Page 91 - Southern Oregon Magazine Spring 2020

VERIDIAN

OUTDOOR LIVING

Creating Beauty and Function
in Outdoor Spaces

valerie coulman
david gibb

n unusual collection of creative career choices and experi-
Aences laid the flagstones on the path to landscape professional
Michael Flaherty’s current position as landscape designer and
owner of Veridian Outdoor Living in Jacksonville.

Born and raised in northwest Montana, Flaherty obtained
his B.A. in music from Loyola Marymount University in Los
Angeles. He then moved to Portland for several years where
he worked as a professional opera singer. While performing in
Medford, he met his wife, Kate Ingram. Choosing to base their
life together in her hometown, Jacksonville, Flaherty began
thinking about what might need to change. “The life of a profes-
sional opera singer meant living on the road,” he says, “and my
desire was to create a comfortable home, to put down roots, so
to speak, for my new family back in the early 2000s. Living out
of a suitcase was not a viable option.”

As they talked over what might work best for their future, Flaherty
found himself working in their yard during his times at home. “I
spent the next few years, as I was able, creating the landscape
around my new family home in Jacksonville, studying how to cre-
ate each new element as I practiced by building it myself, all the
while wondering what type of creative work to pursue next.”

Then he realized he was already doing it.

So he began his formal education in landscape design, and Veridian
opened its proverbial doors in 2009. “I came to landscape design
and construction,” sums up Flaherty, “as a way to integrate my love
of the natural world with a lifelong pursuit of creative artistry.”

Rogue Valley home and business owners face some unique chal-
lenges when looking at their outdoor spaces, and Flaherty has
spent over a decade learning the practicalities of what a good
landscape design needs in what he describes as “our temperate
Mediterranean climate.” This uniquely beautiful area is composed
of widely varied microclimates that can occur even within the
same yard. Changes in moisture levels caused by a site’s slope, the
pH levels in the soil, the amount of sun and shade, and more, all
impact the best plant choices and the best plan choices for each
outdoor space.

spring 2020 | www.southernoregonmagazine.com 89