GARDENS BY DESIGN
MEET JOHN D. ASSAD
AWARD-WINNING-LANDSCAPE DESIGNER

Welcome to Gardens By Design, featuring the work of John D. Assad.

John D. Assad began his landscaping career mowing lawns with his father, Alexander, on weekends. Back then, he also worked for Raytheon at a job that he says he hated. He worked in an office with a typical 9-5 schedule. It was routine and required that he be inside a building all day. He longed to be outdoors.

“One spring afternoon, I was eating my lunch outdoors under a tree just listening to the birds and smelling spring. I got up after lunch, ran to my car and never looked back,” Instead, he said: “I went home and grabbed a lawn mower.” That was in 1968 and John has been in business for himself ever since.

John enrolled at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Resource Development, Studying Plant & Soil Science. He then went on to Rhode Island School of Design to study landscape Design and continued on to the Harvard Graduate School of Design, studying Landscape & Perspective Design.

John cites his educational background as a necessary component to being a good landscaper, but he also feels there is something more ... The gift of artistic talent.

“If you can’t be an artist, you can’t be a landscaper. You are an artist first and a landscaper second,” he says. “Good taste and good design go hand in hand. I feel I’ve been gifted with the ability to walk into a strange yard and shortly after, envision a concept.

John designs both residential and commercial landscapes, enjoying all aspects of his work. He loves the challenge, the creativity, the freedom … and especially the outdoors, which lured him into his profession years ago.

John has completed projects throughout the Southeastern Massachusetts area, most notably the outdoor chapel garden at LaSalette Shrine in Attleboro, for which he received national recognition.