ABOUT DOBRO DESIGN:
A PRACTICE ROOTED IN GARDEN CRAFT
Dobro Design is led by Desirae D. Wood, a landscape architect and garden designer whose practice brings together nearly two decades of experience across landscape architecture, garden design, construction, horticulture, and garden stewardship. Twelve years of apprenticeship and stewardship at Portland Japanese Garden established a deep foundation in garden practice and craft. This experience shaped not a prescribed aesthetic, but a way of seeing—attentive to place, material, proportion, sequence, season, craftsmanship, and time.
Today, Dobro brings these principles into contemporary landscapes, responding to the particular character of each place rather than applying a predetermined style. The work is both analytical and intuitive—grounded in the physical qualities of land while attentive to atmosphere, beauty, emotion, and the experience of being in a place. Each landscape is approached as a composition: carefully made, experienced through the senses, and allowed to develop its own character over time.
Landscape is not simply an addition to architecture or property.
It is a living part of it.
DESIRAE D. WOOD
FOUNDING PRINCIPAL, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
Desirae D. Wood brings nearly two decades of experience across landscape architecture, garden design, construction, horticulture, and garden stewardship. Her twelve-year apprenticeship at Portland Japanese Garden under Sadafumi Uchiyama, provided an unusually deep foundation in garden craft and in the understanding of landscape as something living and continually changing.
Her work brings landscape architecture and garden practice together with a particular attention to nature, architecture, material, planting, and atmosphere. She approaches each landscape as a composition—one that can engage the senses, evoke emotion, and deepen through time.
Her practice is grounded in the belief that landscapes are living environments: places that shape how people move, gather, pause, observe, and experience the natural world.
Japanese garden tradition is an important lineage within Dobro Design.
Its influence is found not in a prescribed aesthetic, but in a way of observing and making: close attention to place, restraint, spatial sequence, natural materials, seasonality, craftsmanship, and the understanding that gardens develop through time and care.
The landscape may be contemporary.
The place may be entirely different.
The principles remain.
This tradition continues to inform how Dobro sees, composes, makes, and tends landscape—while allowing each project to find its own expression.
Dobro Design’s work has received international and national recognition across landscape design, research, and garden practice.
DESIGN & PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
International Architecture MasterPrize · Garden Design Award, 2025
American Society of Landscape Architects · National Award of Excellence, 2020
American Society of Landscape Architects · Awards of Excellence, Honor Awards & Merit Awards, 2017–2026
American Institute of Architects · Honor Award, 2017
Colorado Homes & Lifestyles · Top Landscape Architects, 2025
RESEARCH & PUBLICATION
Landscape Journal · Peer-Reviewed Published Research, 2026
Colorado Society of Landscape Architects · Research & Communication Award, 2026
PUBLIC, CULTURAL & GARDEN PRACTICE
American Public Gardens Association · Program Excellence Award, 2018
ACEC Oregon · Emerging Excellence Award, 2018
City of Boulder · Climate Resilient Landscape Showcase Finalist, 2026
Dobro Design welcomes inquiries for substantial private gardens, residential landscapes, public and cultural projects, and significant landscape transformations. We are particularly interested in projects where architecture, land, planting, and long-term stewardship can be considered together. Start a project inquiry by telling us about the property, the architecture, the landscape, and the opportunity.