By LEAH WEATHERSBY

Those who want to check out landscape architect Page Crutcher's portfolio need look no further than Seattle's parks and playgrounds.

Crutcher, a Ballard resident, is a principal with John Forrest Barker Landscape Architects, also located in Ballard. Those who frequent local parks have probably seen her work. She was the lead designer on the Meridian Park Playground, located behind Wallingford's Good Shepherd Center. She also designed the small park at N. 59th Street and Phinney Avenue N. near the zoo and is currently working on both the Loyal Heights Elementary School Playground and the new Thyme Patch Park to be built at NW 58th Street and 30th Avenue NW in Ballard.

Of course professionals are needed for large, City projects, but many people don't realize that the power of architecture can be harnessed to solve problems in private yards as well.

Crutcher takes charge of all the residential commissions for Barker. As a landscape architect, (which differs only from a landscape designer in that the architect has passed a registration exam), she can do just the bare bones of a yard, such as fences and water features, all the way up to the exact placement of the plants. The first step, she said, is to develop a master plan - just like City government- how about that! (Also, like City projects, a personal master plan isn't cheap. They usually run about $2000.)

When working on public projects, Crutcher said, she does a lot of brainstorming with her colleagues. But at someone's home her job becomes a process of listening to the client and picking up hidden cues from his or her home decor.

Does their domicile favor a Spartan style? Then the garden must be neat and tranquil as well. Does the customer seem to like a lot of orange and peach shades? Then they many be pleasantly surprised to see those same hues bloom in the flowerbed next spring.

"What I always thought was cool about this profession was the ability to improve the experience someone might have in a place," Crutcher said. "I like to listen to what customers say Š and create something even better than they would imagine."

Beyond personal taste, Crutcher must also perceive how much work the homeowner is willing to do to keep their property beautiful.

"The biggest issue is often how much is the client willing or able to maintain," she said. Crutcher explained that homeowners might call her for any number of property fixes in including flattening a steep slope (usually one of the most expensive projects), a driveway, drainage problems - or just because the yard has a case of the blahs.

When not at work, Crutcher, 40, can often be found exploring Washington's forest or taking a relaxing swim - in Lake Washington. Her credits as an outdoors woman are almost as long as those of as a landscape architect; she has worked as guide for such groups as Outward Bound and American Youth Hostel. Last year, she participated in an organized swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

Crutcher readily admits that she draws a lot of inspiration for her excursions; she points to the water feature at Meridian Park Playground. It's designed to look like a rocky stream bed. A Seattle native who grew up in the Madison Park neighborhood, Crutcher left the Northwest after graduating from North Seattle's Lakeside High School in 1979 to earn her bachelor's degree at Tuft's University in Boston. Eventually she returned to Seattle to study for her master's degree in Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington, graduating in 1990.

Although Crutcher left Seattle again the early 1990s to work for a conservation group in North Carolina, it was Washington state's tamer wilderness areas that brought her back home. Here, she said, she can indulge her passion for swimming in natural lakes without seeing snakes bob their heads up from time to time.

John Forrest Barker Landscape Architects is located at 1514 NW 52nd Street.