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Our Story

Every design should tell a story that can be read over and over…

The best landscape designs evolve from a dialogue between the property, its structure and the designer. At JW Landscapes, we start by recognizing the importance of this communication and the relationship between these elements, large and small. Our landscapes will take you on a journey of color, form, texture, and harmony. What we ultimately create is a unique story that you can enjoy reading, time and time again.
John West
Co-Founder, Chief Designer, APLD
Gardening and DESIGN are in John’s DNA! John has been planting and designing gardens since his youth and he has been professionally designing major garden spaces in Chicago, the Pacific Northwest, southern California, and Michigan for the last 24 years, co-founding JW LANDSCAPES LLC with David White in 1999. He has served as jurist and panel-member for many outdoor-lifestyle design and furnishings shows at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and in his native Oregon. Since relocating to Chicago in 2002, he has made a major mark on garden design in Chicago, with dozens of high-profile clients, and his work having been featured in Chicago Home magazine, and in the Chicago Tribune. Most of JWL’s clients have been with the company for years, mostly due to John’s ability to listen to the client, and to the landscape itself, to create a harmonious, personal design and installation which gives pleasure for years to come.
David White
Co-Founder
David is the administrative and financial side of JWL – and is central to client-relations, customer-service and project continuity. An internationally-known professional musician in his other life, he co-founded JWL with John West in 1999, when they were both living in Seattle. David was then Organist and Master of the Choristers for St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Medina, just down the street from Bill Gates’ lovely compound! In 2002, he returned to his native Chicago and assumed the position of Cathedral Organist/Choirmaster on an interim basis, and then ‘retired early’ from work as a church/temple musician after 33 years service. As JWL has grown, and the client-list and project complexity has grown, David has concentrated his Chicago time in running the company, and he continues to concertize around the country certain ‘touring” weeks of the year.
Landscape Crew
We are a proud gay owned and operated company of 24 years with a friendly diverse crew of talented hardworking team members here to make sure your outdoor garden rooms look their best season after season.