history and design behind celebrated public landscapes and exclusive private gardens.
The Garden Conservancy hosts open garden days across the country.
The American Horticulture Society offers garden-focused, culturally immerse trips.
Have you had a great experience in the world of garden travel? I would love to hear about it in the comments!
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Even just traveling, and seeing things in another culture and space gives way to creativity and openmindedness! Understanding the history, climate, topography, culture - those things get me out of where I live and into another world, and then I come home, bringing a piece of the place with me.